About Homelessness

A Capitol Hill Day Experience

2010-07-22T14:02:00.001-04:00

Today’s blog comes from Alison Eisinger, who participated in Capitol Hill Day, working with her members Congress to help advance the homelessness cause. Read below fro an account of her experience.

Our group was made of roughly 20 people from our state at the conference, and about 8 of us went on hill visits on Wednesday. I was very glad to have had a chance to experience hill visits in April, and knew a little bit what to expect. It did feel as though everyone else on these visits was a seasoned veteran, but at least I had some experience to draw on! We had such excellent packets prepared for us by the NAEH staff -- everything we needed to be able to carry out the visit was in there.

We spoke primarily about fully funding McKinney, about Section 8 vouchers, and about the fact that we see growing demand for services and shrinking resources at the local level.

We had a nice mixture of people, including someone from local government (City Office of Housing), someone who works with a large local funder of services and housing for homeless families, a woman who runs survival services in a rural part of the state, and the ED of a private social service organization and day labor agency (which does not accept public funds but sees the urgent need for federal funding and policies that help end homelessness), as well as someone from the major homelessness advocacy group in the County (me). Good range of people to offer their take on these issues to the staffers.

I came prepared to invite both Senators and their staff to specific events in our state during the August recess, and I plan to write a thank you note to each of them that repeats that invitation. I surprised myself by doing something I hadn't planned to do, namely inviting Senator Murray during the Wednesday morning coffee to attend our backpack-stuffing day for Project Cool for Back-to-School. I did not want to put her on the spot, but it seemed like a nice opportunity to let her know that we appreciated her work on behalf of children who are homeless.

What happened really surprised me -- two other constituents who were at the morning coffee came up to say that they wanted to help, too -- one was a school nurse in two districts in our County with high numbers of children who are homeless, and one was a psychotherapist in private practice with children and adolescents. They were both visiting with their children and husbands (who were at different conventions in town), and both immediately gave me their contact information. The nurse told me that she struggles when a child comes to her with a stomach ache, and she knows she has to ask when the child last ate something, knowing that in some cases it may be two days ago. Her school sends children home with backpacks filled with food for the weekend, but she wants to do more. And, Sen. Murray's education staffer was standing right there, so they got to hear that it's not only the people who came for the NAEH conference who care a lot about this issue. Sarah Bolton was very gracious, and asked me to follow up with her about the invitation to the Senator.

Thank you to the NAEH conference folks for helping to offset the costs of registration for me. It made a big difference for our small organization to be able to afford to send me to my first NAEH conference.

Three Cheers to You!!

2010-07-21T18:06:00.004-04:00

Update: This morning, the Senate T-HUD subcommittee ultimately agreed with President Obama’s FY 2011 budget proposal and recommended $2.055 billion for McKinney-Vento programs. Stay tuned for more!

This morning, we made a big hullaballoo about the House Appropriations Committee’s decision to allocate $2.2 billion to McKinney-Vento programs. Departing from long-standing tradition, the House Appropriations Committee decided to increase funding levels to $2.2 billion - $145 million more than proposed by both the House T-HUD subcommittee and President Obama.

While the federal budget process could hardly be described as riveting, this particular action is truly unique. Rarely do the Appropriations Committees on either the Senate or House side depart from the recommendations of their subcommittees. And – of all the programs and initiatives and projects the Appropriations Committee considered (and there are a lot - members decided to give just the McKinney-Vento programs an extra monetary boost.

What does this mean? If nothing else, it means they’re paying attention – to YOU.

The Alliance has a small but mighty advocacy force – an elite group of superadvocates who work with our mobilization team to engage in year-long, ongoing, regular campaigns to inform, educate, and persuade federal lawmakers. It’s not glamorous – and it’s not always easy – but calls, emails, in-person visits, and persistence is what it takes to make changes like the one we saw today in the House Appropriations Committee.

And it’s not just action – it’s informed action. The Alliance arms our friends and colleagues with data-driven, evidence based information. From the policy we support, to the best practices we propose, to the statistics we present – we make sure that advocates have the facts when they meet with local, state, and federal leaders. Over time, this builds the reputation and credibility of our partners – establishing them as reliable and prudent actors in the homelessness and housing fields.

Moreover, our partners are willing to collaborate and compromise. Homelessness has long been a bipartisan issue with leaders on either side of the aisle – from Senator Kit Bond to Representative Maxine Waters. Ending homelessness is socially responsible, economically prudent, and improves the lives and livelihoods of all Americans. A thorough understanding of the issue from all angles – as well as an enthusiasm to make real progress – has moved this issue forward.

All this to say, we couldn’t do any of the work we do without the fervent support and relentless work of our advocates! Thank you so much for your letters, calls, energy and – most importantly – your commitment to ending homelessness.

For more information about our mobilization team or to get involved with ongoing Alliance advocacy efforts, please contact us.

McKinney-Vento Appropriations: Understanding the Process

2010-07-21T11:47:00.000-04:00

A special blogpost today because the House Appropriations Committee proposed bumping the FY 2011 McKinney-Vento budget from $2.055 to $2.2 billion!

If that first sentence made no sense to you, you're not alone. But we're hoping this post helps you wrap your mind around the federal budget process.

We've written about fiscal year 2011 (FY 2011) funding a few times now on this blog - usually asking YOU to contact your members of Congress to ensure that homeless assistance programs (McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants primary among them) receive adequate funding.

And we've been asking you to do that because RIGHT NOW - right this very moment - Congress is making decisions about the federal budget.

From February (when the President releases a proposed budget) to whenever-Congress-gets-around-to-deciding, the House and the Senate meet in their committees and subcommittees to decide how much money should go into federal programs, agencies, and departments.

And as you can imagine, this is no small task. President Obama's proposed FY 2011 is $3.8 trillion dollars - you try deciding how that money should be spent! For their part, Members consider a wide breadth of factors, including the President's proposed budget, their own legislative priorities, issues of interest to home districts and constituents, national concerns (like the economy!), and a wealth of other things.

So it basically goes down like this:

Subcommittees (12, to be precise) review portions of the bill pertinent to them. In our case, the House and Senate Transportation - Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) subcommittees review the housing and transportation portions of the federal budget, including funding for the McKinney-Vento programs.

Once the T-HUD committees finish examining and revising (we call it "marking up") their bill, it goes to the House and Senate Appropriations committees. The Appropriations committees collect the bills they received from the 12 subcommittees, marks them up, and passes them on.

Those bills then go to the House and Senate floors where they can be amended, and then members vote.

(A quick note to keep in mind: the House and Senate do not coordinate their schedules. So while the House T-HUD subcommittee and Appropriations committee have already marked up their bill, the Senate T-HUD subcommittee is just meeting today.)

So here's a little secret: usually, the Appropriations committees let the subcommittees make the big decisions. In both the House and the Senate, it's the subcommittees that comb through the portions of the federal budget and determine how resources should be allocated. In fact, it's usually the case that the budget bills don't change much once they've left subcommittees.

Got it?

But this is exactly why this change to McKinney-Vento funding is such a big deal! The House Appropriations committee broke with tradition and changed the budget bill, allocating $2.2 billion - an extra $145 million - to McKinney-Vento programs!

And McKinney-Vento was the only program to receive a boost in the House Appropriations committee. Of all the things members of the House Appropriations committee were concerned about when examining the T-HUD budget, of all the programs and agencies and departments and initiatives they could’ve funded or not funded, the only program they gave more money to was the McKinney-Vento programs.

So it’s a pretty big deal.

This morning, the Senate T-HUD committee convened to mark up the Senate's version of the budget bill. Once we get the numbers from the Senate T-HUD subcommittee, we'll have a better grasp on what might be in the actual budget bill that's signed by the president.

Budget news - and certainly the federal budget process - can be dry and tedious, but it's events like this that make it interesting. The House Appropriations committee bumping up the number at this point in the game has upped the ante - and really made the Senate T-HUD subcommittee meeting more interesting.

Because - let's not forget the wide-angle view - the money that's allocated to McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Programs is the money that gets sent to communities. It's the money that funds prevention and rapid re-housing initiatives, permanent supportive housing programs, social and supportive services, and other activities instrumental in reducing and ending homelessness in our own neighborhoods.

Through that lens, you can see why it's a pretty big deal to us.

So stay tuned - we'll keep you updated all day long what's to come!

Examining the Federal Plan: Goal 10 – Crisis Response Systems

2010-07-20T13:40:00.005-04:00

And we’re back!

The Alliance is examining all ten goals of Opening Doors, the federal strategic plan to end homelessness. You may remember that we took a closer look at Goal 8 – Ending Youth Homelessness a bit back.

As the Alliance’s new media intern, I’m really excited to be writing this series, because every time I examine one of these goals, I get to learn about a new aspect of homelessness and solutions to homelessness (and really, that’s what the Alliance is all about).

This week we’ll be looking at Objective 10: “Transform homeless services to crisis response systems that prevent homelessness and rapidly return people who experience homelessness to stable housing.”

To learn more about this objective, I talked to Norm Suchar, our new (!) Director of the Center for Capacity Building (formerly senior policy analyst at the Alliance).

