National Health Care for the Homeless Council

2027 National Health Care for the Homeless Conference & Policy Symposium

The country's largest gathering of the HCH community: practitioners, medical respite providers, advocates, researchers, and people with lived experience of homelessness.

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Call for Abstracts & Reviewers →

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“I always leave feeling inspired, challenged, and energized.”“I left with a notebook full of notes, a handful of business cards, and a heart full of gratitude.”“There was so much community present.”“I am returning home not only encouraged, but better equipped.”“Already looking forward to next year!”“This year’s National Health Care for the Homeless Council Conference was one of the best!” “I always leave feeling inspired, challenged, and energized.”“I left with a notebook full of notes, a handful of business cards, and a heart full of gratitude.”“There was so much community present.”“I am returning home not only encouraged, but better equipped.”“Already looking forward to next year!”“This year’s National Health Care for the Homeless Council Conference was one of the best!”

The 2027 theme

Grounded in Purpose,
Growing in Impact.

The need has never been greater, but neither has our opportunity to make a difference. For nearly four decades, the Health Care for the Homeless movement has been rooted in the belief that everyone deserves dignity, compassionate health care, and the opportunity to thrive. As homelessness rises, systems evolve, and new challenges emerge, our purpose remains constant.

Grounded in our mission, our values, and our commitment to people experiencing homelessness, we come together to preserve what is essential and build what is possible.

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Days in Baltimore

May 10–13, 2027

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Unique Breakout Sessions

Including Learning Labs & PCIs

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Decision-Makers, Administrators, Clinicians & Consumers

United around quality care & stable housing

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Community

The country’s largest gathering of the HCH community

A packed ballroom at the National Health Care for the Homeless Conference during opening remarks from Council CEO Bobby Watts

Opening Remarks by Bobby Watts, CEO · National Health Care for the Homeless Council

Present at HCH2027

Four ways to share your work.

Choose one session format when you submit your abstract. Submissions are open now and close Friday, October 2, 2026.

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Combined Session

Three 20–25 minute presentations plus a group Q&A in one 90-minute slot.

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Skill-Building Workshop

90 minutes, with audience participation or a large panel that needs the longer format.

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Standard Breakout Session

A focused 60-minute session on your practice, program, or findings.

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Poster Presentation

Share your project visually and talk one-on-one with colleagues during poster sessions.

See the full Call for Abstracts →

Next stop

Baltimore Inner Harbor at dusk, seen across the water with the downtown skyline and the National Aquarium

Charm City, here we come

Baltimore,
Maryland

Steps from the Inner Harbor at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, HCH2027 lands in a city with deep roots in community health and health justice — and world-class crab cakes.

Plan your trip →

Two ways to get involved

Call for Abstracts & Reviewers
Now Open

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Call for Abstracts

Propose a combined session, skill-building workshop, breakout, or poster across six tracks. Members and non-members welcome.

Read & submit →

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Call for Reviewers

Score submitted abstracts between October 5 and November 6, 2026 and help shape the program. Reviews are blind.

Apply to review →

Be first to know

Registration opens November 2026.

Sign up for updates on registration, membership discounts, early-bird pricing, scholarships, award nominations, and conference hotel rates.

Sign Up for Council Updates →

Schedule

Key dates for
HCH2027.

Name: 2027 National Health Care for the Homeless Conference & Policy Symposium (HCH2027)
Start: 2027-05-10
End: 2027-05-13
Location: Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor

The 2027 conference runs May 10–13 at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor. Here is everything that is confirmed so far.

Mark your calendar

Dates & deadlines.

Both the Call for Abstracts and the Call for Reviewers are open now and close Friday, October 2, 2026.

Open now

Call for Abstracts & Reviewers

Both applications are live. Submit or apply any time before the deadline.

Fri, Oct 2, 2026

Submission Deadline

Abstract submissions and reviewer applications both close.

Oct 5 – Nov 6, 2026

Review & Scoring

Volunteer reviewers sort, score, and select abstracts. Reviews are blind.

Nov 9 – 30, 2026

Acceptance Notifications

Submitters are notified of acceptance status.

November 2026

Registration Opens

Registration goes live with member and early-bird pricing.

Jan 4, 2027

Awards & Scholarships Open

Award nominations and scholarship applications open.

Jan 29, 2027

Early Bird Deadline

Last day for early-bird registration pricing.

Feb 26, 2027

Nominations Close

Award and Steering Committee nomination deadline.

Apr 23, 2027

Registration Deadline

Final day to register for HCH2027.

May 10–13, 2027

HCH2027 in Baltimore

Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, 401 W Pratt St, Baltimore, MD 21201.

Coming soon

The official program is on its way.

