Philip F. Mangano

Philip F. Mangano (born November 1947) is the president and CEO of The American Round Table to Abolish Homelessness and former Executive Director of the White House United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Early life Mangano was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris Causa) from University of Puget Sound, holds a B.S degree from Boston University and M.A. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. He also has studied Business Law in 1978 at UCLA and Entertainment law in 1979 at USC.

Career From 1976 to 1981, Mangano was president and owner of Street Level Artists Agency for musicians. He was inspired to help poor people after seeing the Franco Zeffirelli film Brother Sun Sister Moon about St Francis of Assisi. Mangano sold his business in Los Angeles and returned to his native Boston, where he first worked on a breadline at St. Anthony Shrine in downtown Boston from 1981 to 1984. He later became Director of Homeless Services for the City of Cambridge, MA in 1986 as growing family homelessness led to emergency shelter placements in motels. As Director for the Family Homelessness and Housing Programs operated by St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church (1990–1993), Mangano worked closely with the historic African-American church and the Cambridge Black Pastors’ Conference and co-founded Cambridge Clergy for Affordable Housing, a multi-congregational effort to respond to homelessness issues. In 1990 he became Founding Executive Director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA), a statewide advocacy alliance of more than 80 community-based organizations focused on individuals experiencing homelessness and the federal, state, and local resources to meet emergency needs and housing solutions.

In 2002, Mangano was appointed by President George W. Bush to be the Executive Director of the White House United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. He led the national strategy to prevent and end homelessness from 2002 – 2009 with the Council’s 20 federal agency members, including in the transitional phase of the President Barack Obama administration.

He reframed the national response to homelessness around business principles and practices, and quantifiable results in reducing homelessness. During his tenure, the first documented national decreases in homelessness, including a 37% decrease in street and chronic homelessness and a 17% overall decrease in homelessness, were achieved. The national results were spurred by a federal investment approach that called for strategies to be research and data driven, performance-based, consumer-centric, and results-oriented. Housing First, an innovative technology and evidence-based practice based on consumer preference and cost effectiveness, was a key focus. As of 2023, the program is central to Federal homelessness policy.

Mangano initiated interagency and community collaborations with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, and the National Governors Association, focused on replication of the interagency council strategy in every state and encouraging local governments to partner in over 350 plans to end homelessness.

In 2004, he initiated international discussion on homelessness with the creation of regular tri-partite meetings with peers in government and research in the UK, Canada, and Australia.

Since its launch in 2008 to house homeless veterans, Mangano has advocated for the HUD-VASH housing voucher program and its effectiveness. As reported by the New York Times article in 2024, the program has helped reduce veteran homelessness.

Following his work in Washington, Mangano established the American Round Table to Abolish Homelessness in 2009 and serves as president and CEO, working directly with state and local jurisdictional leaders. He also served as the Vice Chair of the VA Secretary’s Advisory Board on homeless veterans in Los Angeles from 2017 to 2023.

In October 2022, Mangano was named as a member of the Cal Interagency Council on Homelessness Advisory Committee. He has also been invited to join mayors, policymakers and others at Bipartisan Policy Center events to discuss expanding housing solutions for homeless individuals and veterans.

Mangano also advocated for recognizing unaccompanied homeless women as a specific subpopulation in HUD homeless programs. Historically, HUD defined homelessness by individuals or families, only recognizing women among veterans. At national gatherings convened by his organization, he highlighted the lack of resources for unaccompanied homeless women. Since 2015, HUD started reporting on the number of unaccompanied homeless women.

Books Mangano is the author of The Primacy of Research: Getting to Housing First in the United States – A Policymaker’s Perspective in Housing, Citizenship, and Communities for People with Serious Mental Illness (Oxford University Press, 2017). He co-authored the working paper on Ending Homelessness for the 2015 American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare Grand Challenge to End Homelessness and authored Replenishing Social Capital in the Lives of Homeless People: Overcoming Stigma Through Housing and Employment.