The first thing I tried to wrap my head around was what this objective meant, and why it was part of the federal plan.

Right now, the “crisis response system” in place is shelters. When someone encounters an event that creates a situation where they can no longer afford housing, the first response is to put them in a shelter.

This shelter system, however, is not effective if we are to eradicate homelessness. The crisis response system for homelessness needs to be transformed, so that when someone enters a crisis situation and that person’s housing needs are addressed, we turn to permanent solutions and not just shelter.

The system needs to be pretty sophisticated.

We’ll need to figure out what happened with each person and create customized solutions using the resources available to someone in that specific situation. And situations vary wildly: sometimes it’s a problem with a landlord; in this case, conflict management of the situation should be attempted. Maybe a person lost their job and can’t afford the rent this month; in that case, we could offer rent subsidies or rent assistance so that the person has some time to find employment.

These strategies that prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place - and that’s what a crisis response should be doing.

How will we achieve this?

The federal plan suggests several strategies, among them – the $1.5 billion stimulus-funded program Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP).

The program is a primary tool in changing the infrastructure of the system. HPRP funds are intended to focus on key strategies to prevent and end homelessness – including prevention strategies and rapid re-housing strategies. Communities across the country are utilizing HPRP to systematically transform the way they approach homelessness at the local level. (In fact, we’re doing some reporting on it!)

Another key is to integrate mainstream poverty programs.

It’s no surprise that there exist federal programs to help vulnerable and low-income people and families, including Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid (now new and improved as a result of health care reform), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This is by no means an exhaustive list of available resources – but only by leveraging all the resources available for vulnerable individuals and families will we truly be able to assist families out of homelessness.

The moral at the heart of this story is transformation. We can transform systems that exist today so that they’re more proactive about preventing homelessness before it starts – and when it occurs, ending it swiftly with rapid re-housing techniques.

Capitol Hill Day Success

2010-07-19T12:40:00.002-04:00

Today’s blog post comes from our Federal Advocacy intern, Sumeet Singh.

Every year, Capitol Hill Day offers a time for advocates of ending homelessness to sit down with their Senators and Representatives and discuss pressing and pertinent issues regarding homelessness. In doing so, it also provides another great opportunity – a chance for these passionate advocates to come together and have their voices heard. This year, those voices were heard as loudly as ever before – advocates from 40 states and Guam held over 215 meetings with Congressional offices, and the results are still pouring in! With every additional meeting, the value and effectiveness of Hill Day 2010 increase that much more. We’ll do a follow-up blog post in a few weeks once we have finalized all of the results. In its decades-long existence, Hill Day’s track record of spreading knowledge, creating awareness, and igniting political movement clearly demonstrates just how powerful a tool it has been.

This year, Hill Day became even stronger.

Take the story of our advocates from Maine as an example. Six years ago, before our current group was involved, the Maine Congressional Delegation was largely unaware and unconcerned with homelessness issues. However, in the years since the Maine advocates have been active in Hill Day events, several Members of Congress from the state, including both Senators, have become champions of the issue. Thanks to our State Captains and Hill Day Participants, stories like this one are becoming more common across the nation with each passing year. Given the similar stories from other states and the great numbers from this year, Hill Day 2010 is proving to be an historically successful year.

At a personal level, my experiences as a first time organizer of Capitol Hill Day were both memorable and educational. To see weeks of coordination and planning with State Captains come together was special, as was the chance to see so many hours of work translating into influence on federal policymaking. Moreover, getting to meet, in person, the men and women whom I had been e-mailing and calling incessantly (we called it “gentle nudging”) in the lead-up to the conference was wonderful. It is not often that I get to meet people so passionate about a cause as unselfish as ending homelessness. Thanks in large part to the efforts of these advocates, Capitol Hill Day 2010 was a great success.

Friday News Round Up: Where Do We Go From Here?

2010-07-16T14:57:00.000-04:00

In the policy realm, PETRA (Preservation, Enhancement and Transformation of Rental Assistance Act) has been rapidly introduced and pushed into Congress, with mixed support. TANF, though, is still being praised, but the effort to have it extended is ever in need of support. (So show yours by calling your members of Congress!)

Many people still struggle with high rates of homelessness, particularly female veterans. However many programs that have been underway for years in places like Washington, D.C. are proving to be effective at reducing and ending hoemlessness.

Also, the Washington Post is doing it’s part to change the ways Americans see homelessness. Last week, the Post published an article entitled “Five Myths About America’s Homeless”, which was written by our Research Council co-chair Dennis Culhane. The acclaimed scholars refuted some of the major misconceptions about homelessness – and people experiencing homelessness, shedding light on the realities of the experience – and the solutions to the social problem.

Lastly, with our conference this week and all the great new federal efforts supporting the fight to end homelessness, one has to wonder, where do we go from here? Our President Nan Roman offers her view.

Last thoughts on the 2010 National Conference on Ending Homelessness

2010-07-15T16:06:00.001-04:00

So it’s all over.

The 2010 National Conference on Ending Homelessness is behind us.

And – even from a non-expert standpoint – I have to say that it was a pretty incredible experience. From the industry luminaries that graced the stage at plenary sessions to the incredible workshop speakers to the [really outstanding] hotel staff, I really felt that the last three days were both educational and inspiring.

Alliance staff are all encouraged to attend [and staff] workshops, so I had the opportunity to learn about a lot of things that I don’t encounter in my communication-and-social-media-days in the office. I learned about the role rapid re-housing can play in the life of domestic violence survivors, I learned about the implications of the HEARTH Act in ending family homelessness, I learned how much interest there was in communications and social media, and I learned a lot – a ton! – about the federal plan to end homelessness and HPRP.

I learned a lot about people! Our field is full of such wonderfully different, quirky, and committed practitioners and advocates! Walking around with an Alliance nametag gave me an avenue to introduce myself to folks – and every time I turned around I had the opportunity to meet direct service providers, advocates, government employees, and real, true experts in the field. And every so often (I think I mentioned this before), I got a chance to meet Twitter friends and Facebook buds that I had chatted with online but not in life – and that was an exciting if surreal experience.

But most of all – cue the violins – I got to learn about ending homelessness. It’s a tough concept to wrap my mind around - ending homelessness. Even as a dedicated employee of the Alliance, it can still be hard for me to really visualize a time without any individuals or families in shelter or on the streets.

The conference righted all of that. After hearing from Nan, from Secretary Shaun Donovan, from Barbara Poppe, from Secretary Eric Shinseki, from Delegate Charniele Herring – and all the experts in workshops in between – over and over and over again, the message rang through.

Not only is ending homelessness possible – we’re doing it right now. With the reform of health care, with the implementation of HPRP, with the provisions in the HEARTH Act, with the outlines in the federal plan. With an investment in housing, with an eye towards infrastructure, with best practices and good policy, and with the hard work and dedication of every single person who attended this year’s conference, we are ending homelessness as we speak (or rather, I type).

It’s a message that lifted my spirits and reminded me of what our common mission is, what brings us together year after year.

I hope it did for you too.

Thanks to everyone for attending – please don’t hesitate to pass along your thoughts, critiques, and notes here or on Twitter or on our Facebook page, where you can find pictures from the conference!

Sec. Eric K. Shinseki of Veterans Affairs at the Alliance Conference

2010-07-15T12:22:00.000-04:00

Hi all. We'll write a conference wrap-up post later today, but in the interim, we thought we'd share Secretary Eric Shinseki's remarks on Wednesday, July 14 to the conference attendees. His thoughts on ending veterans homelessness - and his apparent commitment and dedication to the goal - were truly inspiring words on which to end our event! The Secretary's remarks are below.

Remarks by Eric K. Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs

National Alliance to End Homelessness
National Conference on Ending Homelessness
Grand Hyatt, Washington, DC
14 July, 2010

Nan, thank you for that kind introduction and for your leadership of the National Alliance. Your work on behalf of the homeless is well-known and much-respected. Our thanks to you and your staff for your diligence in supporting all the rest of us, VA included, in our commitments to end homelessness amongst our populations. Your address at our Summit on Veteran Homelessness, last November, resonated with attendees then, and still does today at VA.

I am honored to be here today. From your modest beginnings in 1983, this alliance has grown into a powerful organization of more than 10,000 public and private sector partners. Along the way, you’ve succeeded in housing hundreds of thousands of Americans, a tremendous record of service and achievement. VA is very proud to be one of your partners.

Sometimes, we say that caring for those who cannot care for themselves is a longstanding tradition in this country, that threads of selflessness are woven into our national character. Yet, roughly 643,000 Americans remain homeless on any given night. We also say our Veterans, who come from every town and village in this great land, are a vital part of the national landscape. In fact, VA says that in honoring their service, we keep faith with Abraham Lincoln’s promise to care for those who have borne the battle, and for their families. Yet, nearly one-in-six of America’s homeless is a Veteran—107,000 of them.

Nowhere is our obligation to our citizens, and to our Veterans who have defended our Nation, more important, more visible, or more necessary than in our commitment to end homelessness.

You see, at VA, we wrestle with harmonizing two very distinct, yet incongruent, images of those who have served.