Session times, plenaries, keynotes, and the full day-by-day agenda will be published here once abstracts have been reviewed and the program is set. Subscribe and we’ll email you the moment it goes live — along with registration, scholarships, and award news.

Subscribe for Updates →

Award recipients standing together on stage at the conference Awards Luncheon

Awards Luncheon · honoring leaders across the movement

Get involved

Call for Abstracts &
Reviewers Now Open

Share your work at HCH2027, or help choose the program as a volunteer abstract reviewer. Both applications close Friday, October 2, 2026.

Submit an Abstract → Apply to Be a Reviewer →

Call for Abstracts

Share what you've learned.

The National Health Care for the Homeless Council invites abstract submissions for the 2027 National Health Care for the Homeless Conference & Policy Symposium. This event brings together clinicians, researchers, policymakers, advocates, and individuals with lived experience to share knowledge, explore best practices, and advance health outcomes for people experiencing homelessness.

We welcome submissions from NHCHC members and non-members. Presentations should highlight promising practices, outcome-centered models, and collaborative approaches. We strongly encourage submissions that include diverse perspectives and reflect the voices of those with lived experience. If selected, presenters are required to pay a discounted registration based on presenter status and organizational membership.

Submission guidelines

Abstracts must be no more than 300 words.
Include a clear and concise title — it is used to track submissions after acceptance.
Identify the purpose, methods, results, and implications.
Explain if or how consumers were or will be involved in the project or the presentation.
Explain how your work can be replicated.
You will also be asked for a 50–100 word version of your session description. The longer abstract is used for review and scoring; the shorter version is what appears in the digital and print conference programs.
Enter your name, job title, and organization name exactly as you would like them to appear in the conference program and on your name badge. Please be mindful of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization — we publish what you enter verbatim.
Submit via the online portal by Friday, October 2, 2026.
Accepted presenters will be notified between November 9 and November 30, 2026.
All presenters must register (discounted rates available).

Start your submission →

Call for Reviewers

Help shape the program.

The Council is seeking volunteer reviewers for abstract submissions to HCH2027. Both NHCHC members and non-members are welcome to apply. Reviews are blind — submitter identities are not shared with reviewers.

Reviewers score abstracts on alignment with the conference theme; consumer involvement and co-presenter participation; relevance to current health and social justice issues; level of evidence; potential for replication; policy implications and impact; inclusion of individuals with lived experience; overall clarity and coherence; and adherence to session format requirements.

Reviewer applications close Friday, October 2, 2026. Scoring runs October 5 – November 6, 2026. Due to the volume of applications, the Council reserves the right to accept or decline reviewer applications.

Apply to be a reviewer →

A presenter standing beside her research poster during the conference poster session

We mean it

Consumer participation encouraged.

The Council affirms the invaluable contributions of people with lived experience. We encourage presentations that actively engage consumers in development and delivery. Consumer presenters may receive assistance with proposal preparation, agencies are encouraged to support consumer travel, and a limited number of subsidies are available.

What we look for

Commitment to mission-centered content.

🌐Use diverse perspectives as drivers of change

📈Show community-defined positive health outcomes

🤝Partner with people with lived experience

🔒Empower communities through responsible data use

🔍Be transparent in reporting practices

🔨Demonstrate actions that improve care, experience, or policy

Questions?

We're here to help.

Melissa Lien, Director of Marketing and Communications
[email protected] · (615) 226-2292, ext. 272

Speakers

Voices that move
a movement.

HCH2027 keynote speakers have not been announced yet.

Marisol Bello speaking from the podium during the opening plenary at the 2026 conference in Orlando — Marisol Bello, Housing Narrative Lab · 2026 opening plenary

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Keynote announcements coming soon

We’re building a main stage worthy of Baltimore. Keynote speakers for HCH2027 will be announced here once confirmed.

Subscribe for Updates →

Beyond the main stage

Hundreds of presenters.
One shared mission.

The heart of the conference is peer-to-peer: frontline clinicians, consumers, researchers, and administrators presenting workshops, posters, and panels. The HCH2027 Call for Abstracts is open now — the program is built from what the field submits.

Submit an abstract →

Host City

Meet us in
Baltimore.

Charm City brings harborside energy, a storied legacy in public health, one of the most walkable convention districts on the East Coast — and Washington, DC just an hour away.

📅 May 10–13, 2027 🏨 Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor

The venue

Hilton Baltimore
Inner Harbor

401 W Pratt St, Baltimore, MD 21201 — connected to the convention district, overlooking Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and a short stroll from the Inner Harbor promenade.

Please stay tuned for the conference room block and discounted nightly rate — we’ll announce booking links with registration in November 2026. Subscribe and we’ll email you the moment the block opens.

Subscribe for Updates → Hotel website →

Between sessions

Make a week of it.