The first image is this, and it is one familiar to most Americans. Each year, roughly 60% of all high school graduates go on to a college or university. Of the remaining 40%, some enter vocational training; others immediately enter the workforce. Fewer others, still, join the less than 1% of Americans who volunteer to serve in our Nation’s Armed Forces.

These young men and women enter basic training or boot camp, and a few short weeks later arrive at their first units, where they immediately become valued and trusted members of high-performing teams—tough, motivated, and extremely dedicated. And with superb leadership, they stand ready, each day, to perform the complex, the difficult, and the dangerous missions. On some days, they are asked to do the impossible—and they do, with unwavering commitment and without complaint.

But, there is a second image; Veterans suffer disproportionately from depression, PTS—Post Traumatic Stress—substance abuse, joblessness, homelessness, and suicides.

Why these two disparate images? To be sure, there are far fewer Veterans in the second image than in the first, but the same youngsters populate both images. Why weren’t we able to help those in the second image continue the kinds of successes they achieved in the first image? How did they enter the downward spiral of depression, substance abuse, failed relationships, and joblessness that too often leads to homelessness and, sometimes, to suicide? Let me repeat—the same kids populate both images. So this is not about them; it’s about us.

At VA, our goal is to never allow the youngsters in the first image to fall into the second, and to return those in the second image to lives as productive as possible. If you wonder what the Secretary of Veterans Affairs is working on for the next several years, this is it. Ending homelessness among Veterans is a critical part of transforming VA for the 21st century. You see, to end Veteran homelessness, we have to address all the other reasons that cause the second image. To do that, we must work in collaboration with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, with the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Education, and with other federal, state and local agencies and organizations. We will not be successful without a coordinated, united, collaborative effort.

VA will end Veteran homelessness in five years. Our role, in this regard, is largely strategic and logistical. The hard, tactical fight is being waged in the streets by many of the good folks in this room.

For over 20 years, VA has been involved in street outreach, residential and transitional housing services, vocational rehabilitation, access to primary and mental health care, counseling for substance abuse, and assistance with benefits to those who qualify. While noble, these efforts lacked synchronization or focus on objective outcomes; we were committed to better managing homelessness, not ending it.

We now have the resources and support to end Veteran homelessness in the next five years. President Obama’s 2011 budget requests a homeless funding increase of over 23%, from $3.4 billion in 2010, to $4.2 billion next year. Eighty-five percent of the dollars go to health care, including mental health, substance abuse, and suicide prevention. Housing and specialized counseling will go from $500 million this year to $799 million in 2011, a 60% increase. Thanks to the President, we have a plan and we have resourced it.

But this isn’t just about money. More is not better; better is better. We have to be smarter about how we employ those resources and put in place the relationships, the procedures, and the disciplines that get 99 cents of impact out of every dollar we spend. Goodness here is not any one organization’s agenda, but what best serves our homeless.

Last year, we held a National Summit on Ending Veteran Homelessness; Nan and a number of you were there. Following that conference, we wrote a detailed five-year plan to end Veteran homelessness, a plan that emphasizes prevention rather than rescue and ensures a “no wrong door” philosophy for Veterans in need of help.

Veterans at risk of homelessness or who have just become homeless must have immediate access to our programs and services, regardless of which facility, which door, they enter seeking assistance. Any door—a medical center, a regional office, a Vet Center, a shelter or a community organization—must be open, welcoming, and capable of helping.

Over the next five years, our efforts to end Veteran homelessness will emphasize these six initiatives:

Outreach and education to Veterans who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless.
The strategy of prevention—controlling growth, even as we reduce the homeless population.
Strengthen the availability of primary, specialty, and mental health care, including substance-use disorders—which is why we are opening five new domiciliary residential programs to assure access to treatment.
Increased housing opportunities and appropriate supportive services tailored to the homeless Veteran.
Greater financial and employment support as well as improved benefits delivery—everything from increasing the number of Veterans working in the federal government, to improved placement of Veterans in private sector jobs, to growing the number of high-performing Veteran-owned and service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses competing for government contracts. Veterans hire Veterans because they know what they’re getting, so this will create churn in the job market.
And finally, expansion of these critically-important community partnerships; VA’s success in this venture is not possible without you. We’re going to be working on the same issues with you for a long time, even after we end homelessness amongst Veterans.

Today, VA partners with a number of community and faith-based, non-profit service providers—including some of the Nation’s largest like Volunteers of America, Catholic Charities, the Salvation Army—but also many excellent, smaller, local groups in towns and cities all across America.

HUD, VA, and the Department of Labor will soon announce a new effort—a HUD-VA At-Risk Pilot—to work with recently discharged and at-risk Veterans and their families. Prevention is the key to ending homelessness. When we begin this initiative, VA will provide comprehensive health care and benefits assistance, and HUD will provide continuums of care, including housing, child care, and other supports to keep Veterans’ families together.

Another initiative we will work, together, is providing supportive service grants for low-income Veterans and families—comprehensive assistance for those at risk of slipping into homelessness; this is a new step for VA in preventing homelessness among Veterans with families. We hope to offer $50 million in funding for this initiative by the end of this calendar year. This program will fund non-profit organizations that target very low-income, Veteran families for services spanning case management, child care, financial counseling, credit restoration, and job training, among others, to those most at risk of becoming homeless. I know that many in this room will join us in keeping families together, employed, and housed.

For these families and for the chronically-homeless Veteran, who is “hard-to-serve”—those who may have refused care in the past, failed to complete previous programs, have a history of disruptive behaviors, or who don’t fit easily into existing programs—the most effective option is HUD-VA Supportive Housing—HUD-VASH. VA will address all Veterans’ needs, no matter how difficult. We will not leave Veterans homeless while they seek treatment, but will house first, and then provide comprehensive treatment and services. In May, HUD announced that another 8,000 HUD-VASH vouchers had been allocated, and we expect another 1,500 vouchers shortly.

Before the end of the summer, we will have enough resources to help roughly 30,000 homeless Veterans and families live in permanent housing. HUD-VASH has dramatically changed our program. And nearly 11% of HUD-VASH units are occupied by women Veterans. In filling the first 20,000 HUD-VASH units, nearly 4,000 children of Veterans will have been kept with their Veteran parents.

We are expanding the participation of homeless and formerly-homeless Veterans in helping to design our programs. CHALENG—Community Homelessness Assessment, Local Education and Networking Groups—invites homeless Veterans to tell us how VA can better deliver the services they need; it’s about giving voice to our clients. In the past year, over 10,700 homeless or formerly-homeless Veterans participated in CHALENG, a ten-fold increase over three years.

Each year, 40,000 Veterans come out of prisons. Today, 931 of the Nation’s 1,300 prisons have a VA re-entry specialist working with Veterans well before their release. And I cannot emphasize enough the good work of Judge Robert Russell in Buffalo, New York, who originated the concept of Veterans’ Courts, where Veterans can be remanded to treatment rather to prison, giving us a chance to prevent homelessness and even bigger problems later. Again, prevention is the key.

Last month, we announced a new telephone hotline for homeless Veterans—1-877-4AID-VET (1-877-424-3838)—to help Veterans find food, shelter, clothing, and assistance. It’s staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by the same people who staff our suicide prevention hotline, cross-trained responders able to serve both populations. We’ve found that many homeless Veterans who may be considering suicide, won’t call our suicide hotline, but they will call our homeless hotline. Either way, we are there for them. Once again, there is no wrong door to help.

Last year, we partnered with more than 25,000 volunteers who provided outreach and services to more than 42,000 homeless Veterans and more than 6,000 family members at 190 stand down events. We will continue to proactively reach out to the homeless.

VA is a member of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, chaired by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who spoke here yesterday, and directed by Barbara Poppe. We are working closely with HUD, with all members of the Interagency Council, with members of Congress, with many of your organizations, and with thousands of other stakeholders and community organizations.

Our newly-established Center on Homelessness Among Veterans works with community partners and university affiliates to develop new treatment models and best-practices for specific homeless Veteran populations. The center has developed training for VA staff and community partners for working with hard-to-serve Veterans. Some VA medical centers have also developed specialized clinics—low-demand, low-barrier programs delivering health care, mental health evaluations, and social work strategies.

As we navigate our five-year campaign to eliminate homelessness, we expect the path will become steeper; at the end, we will be left with the most difficult cases to address, the hardest to serve. We must accept that and begin preparing now for the steepness of that climb; we didn’t sign on for just the easy cases. We signed on to end homelessness for all Veterans.

Let me end with the words of something called The Soldier’s Creed. In part, the creed makes four, simple, declaratory statements:

I will always place the mission first;
I will never accept defeat;
I will never quit;
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

Now, to some, these lines come off as just words, words that roll easily off the tongue. But for those who endeavor to live by them, these are promises made to one another about being able to be counted upon when fear, stress, and danger reign. Think about the demands, the hardship, and the stress incurred by those who choose to live the creed in service to our Nation. We owe every man and woman who has worn our Nation’s military uniforms, a level of courage and determination that matches their own.

Thank you for the invitation to join you today, and once again, for your advocacy, devotion, and outstanding leadership on behalf of homeless Americans. We are all indebted to you.

God bless each and every one of you. God bless the men and women who serve, and have served, in uniform, and may God continue to bless this great, wonderful country of ours. Thank you.

Understanding the Federal Plan: Day 2 of the Conference

2010-07-13T17:34:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone, I’m so excited to be blogging from my first Alliance conference! Already it has been such a wonderful two days, I have been overwhelmed meeting so many people who are all committed to ending homelessness!

Undoubtedly the highlight of the day was the keynote address by none other than Secretary Shaun Donovan of Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sec. Donovan has been a force in advancing the goal of ending homelessness. In his speech, Sec. Donovan went into greater detail about the new federal plan to end homelessness, Opening Doors, and the ways he envisions turning the goals outlined in the plan into action.

But first, the Secretary generously offered his thanks to the National Alliance to End Homelessness and, specifically, to our president Nan Roman, for her leadership in bringing the movement to end homelessness where it is today. He announced that Nan has worked with five (5!) HUD Secretaries and that he intended on being the very last one that Nan works with to end homelessness – as he intends on finishing the job!

Then the Secretary expressed how excited he was about the new federal plan. He offered a feeling of optimism and achievement, comparing the fight to end homelessness to America’s landing of a man on the moon. Like the moon landing, many people see the goal of ending homelessness as impossible or unrealistic, but also like landing on the moon, we enter this challenge armed and ready to conquer our goals, the Secretary said. We have data and new strategies, a new collaborative vision, and countless resources that we are learning to effectively share with each other. It will not happen overnight, but with hard work and planning, these tasks show themselves to be very possible.

The federal plan workshop that followed featured deputy director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness Jennifer Ho and executive director Barbara Poppe, who went over the goals and details of the federal plan and how they might affect local communities. (No worries – we’ll put up the presentation on the website as soon as it’s available.)

It was an uplifting day, hearing directly from the Secretary himself and about something that has the potential to fundamentally change the way communities address homelessness (as Sec. Donovan specifically noted). We’re hoping that the address – combined with the workshops that we’re hosting right here – will help make that happen.
And on a social note, tweeters all over the conference were proposing a meet-up either later (perhaps tomorrow?) of all interested parties for a quick and casual meet-and-greet. Anyone out there interested? Please let us know!

Dispatches from the National Conference on Ending Homelessness - Day 1

2010-07-12T20:47:00.000-04:00

So it's important to note: I’m not an expert.

I tinker on the Alliance social networks, blog, and website – and I’ve learned a ton during my year here – but when it comes to homelessness, housing, policy, and practice – I’m the greenest girl you’ll meet at the Alliance.

Which is why coming to the National Conference on Ending Homelessness – this is my second! – is such a moving experience. For three days out of the year, I’m surrounded by nearly 1300 people from across the country who devote their time, energy, and passion to ending homelessness in the United States.

From the perspective of an outsider, it seems outlandish. It seems impractical and impossible. My own skeptical eyebrows shoot up to my hairline.

But, as I’ve learned – day by day at the Alliance – ending homelessness is no dream.

This year, the Alliance is hosting almost 80 workshops and three plenary sessions over the course of three days featuring experts and practitioners who have learned what ending homelessness looks like. Direct service providers, researchers, elected officials, and community activists from across the country are here in D.C. to tell us exactly how to do it.

Needless to say, it’s been a whirlwind of a first day.

After a morning of usability testing (our own small contribution to the movement!), Alliance president Nan Roman kicked off the opening plenary. She went over the state of the national movement to end homelessness. She covered our triumphs, our accomplishments, and the incredible work of all those assembled who have fundamentally changed the conversation about homelessness.

But what was heaviest on Nan’s mind, it seemed, was the anniversary of the Alliance’s own Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness.

Almost ten years ago - to the day - Nan stood on a very similar podium at the Washington Hilton and unveiled A Plan, Not a Dream: How to End Homelessness in Ten Years. She stressed what we all know today: we can end homelessness – one community at a time. With a concerted effort to implement best practices, utilize data effectively, and build an infrastructure focused on ending homelessness and not just managing it, we can all strive to reach a time when all people in the United States have a place to call home.

The bottom line, she said: homelessness still exists – that’s clear. But the upside is that we’ve made critical, systematic, and deliberate progress. The application of policy, proven strategies, and persistent, hard work [by you all] has reduced homelessness significantly over the past few years and paved the way to end homelessness.

“Ten years ago, the focus was on building a bigger homeless system to accommodate the problem. Today, the focus is on solving a growing problem – on being better and smarter rather than just bigger. It’s a solution, not a band-aid. It’s housing, not shelter. While there is still plenty of skepticism about ending homelessness, I think that today the idea of planning to end homelessness is well accepted, and indeed that we are all pulling together in that direction.”

After Nan, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty dropped by to welcome participants to the nation’s capitol. There’s no question that homelessness is of critical concern in the District – a territory that has a surprisingly high rate of homelessness. It was fitting that Mayor Fenty come to by to address a community of people intent on helping so many of the Mayor’s own vulnerable residents. Here’s hoping that – next time around – he shares a little more about the city’s plan to address the problem.

Then after two workshops (I sat in on “Rapid Re-Housing for Survivors of Domestic Violence” and “Permanent Supportive Housing for Families”), we took a little time to mingle.

Maybe the most exciting highlight of conferences like this one is the opportunity to put a face to the name (or handle!). As the social network girl at the Alliance, I get to interact with so many people online. I hear stories and requests and comments and critiques and every once in a while, I get to answer a question. But sometimes I feel like the contacts I make online flit through cyberspace and never manifest into real connections (a common fear, I think, of social media aficionados – we talked about in another post.

So it’s always a delight when I get to see and meet the names and pictures I see on our Facebook fan page and dancing across the twittersphere. Which is what I got to do during our post-workshop reception on Monday night.

In case we haven’t already connected, come by and see me sometime!

Friday News Round Up: Newsflash - We need TANF!

2010-07-09T13:56:00.003-04:00

This week we’ve seen a lot of love for TANF. We have talked about it a lot, and this week CNN Money and the New York Times both noted how important the program is, and why it’s important to keep it funded. LaDonna Pavetti from the Center on Budget on Policy Priorities also offered her perspective for the continuation of the program.

CNN also put out an interesting piece this week about a group of homeless teens, which helped illustrate the hardships homeless youths experience. (In case you missed it: we talked about homeless youths just yesterday.)

Out of Austin, TX we are unfortunately seeing more of one of the main causes of homelessness: a lack of affordable housing. However, in Western Massachusetts and Asheville, NC, programs intended to reduce homelessness are proving effective.

Finally, the new federal plan is still a hot topic, and many critical reviews of the plan are circulating around.

And there’s no doubt that the plan is exactly what Secretary Donovan will be discussing during his keynote speech at our own – you got it – Annual Conference! Next time we blog, we’ll be live-blogging from the Hyatt!

Examining the Federal Plan: Goal 8 –Youth Homelessness

2010-07-08T13:45:00.007-04:00

The new federal plan to end homelessness has set 10 objectives to guide us on the path to ending homelessness.

And the bait was just to good to pass up.

On the blog, we’ll examine each goal, what’s known, what isn’t, and what we’re going to do moving forward on that goal. We’ll call the series, “Examining the Federal Plan.”

This week we will be looking at objective eight, “Advance health and housing stability for youth aging out of systems such as foster care and juvenile justice”.

I myself am still learning a lot about the different kinds of homelessness, but the Alliance is chock full of people who are each a wealth of information and more than willing to help me learn. Since this objective has to do with youth homelessness, I thought this week I could do a post about youth homelessness in general, since it is an area of homelessness that often goes unseen.

To learn about youth homelessness, I talked to LaKesha Pope, Senior Youth Policy and Program Analyst.

Here are some of the questions I asked her and what I learned:

What causes youth homelessness?
Youth can become homelessness for many different reasons, many of them the same factors that cause other groups to experience homelessness. However, the major factors that usually contribute to youth homelessness are family dysfunction and breakdown, specifically family conflict, abuse, and disruption. Many youth enter a state of homelessness as a result of:
• Running away from home,
• Being locked out or abandoned by their parents or guardians,
• Running or being emancipated or discharged from institutional or other state care.

Another reason youth often become homeless is because of systems failure of mainstream programs like child welfare or juvenile corrections. These systems fail to address the needs of those leaving the programs, and consequently the youth end up homeless because they are not able to secure housing by themselves.

What does youth homelessness typically look like?
There are four general groups that homeless youth fall into, and it possible for them to move between groups.

• First-Time Runners - Youth in this group can usually be returned to their families or guardians.
• Couch Surfers - Very hard to identify. They use their social networks to find couches of friends or relatives to sleep on for one night or longer.
• Service Seekers - Those who seek shelter services, easier to identify since shelters are where counts are done. The most visible of homeless youth.
• Street-Entrenched Youth - youth who are on the street for six months or more.

There is no research to support the notion that homeless youths often come from homeless families.

Are there groups within the youth homelessness population that are particularly affected?
In urban settings, African American youth are disproportionately represented, and in rural communities, Native American youth are disproportionately represented.

LGBTQ youths increasingly make up a portion of the homeless youth population as well, often due to parents or guardians kicking the youth out due to their orientation, or due to abuse at home for said orientation.