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Inner Harbor

Baltimore's waterfront heart — promenade views, historic ships, and sunset walks two blocks from the hotel.

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National Aquarium

The harbor's crown jewel and one of the country's great aquariums — perfect for an evening out.

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Camden Yards

Catch an Orioles home game at the ballpark that changed baseball — right across the street.

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Crab Cakes & Chesapeake Eats

From Lexington Market stalls to harborside institutions, Maryland's signature dish is everywhere.

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Fell’s Point

Cobblestone streets, tugboats at the pier, and some of the city’s oldest taverns and live-music rooms.

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Mount Vernon

Baltimore’s cultural heart — the Walters Art Museum, the Peabody Library, and the original Washington Monument.

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Easy to Reach

BWI Airport ~10 miles away; Penn Station Amtrak from the Northeast Corridor; light rail to the door.

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Washington, DC Nearby

The Capitol is about 40 miles down the road — roughly an hour by MARC or Amtrak from Penn Station.

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American Visionary Art Museum

A joyfully strange collection of self-taught outsider art on Federal Hill — unlike any museum you’ve been to.

Why it matters here

An hour from the Capitol.
At the heart of health equity.

Baltimore's community health centers, street outreach teams, and housing advocates have long been leaders in this movement — HCH2027 is a chance to learn with them and from them. And sitting roughly an hour from Washington, DC, Baltimore puts the conference within reach of the Capitol, making it far easier to pair the Policy Symposium with national advocacy on the Hill.

Sponsors & Exhibitors

Power the movement.

Sponsoring HCH2027 puts your organization in front of the nation's HCH community — and directly supports scholarships for attendees with lived experience.

Request More Information →

Sponsors & Exhibitors

Be where the field gathers.

Sponsors and exhibitors sit in the flow of the conference — breaks, poster sessions, and receptions all happen around them. Details for Baltimore will be announced with registration in November 2026.

A representative at the A.T. Still University exhibitor table — Exhibitor booth · A.T. Still University

Two representatives at the Empowerment Plan exhibitor table — Exhibitor booth · Empowerment Plan

A group of attendees posing together in front of the Council step-and-repeat banner holding a Healthcare for All sign — Attendees at the Council photo booth

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2027 Sponsorship & Exhibitor Prospectus Coming Soon

The HCH2027 sponsorship and exhibitor prospectus is in development, with tiers for every budget. Please stay tuned — we'll post opportunities and confirmed 2027 sponsors here.

Learn More →

News

Announcements

Updates on HCH2027 as they happen.

Two attendees holding a hand-lettered Healthcare for All speech-bubble sign in front of the Council banner — Healthcare for All · from the Council photo booth

August 11, 2026 · National Health Care for the Homeless Council

Call for Abstracts and Call for Reviewers Now Open — Apply by Friday, October 2, 2026

Share your work and help shape the program for HCH2027 in Baltimore, May 10–13, 2027.

The National Health Care for the Homeless Council invites you to help build the program for the 2027 National Health Care for the Homeless Conference & Policy Symposium, taking place May 10–13, 2027 at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland.

Our 2027 theme is Grounded in Purpose, Growing in Impact. Two opportunities are open now, and both close on Friday, October 2, 2026.

Submit an Abstract

We are accepting proposals across six tracks and four session formats, including combined sessions, skill-building workshops, standard breakouts, and poster presentations. Whether you work in clinical care, outreach, policy, research, or lived-experience leadership, we want to hear what you have learned.

Read the full Call for Abstracts and submit →

Serve as an Abstract Reviewer

Reviewers read and score submitted abstracts between October 5 and November 6, 2026. It is a meaningful way to shape the conference program, and both Council members and non-members are welcome to apply. Reviews are blind — submitter identities are not shared with reviewers.

Apply to be a reviewer →

Key Dates

Friday, October 2, 2026 — abstract submission and reviewer application deadline
October 5 – November 6, 2026 — abstract review and scoring
November 9 – 30, 2026 — submitters notified of acceptance status
May 10 – 13, 2027 — HCH2027 at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor

Questions

Contact Melissa Lien, Director of Marketing and Communications, at [email protected] or (615) 226-2292, ext. 272.

More announcements — keynotes, registration, scholarships and awards — will be posted here as they are confirmed.

Subscribe for Updates →

Registration

Opening
November 2026.

Registration for HCH2027 hasn't opened yet. Join the interest list and you'll get early-bird pricing, membership discounts, scholarship and award announcements, and hotel booking links the moment they go live.

Subscribe for Updates →

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2027 Rates Coming Soon

Registration categories and pricing for HCH2027 — including member discounts and early-bird savings — will be announced when registration opens in November 2026. Please stay tuned.

Subscribe for Updates →

Mark your calendar