Why is it hard to count youth homelessness?
Homeless youths are particularly difficult to count because they can blend in well. They often appear as students in most public places. Many youths also don’t consider themselves homeless, such as those who couch surf.

Why do youths aging out of foster care and other systems tend to become homeless?
Poor discharge planning.

Youths “aging out” of systems are disconnected and do not have social networks to rely on for assistance in finding housing or employment. They lack self-sufficiency skills and can often be affected by an emotional condition, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Systems are also ineffective at checking to make sure pre-arranged housing accommodations stick.

This is the group the new federal plan hopes to target specifically in an effort to end this problem.

How do we try and solve youth homelessness?
First, the same way we try and solve all types of homelessness: housing.

Beyond this, youth also need to be connected with adults that will help them, and given life skills development. One way to administer this is through youth housing continuum. To learn more about this and other applied solutions, take a look at our policy ad practice brief.

These were just a few of the question I asked, but already I could see a new side of the homeless population that needs to be addressed just as much as any other. If you want to know more, LaKesha gave me a great document that gives lots of information on youth homelessness. It’s a brief but illuminating read - four pages can tell you a lot of great information about youth homelessness. You can find it on our website, here.

If you have a question about youth homelessness or homelessness in general, or about the Alliance, ask us at our formspring, where you can see the answers to your question and many others. One of our goals is to help disseminate information about homelessness, so we are more than eager to answer any questions you might have.

Coming up next in Examining the Federal Plan - Systems Change.

Musings on Social Media

2010-07-07T17:40:00.006-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I gave a brief, casual presentation about our organizational social media networks over a lunch meeting.

The Alliance has been online for about a year now, on Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, and YouTube.

Not surprisingly, Twitter and Facebook are our most active networks; the blog averages a few thousand readers per month.

And as we invest the time and manpower it requires maintaining these networks (and sometimes it takes quite a bit!), we’re constantly asking ourselves the following questions:

1. What is the goal of our social networks?
2. What do people want from our social networks?

So to answer the second question, we put out a social media survey in May/June of this year. We asked people who they were, what their roles were in the homeless assistance community, how they followed the Alliance, and what content they preferred (Reports? Advocacy updates? Federal policy information?)

And we came up with some interesting results.

The majority of our Twitter users say advocacy updates and opportunities to take action are most useful, followed by media clips about housing and homelessness.
Community members on Facebook, blog, and our weekly newsletter were all most interested in learning about permanent supportive housing; Twitter users were interested in learning about HPRP.
The policy advocates, grassroots advocates/activists, housing/service providers, and interested citizens who follow us all preferred Facebook updates to updates on other outlets.
50 percent of the survey respondents either collaborate with Alliance staff or use our website for work.
News about Alliance events is generally the least interest/useful material we put out. (That being said, we’re still going to pepper you every so often with news about our upcoming conference!)

The first question, as many in the field will tell you, is a harder nut to crack. And it’s something that I, as the social media girl at the Alliance, find myself asking a lot. Is the time and energy I invest on these social networks worthwhile? How am I advancing my organization’s goals by tinkering on our organization’s website?

And for me, I find my answer in our mission. As a member of the Homelessness Research Institute, part of my mission is to “build and disseminate knowledge”, to “educate and inform” people about ending homelessness. (I'm guessing that a lot of people in my role have similar mission statements.)

And to that end, I find, these social media tools are instrumental. Social networks offer a place where a critical mass of people has gathered with the explicit purpose to connect to friends, colleagues, and organizations. The platform offers a way for us to dispense information about our organization and issue – and provides supporters a means to interact with us in ways not have available to them before. Social networks are an avenue that we can walk every day to educate and update people interested in the small piece of the world we investigate.

And the growth of our networks seem to suggest that the portion of the population interested in our work is sizable.

Since January:

Our Facebook audience has grown from 280 fans to 1644 fans. The growth in fans has been accompanied by a growth in activity on the site, with an increase in the number of comments and “likes” on our updates.
Our Twitter fanbase has grown from 686 followers to 1205 followers. Hot topics among our Twitter friends in the last six months included Alliance reports, Awards Ceremony, TANF/family homelessness, and HUD products and reports.
Our blog has also grown in readership, averaging about 3000 readers per month. Top referring sites have included our own website, Facebook and twitter accounts.

Just this morning, the Alliance research director and I wondered if the seemingly endless stream of data now readily available and at our fingertips is making us better-informed citizens (or not). What we concluded was that there was a clear and distinct divide between data and information – and that while the availability of data may have surged, it may not have been accompanied by an increase in available information.

It now occurs to me that perhaps my goal through our social networks is to provide information. In a field as fraught and misunderstood as homelessness, the onus lies on nonprofit groups like ours to correct the misgivings of the well-intentioned and grow the community of citizens that are committed to reducing and ending homelessness in the United States.

Or at least, that's what I'm telling myself for now.

Ten Things to Look Forward to at the Alliance Annual Conference!

2010-07-06T13:52:00.007-04:00

Everyone here at the Alliance is so excited for our conference next week!

So in an effort to get everybody else pepped-up, we thought we’d share ten great things (among hundreds!) that you should look forward to at this year’s conference:

1. The anniversary of the Ten Year Plan
This conference marks the ten-year anniversary of the Alliance’s Ten Year Plan to end homelessness. Our president Nan Roman will discuss what we’ve done so far - and what next steps lie ahead.

2. Secretary Donovan’s keynote
There’s no doubt about it: HUD Sec. Shaun Donovan will discuss the new federal plan to end homelessness and how it can potentially change the whole field of ending homelessness.

3. Capitol Hill Day
Representatives from at least 44 states will be visiting their representatives in Congress to discuss the importance of a federal commitment to end homelessness. Learn more about it here.

4. Secretary Shinseki’s keynote
The VA has committed to ending veteran homelessness in five years and we hope Sec. Shinseki will share their bold new plans with us!

5. Launch of the 100,000 Homes Campaign
Common Ground of New York is committing to housing the hundred thousand most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness. You can find out more here.

6. Tracks
This year’s conference offers several tracks – giving you an opportunity to focus on a specific subject or area. Tracks themes include: domestic violence, HPRP, and HEARTH.

7. Expert Roundtables
Wednesday morning, the conference will offer breakfast roundtables with experts in a variety of fields. A great way to meet a leader in the homelessness field.

8. Advocacy Institute
Find out how to turn information into action. The Alliance will offer a half-day Advocacy Institute on Tuesday.

9. Evening Monument Tours
(If you can stand the heat!)

10. YOU!
The conference is a once-a-year opportunity to meet and mingle with experts, providers, and advocates in the field. We can’t wait to see you!

Friday News Round-Up: Local Communities Tackle Homelessness

2010-07-02T14:02:00.001-04:00

On the national front, the Economist talked about the new federal plan to end homelessness, commenting on the state of homelessness today and focusing on how employment must be a major focus when considering homelessness issues.

Architectural Record had an interview with Secretary Donovan of HUD (who is a trained architect, did you know??) and the Secretary discussed the role of architectural development in creating new affordable housing.

But a lot of the news this week has been about local communities, who are tackling homelessness in their own, tailored way.

In New Hampshire, a new plan is out to stop veteran homelessness, while in Kentucky they are changing the way they assist youth aging out of the foster care system so that they can avoid experiencing homelessness.

There seem to be concerns in both San Diego and Oregon about rising homelessness.

New York’s new budget could possibly stall the creation of more low-income housing, and San Francisco had funding cut from their homeless outreach program.

However, good news is coming out of in Lufkin, TX. They have just approved funds to not only help rebuild affordable housing for those displaced by natural disaster, but they’ve also approved funds to create new low-income housing in the area.

Communities all over the nation are becoming more aware about the people in their areas who are experiencing homelessness and working to prevent and end homelessness by implementing best practices and effective strategies most appropriate to their unique communities.

House T-HUD Numbers Out!

2010-07-01T16:03:00.000-04:00

This morning, the House Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (T-HUD) Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its fiscal year (FY) 2011 spending bill. (This is the subcommittee - along with its Senate counterpart - that governs the HUD budget.)

Although all of the details of the bill are not yet available, the legislation includes:

$2.055 billion for the HUD McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants (the amount requested by the Administration and a 10 percent increase over FY 2010);
$75 million for HUD-VA Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers;
$85 million for a Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration; and
$350 million for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program (a $15 million increase over FY 2010).

Given the current budget climate and the emphasis on keeping the deficit down, we are delighted that the House has provided increased resources for each of these programs. In fact, if passed by Congress, this would be the largest one-year increase for the McKinney programs in 15 years.

However, it will require $2.4 billion to fully implement the HEARTH Act.

So we need you to get back to those phones and do YOUR part to ensure that you’re protecting the local programs that help our most vulnerable friends and neighbors.

Contact your Representative and ask him/her to work throughout the rest of the appropriations process to provide additional funding for McKinney programs. (And if they happen to be a House T-HUD member, thank them for their work on the spending bill!)
Call the housing staffers in your Senators’ office and ask them to work with Senate T-HUD members to provide the necessary $2.4 billion for McKinney programs in the Senate FY 2011 bill.
Let us know what happened.Report all responses to Amanda Krusemark and let her know if you want to stay involved with Alliance advocacy efforts.

We know you've been working hard to work on this McKinney campaign - and we couldn't make progress without you. And while advocacy can be sometimes-unglamorous work, we know that YOU'RE making the difference in the lives of people experiencing homelessness in our local communities and nationwide.

For additional details on the House’s HUD appropriations bill, visit our website.

And thanks for all your hard work!

African American Homeless Veterans

2010-07-01T13:00:00.001-04:00

Today’s guest blog comes from Ron Armstead, Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus’ Veterans Braintrust.

At a workshop that Ron organized for the National Coalition on Homeless Veterans, I had the honor of presenting data that show that African Americans are overrepresented among the homeless veteran population. As illustrated in the Alliance’s most recent report on homelessness among veterans, while African American veterans make up 10 - 11 percent of the veteran population, they make up 45 percent of the homeless veteran population.

As I was pulling together my slides for this presentation, I was struck by following from the HUD’s fifth Annual Homeless Assessment Report:

“When compared to their counterparts nationwide, homeless people are much more likely to be adult males, African Americans, non-elderly, alone, veterans and disabled.”

Background:

For more than two decades the homeless veteran’s population has been a scar on the face of America. The Heroes Today, Homeless Tomorrow Report (1991), set the stage, or tone at the national public policy level for dialogue. Yet little inside, or outside the national debate has focused on why African American veterans are continually disproportionately represented. Early Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Braintrust issues forums convened in 1992, and in 1993, in which deceased VA Secretary Jesse Brown (1992) testified, revealed that of the estimated 250,000 single male veterans who were homeless nationally, 40% were Black, or African American. The currently available literature does not reveal, nor does it provide meaningful explanations on this phenomenon. However, striking and overlapping seminal reports of the post Vietnam era Forgotten Warrior Project (1976), Legacies of Vietnam Study (1981), and National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (1984) all link black military enlistments with the quest for jobs, training, education and economic advantage. Thus, suggesting that today’s overwhelmingly male and disproportionately black homeless veteran’s population are worse off than before the Vietnam Conflict. There is a clear commitment according to new VA Secretary Eric Shinseki & Four Star U.S. Army General (Ret.) to end homelessness among veterans. Yet numerous professionals, practitioners, and advocates argue you can’t solve the homeless veterans problem unless you better understand why African American veterans are continually overrepresented among the homeless population factually! Despite, the overall reduction in homelessness from 195,000 homeless veterans six years ago.

In the words of Secretary Shinseki veterans’ lead the nation in homelessness, depression, substance abuse, suicides, and they rank up there in joblessness, as well. Approximately one half of homeless veterans are African America. While current estimates are that 131,000 veterans live on the streets of this the wealthiest and most powerful Nation in the world. More importantly, President Obama and the VA are committed to ending homelessness among veterans over the next five years.

Lessons Learned:

1)One of the most obvious lessons learned is that there is a common perception among minority veterans that they are not being provided equal services by the VA system as reported by the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans Report in 2008.

2)The failure to redress, or adequately explain why significant differences exist in homeless rates between black and white veterans, has dire consequences for vulnerable black families and communities with fewer resources, or assets. For example, fatherlessness, family poverty, and community violence.

3)The rigorous pursue or examination of cause and effect relationships, or factors from an environmental perspective (not individual vulnerability) by VA and community based participatory research partners sensitive to the racial, ethnic, gender and class nuisances of vulnerable poor, black and/or communities with fewer resources, or assets is lacking.

4)Black veterans were still generally found to have higher nonemployment rates (nonemployment refers to individuals unable to find work, but still are searching for employment…) than white veterans, reflecting dominant national employment trends. (Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2007)

5)Blacks & Hispanics disproportionately suffer from serious labor market problems. This occurs despite gains in average educational attainment and increased representation in higher-paying occupations among these groups. Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than Whites or Asians to be unemployed. When employed, Black and Hispanics are much more likely than Whites or Asians to be working in lower-paying occupations. Some factors include, but are not limited to: their lower average levels of schooling; their tendency to be employed in occupations that are subject to higher rates of unemployment; their greater concentration in the central cities of our urban areas, where job opportunities may be relatively limited; and the likelihood that they experience discrimination in the workplace. (Labor Force Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity, 2007)

Conclusions:

One conclusion is that no systemic review and/or meta-analysis of homeless veteran’s scientific journal literature and no reports focusing on the disproportionate nature of African American homeless veterans have been published since Heroes Today, Homeless Tomorrow, 1991. Which either directly, or indirectly focus on black homeless veterans’ urban prevalence and incidence, or severity currently exist. For example, geographical distribution, risk factors, protective factors, utilization rates of homeless services, health status, mental health illnesses, substance abuse, employment considerations, poverty, housing, race and culture data. Also there are no cross-cutting studies from the VA healthcare system disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, social work, nursing, readjustment counseling, vocational rehabilitation, etc. The objective of such a review, analysis and/or comparisons would be (1) determine in which urban areas veterans status, race, ethnicity and homelessness predominate; (b) describe why there is disproportionate homelessness in predominantly urban areas of the country; and (c) qualitatively synthesize the existing knowledge to determine the best approaches for future national homelessness reduction efforts aimed at enhancing VA health equity, community development, neighborhood revitalization and family stabilization.

The Alliance’s Annual Report Is Out!

2010-06-30T13:19:00.003-04:00

So – apologies in advance. With the release of our 2009 Annual Report (AR), we’re going to take a moment to tell you about the awesome stuff that the Alliance has done (and is doing!).

To skip all this and just check out the report, find it on our website.

So, to begin - the Annual Report is a summary of Alliance activities, projects, and achievements over the course of a year. We highlight some our greatest triumphs, describe the work of the different departments, and outline our financial reports.

In sum, it’s the Alliance – in a colorful, shiny snapshot (see right).

A few highlights:

I’m sure it comes as no shock that the Homelessness Counts report, which shows changes in homelessness from 2005 to 2007, was featured prominently in the AR. The Counts report is accompanied by a cool web-based interactive map, which illustrates the report’s finding at a state level. It’s consistently the most visited page on the website and a continuing source of attention from media, colleagues, and advocates – it’s also a great example of the innovative work of the Homelessness Research Institute, the research and education arm of the Alliance.

Also included in the Annual Report is information about the major legislation that was passed in the last year, including the HEARTH Act and the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP). HPRP and HEARTH are not only great tools for homeless assistance advocates and direct service providers but they can help fundamentally change the way we approach homelessness – moving from managed care to a framework that promotes ending homelessness. The Alliance is proud to have been an important part in both passing the pieces of legislation and in helping communities utilize these new programs effectively and efficiently.

And that’s the work of the Alliance’s Center for Capacity Building - helping communities on-the-ground. This year, the Center assisted 48 communities in 19 states implement best practices and launched a virtual discussion series giving community leaders a way to share their experiences and connect with each other.

There is a special mention of the Alliance’s Leadership Council (LC). The LC includes leaders in the homelessness assistance field from 13 communities – including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and D.C. – and represents 14 percent of the national homeless population. The Council comes together to share information from their respective cities and is currently engaged in a review of HPRP implementation.

Check it out for yourself! Read the Alliance’s Annual Report, and let us know what you think!

What Happened to the Tax Extenders Bill?

2010-06-29T11:23:00.006-04:00

The Alliance blog has talked before about what is formally known as the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (HR 4213), but is often called the “tax extenders bill”.

The bill would include funding for a number of programs, but there are two that interest us: the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF) and the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF).

The TANF ECF is this extra pool of money helped TANF support more families during the recession and we were looking to have it renewed so that more support would be available. For more information about the TANF ECF (and family homelessness!) check out yesterday’s blogpost.

The second is the NHTF, a program created under President Bush to create affordable housing. Unfortunately, when the program was created, no money was allocated to it (it’s pretty hard to develop affordable housing with no money, FYI). The tax extenders bill would fund (we call that “capitalize”) NHTF – and more affordable housing means fewer people experiencing homelessness.

Unfortunately, last Thursday, June 24th, the House-approved bill was shut down in the Senate, with a 57 to 41 vote (60 votes were needed to pass it). Republicans and some others claimed to have withheld support because portions of the bill remained unfunded. No timeline was set as to when the tax extenders bill would be picked back up.

All in all, this means that we don’t know if the programs we mentioned will be receiving funding or if these program that help people experiencing homelessness will be able to serve as many people as they would like.

But we’ll have another chance to make a difference around the corner. Next week, the House subcommittee in charge of the HUD budget will be marking up their FY 2011 budget. So while we’ve lost this battle (for now), we can still make a difference for people experiencing homelessness and for our communities. Stay tuned to find out how YOU can help!

Learning about family homelessness

2010-06-28T15:55:00.003-04:00

When I came to the Alliance, I really did not know anything about homelessness, or those who were experiencing it. I think, like many people, my experience with people experiencing homelessness was only of those collecting change on the streets.

However, since coming to the Alliance and being exposed to the community dedicated to ending homelessness, I have come to understand that this is not a comprehensive picture of homelessness. I think I thought that all people who were experiencing homelessness fell into that category of what I now understand to be chronic homelessness. Turns out I was wrong - there are so many different types of homelessness, most of which aren’t chronic. One type of homelessness that I had not considered before was family homelessness.

Family homelessness has been in the news a lot lately, especially because of the Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) which found that the number of families seeking shelter has increased in the last year. Also, the new Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness, called Opening Doors, set a specific goal of ending family homelessness in 10 years. These developments have pushed the issue into the spotlight so, in an effort to educate myself more about this group, I asked around the Alliance and did some research to get a clearer picture of family homelessness.

So what is family homelessness? It’s exactly what one would think: families who are not able to afford housing, and as a result experience homelessness. Roughly 30 percent of those experiencing homelessness are families.

What do families experiencing homelessness look like? In truth, families experiencing homelessness aren’t different than other poor families. So what usually happens is this: there’s a poor family that’s just getting by and then something happens – an injury, a job loss, a car crash – and some unforeseen cost derails the family’s hard-strapped finances. At some point, they’re unable to make rent and fall into homelessness.

The majority of families who experience homelessness are homeless for fewer than six months. Chronic family homelessness – though it happens – is rare, because in those situations (repeated homelessness or in the case of illness or disability), children are usually removed from the situation.

So what are we going to do about it?Ending family homelessness is really contingent on investing in homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing – which is why we’re really happy with the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), the $1.5 billion stimulus-funded federal program. The program was intended to curb homelessness resulting from the recession by quickly getting families back into housing (that’s the rapid re-housing part) or by connecting families with resources with they become at-risk of losing their housing (that’s the prevention part). It’s being implemented in communities across the country right this very second – and some communities are showing results already. We’re tracking progress in 13 communities across the country – you can see our latest report here.

There are several resources that families can use to help them acquire housing. Unemployment Insurance is available for those who qualify, as is Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for people with disabilities.

But the one program you’re going to hear about most when talking about poor families is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

TANF – sometimes called welfare – is intended to provide poor families with temporary cash assistance as they work towards independence. And this program has been the focus of some legislative action.

In February 2009, Pres. Obama signed into law the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF) which was meant to help states continue their TANF program. At the height of the recession, it was projected that more families would be turning to public benefits and states would struggle to meet the needs of their residents. The federal government created TANF ECF and allowed states to use the fund to cover up to 80 percent of their TANF expenditures (the states had to come up with the other 20 percent on their own).

The Emergency Contingency Fund is set to expire – but a renewal is being considered in the Senate as part of the Tax Extenders Bill.

But more on that tomorrow!

For more information about family homelessness – including what you and I can do to help out, check out our website.

Friday News Round Up: New Plan, New Hope

2010-06-25T16:16:00.002-04:00

This week marked a big step in the fight against homelessness. The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) released Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, a new federal strategic plan geared toward preventing and ending homelessness today. Everybody has been talking about it all week.

Melody Barnes, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, offered her positive review, while the National Coalition for the Homeless took the seemingly more common reaction of cautiously optimistic. Goals were praised all around, but the question of where funds would come from seemed to be on people’s minds.

Our own President Nan Roman offered the Alliance’s take on the new plan. Tony Pugh of McClatchy and Ileana Morales of the Associated Press also offered their analysis of the plan.

With the advent of this new federal plan, we’re hoping that there will be a renewed national interest in eliminating homelessness – and this piece examining the link between housing problems and policy is keeping our hopes up!

On a more local level, we’re still seeing stories about the implementation of HPRP. Detroit seems to be having trouble distributing funds efficiently and effectively, but there seems to be light in Boston as communities embrace one of the principles of ending homelessness: housing first.

And last but most certainly not least, TANF takes the stage. As legislators continue to dwell upon the passage of the Tax Extenders Bill (which we’ve discussed on this blog) LaDonna Pavetti, Director of the Welfare Reform and Income Support Division at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, discusses the huge positive impact that the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund has had since it was extended - and why we should do what we can to keep it around.

Capitol Hill Day: What is it?

2010-06-23T12:43:00.001-04:00

The office here at the Alliance is abuzz lately with activity concerning our upcoming National Conference to End Homelessness. And a big part of the conference is what we call Capitol Hill Day.

As a newbie with the Alliance, I wasn’t exactly clear on what the purpose of Capitol Hill Day – so I sought out Sumeet Singh, intern for our Program and Policy Associate Amanda Krusemark, who’s helping to make Capitol Hill Day happen.

So the bottom line of Capitol Hill day is to affect policy.

On Capitol Hill Day, people who are working to end homelessness meet their members of Congress. Meeting Senators and Representatives is a direct way to talk about homelessness and face-to-face meetings are particularly effective. It’s not always with a Member him or herself; sometimes it’s someone on their staff. That may seem less effective, but staffers are extremely important in influencing Members, so it works either way.

Capitol Hill Day offers a chance for people to talk directly to the officials who have the power to make decisions that affect the funding and creation of programs that help end homelessness. Sumeet also noted that Capitol Hill Day offers people a chance to establish a relationship with their Congressmen.

And the great news is – anyone can do it.

Anybody can come and participate in Capitol Hill Day. Groups are often lead by State Captains, people chosen to target the members of each state and to take the lead in organizing meetings. The number of State Captains is proportional to the state’s population.

For a lot of people, the experience can seem intimidating, but participants settle in quickly. Capitol Hill Day shows that officials in the government do not need to be seen as an unreachable power, but as real people serving their constituents.

This year there are 40 states represented at Capitol Hill Day, more than ever before! Registration has been strong and this year’s Capitol Hill Day promises to be successful for all our local advocates looking to make a change in the way their communities address homelessness.

Check out the website to learn more about Capitol Hill Day and to get involved, contact Amanda or Sumeet.

The Federal Plan to End Homelessness: Turning Plans into Action

2010-06-22T16:53:00.000-04:00

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) released a new federal strategic plan geared toward preventing and ending homelessness today.

And it was quite the production. Not quite presidential, but the Secretaries of the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (Shaun Donovan), Health and Human Services (Kathleen Sebelius), Labor (Hilda Solis), and Veterans Affairs (Gen. Eric Shinseki) all showed up to unveil Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness at a White House briefing this morning.

And right they were to make a to-do. Opening Doors is the first comprehensive federal plan developed to prevent and end homelessness, laying out specific goals and clear timeframes. The plan even identifies the data sources (point-in-time homeless counts, to be exact) by which they’ll be measuring progress, allowing for real accountability.
Opening Doors sets four major goals:

Finish the job of ending chronic homelessness in five years;
Prevent and end homelessness among veterans in five years;
Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children in ten years; and
Set a path to ending all types of homelessness.

(Any of this sound familiar?)

And while we’re very excited at the prospect of having a federal partner to help achieve our mutual goal of ending homelessness, we know that it’s not going to be easy. We know that the process of moving from plan to action will require more than good intentions.

How do we know?

Because this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of a plan. In 2000, we launched the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. After releasing, A Plan, Not a Dream: How to End Homelessness in Ten Years, we asked communities to take the charge and develop local plans to incrementally, systematically, end homelessness in their communities.

And the results were remarkable!

From 2005 to 2008, we saw a ten percent decrease in the total number of homeless people in the United States. In the same timeframe, there was a nearly 20 percent decrease in homeless families and a nearly 30 percent decrease in chronic homelessness. (For the full report on progress, check out Homelessness Counts: Changes in Homelessness from 2005 to 2007.

But progress didn’t come easily. To date, over 266 communities have developed their own community plans to end homelessness and those plans that have shown real progress have harnessed the political will and public support to invest real resources into the cause. Hard work, financial resources, and plenty of community investment were the keys to success. (In fact, the Alliance identified the four components critical to ensuring community plan success in this report.)

So all we’re hoping is that the plan can be turned into action. Implementation is the key to progress (as Nan notes) – and if this plan is implemented well with the heft and resources of the federal government, it promises to be instrumental in ending homelessness in the United States.

As a next step, federal agencies are meeting to prioritize which strategies should be implemented first and to develop implementation plans. USICH will report annually on progress toward implementation and achieving reductions in homelessness.
The plan was required by the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, which was enacted into law in May 2009. For the full, 67-page plan, check out the USICH website.

Meet the Summer Interns!

2010-06-21T14:12:00.003-04:00

After a week of reports and federal policy - and more to come, undoubtedly! - we thought we'd share a lighter side of the Alliance! Marisa (see below!) went around to chat up our summer interns and find out what brought them to the Alliance.

Here at the Alliance, we have recently had a number of new interns join us on our mission, and now we would like to introduce them all to you!

Mindy Mitchell

Mindy has just completed her first year at CUNY, where she is working on her law degree. She used to be a case worker in Mobile, Alabama, which she says is the reason why she wanted to pursue her law degree, because as she says, “Kids should not be homeless.” It is also one of the reasons why she wanted to work here at the Alliance. Mindy says she wants to work on a structural level to change why families become homeless. While here, she is researching house states and helping get the word out to people in government about extending TANF ECF, part of HR 4213. She is also a bibliophile!

Stephanie Wege

Stephanie is a recent graduate of Cornell University, where she minored in inequality studies, an area that affects a lot of people experiencing homelessness. Stephanie has been looking for full time employment, and believes that this internship at the Alliance will give her an edge in the workplace. She was drawn to the Alliance because, as she says, it deals with a comprehensive approach to many of the things people experiencing homelessness deal with, such as health care, education and employment. Stephanie is a Capacity intern, who will be helping with web based training materials, HPRP case management, and a HPRP provider survey. She also has an identical twin sister!

Sumeet Singh

Sumeet is a rising Junior at Birmigham-Southern College. Last summer he worked for a congressmen in Alabama, and for Conservation Alabama, where he learned about grassroots movements at the state level. His next logical step was to see how things work at a national level, which is why he is here at the Alliance! Sumeet says he is really enjoying seeing how grassroots movements work through different organizations, all the way up through government, and begin to have actual effects. He is a Federal Advocacy intern, and at the moment is mostly working the upcoming Capital Hill Day. He also gets his lunch every day from CVS!

Marisa Seitz

And last but not least, me! My name is Marisa and I’m the new Social Media intern here at NAEH. I am a military brat who attends James Madison University during the year, enjoys traveling around the world with her family and loves dresses. I am very excited to be working here at NAEH. Although I have not had a lot of experience with homelessness before, I knew I would be working on a great cause here. As far as social media goes, being plugged in is hardly an option anymore if one wants to stay informed, but I am fascinated with the new ways social media can be used to create communities, and the way that mobile online communities can intertwine and begin to affect real change. I hope in my time here I can learn more about the fight against homelessness, but also to help strengthen and expand the community of people who care about ending homelessness.

Friday News Roundup: The Big Gorilla in the Room (read: AHAR)

2010-06-18T12:15:00.000-04:00

It was a week of big news in the homeless assistance field this week...

The 9,000 lb gorilla in the room was definitely the release of the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress. The HUD-authored study is a compilation of everything we know about homelessness in a given year. Headlining this year’s report is a) homelessness is marginally down overall but b) there are more families seeking shelter, which both we and HUD believe is an indication of the recession's impact on homelessness.

Also making headlines this week – but probably more next week – is the long anticipated release of the Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness, which is due to be released in full on Tuesday, June 22. While there’s little news to be covered yet, Executive Director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness Barbara Poppe does offer a few sneak peeks.

As if that weren’t enough – and it is – let’s not forget that Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard came out with their State of the Nation's Housing this week, which took over our attention for a couple days.

And other people are thinking about the state of affordable housing and poverty too. Just today, Stateline released an analysis about the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund, which is still being kicked around by the Senate as part of the Tax Extenders Bill. Also, the state of low-income housing seems to be floating around on the Center for American Progress (CAP) blog.

Hope you enjoy!

Media 2.0 and Homelessness

2010-06-17T17:04:00.001-04:00

Hello all! My name's Marisa, and I’m the new social media intern here at the Alliance (there's actually a LOT of new folk here this summer - but more about us later).

On June 14, I was given the opportunity to attend a series of talks on social media and media in general, as part of Digital Capital Week, an event focused on technology, innovation, and all things digital in Washington DC.

I was sent because, as the Alliance has noted on this blog before, the use of social media tools in poverty and homeless assistance organizations continues to drag behind as compared to other movements.

So we're studying up!

In a discussion about the use of social media tools in news organizations - “Social and Traditional Media: How News and Media Organizations Are Getting Social and Why They Need to Do It” – panelists were all quick to agree that there is no longer an “if” as to whether businesses and organizations should use social media. Andy Carvin, who works for NPR, noted how people have been “social” with the organization for years, even since the late 1970s when people would send self-created audio files to local stations. Today’s social media platforms - including Facebook and Twitter - are only newer, faster ways for an audience to interact with organizations.

The panelists also agreed that the beauty of social media is that it acknowledges the power of the people. According to Carvin, when NPR seeks to add something extra to a project, they often turn to their social media outlets and ask people who follow NPR to help out.

And you know what? It works.

Listeners have submitted complex Google maps that explained Hurricane Gustav or analyzed trends of an election. The listener base that NPR had fostered online offer their skills as a way to get involved. Fellow panelists agreed with Carvin, noting that social media was a powerful tool that allowed their audiences to become interactive communities.

Jeff Pulver, founder of Vonage and VoIP industry leader, elaborated on this concept. The digital social media we use today, he argued, is serving an important function: to connect people.

Pulver talked about social media’s ability to take a single voice and amplify it, a phenomenon often seen on Twitter through the use of re-tweets. Change comes from ideas - and social media affords new ways of spreading ideas and affecting change. Pulver also stressed that the way to best use social media like Twitter was to be genuine, to try and establish connections to people, to care enough to reply directly back to them, to thank them when they pass along information.

Lee Rainie, Director of the acclaimed Pew Internet & American Life Project brought a data-based perspective to the conversation he discussed their latest survey on the Internet.

Rainie showed the difference in Internet consumption in the last decade.

Rainie talked about previous surveys, what they had correctly predicted (such as online security becoming a problem) and what they had thought would happen that did not (such as change in classroom structure). He then went on to discuss the results from their most recent survey, explaining some of the questions they asked and how their group of experts responded.

Will Google make us stupid?
Most experts said no, saying that cognitive sentiments will shift. New literacies will emerge, there will be the rise of “extreme googlers”. That people are people, and any characteristics that people seem to be gaining from the Internet were there before, and the Internet is only giving people a chance to express them.
What is the future of online anonymity?
Either online sharing will be sharply curtailed or information will still be pretty easy to get in 2020, but experts are split as to which it will be. They believe that new laws will emerge, but perhaps people will realize that it is really confidentiality and autonomy (the ability to choose who can see your information) and not privacy that they want.
What will be the Internet’s impact on ready and writing?
Experts agreed that writing will mostly improve. The Internet encourages participation, often through writing and reading, and as there is more writing and reading, skill will improve. It was also noted that with younger generations where there is concern over writing skills because of the way people write in things such as texts, it is mostly unfounded because teens don’t see texting as writing, but as a conversation, and know to write differently in the classroom.

It's a big social media world out there - and the promise of their utility is overwhelming. It's up to us, it seems, to make sure that we capitalize on the opportunities that our foray out into the digital landscape offers.

Nowhere is that promise more important than in serving the most vulnerable communities among us. We've been doing a lot of finger-crossing lately - lots of planning and thinking, too - and now we're transferring our best wishes to our best efforts.

Wish us luck!

Thoughts on the 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report

2010-06-16T17:51:00.002-04:00

Big, big news. (It’s been a big news week).

Aside from the now-announced but still-anticipated release of the federal strategic plan to end homelessness – called Opening Doors - there’s even more news to digest!

Today, the Department of Housing and Urban Development released the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR).

And it’s pretty wild.

Headlining the report is the fact that homelessness is marginally down. Despite the worst recession this country has seen since the Depression, we’ve managed to avoid an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness. That may seem like a little thing, but persistent unemployment rate and the erosion of housing affordability we talked about on Monday, it’s a pretty great thing.

Among the highlight is a ten percent reduction in chronic homelessness(!!). There’s little doubt that the hard work of communities to implement housing-based strategies and prevention practices was key in that that reduction. For decades, the Alliance has lead the way analyzing research and best practices around chronic homelessness – and we’re so excited to see the results!

Such speculation is only further validated by the dramatic shift in the inventory of shelters beds in the United States. For years, emergency shelter and transitional housing beds dominated the supply. This is the first year that permanent supportive housing beds have topped the charts – and we hardly think it’s a coincidence.

But the news isn’t all good. As was noted this morning in the papers, there was a slight increase in the number of families seeking shelter this year.

And we think it has a lot to do with the recession. As job losses hit families, we imagine that they’re moving through their available resources and then finding themselves in shelter. In fact, our own Doubled Up report indicates that more families are staying with others as they work their way through financial hardships. This is the first AHAR that gives us an indication of what’s happened as a result of the recession – and it looks like families are being hit pretty hard.

That being said, it’s still a waiting game. As Nan’s pointed out before, “homelessness is a lagging economic indicator” and we haven’t even begun to see the effects of the federal Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program.

So keep those fingers crossed. But in the meantime, take a look at the full report.

The State of the Nation's Housing is out - and it doesn't look great

2010-06-14T22:19:00.003-04:00

Today the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University released their annual State of the Nation’s Housing report – an assessment of the American housing market for the past year.

Overall, the report offered mixed news. In the executive summary - entitled, “The Fledgling Recovery”—the report noted that the economy has started to show indications of a recovering housing market, including increased employment rates and reduced house prices. The report is also careful to note, however, that strength in the housing market will heavily depend on a recovery in the unemployment rate, which is currently holding steady at just under 10 percent.

While the big picture offered some interesting insights, what was most striking in the report [at least for us] was the state of affordable housing for low-income households. The picture may look mixed for the majority of Americans – but the outlook is notably less rosy for low-income households.

It starts with the rental market. Most low-income households are renters and the report definitively states that the supply of low-cost rental housing continues to decline. In fact, housing units considered affordable for those earning the federal minimum wage – rents of $400/month or less - declined by 244,000 units in 2007.

At the same time, the number of renters rose over the last year, in some part because of the pressures in the homeowners market. A significant portion of that of that increase is attributed to minority and immigrant households though the report also notes that elderly renter households will rise dramatically – by more than 3 million – as the baby boomer generation ages.

But the real story is in cost-burdened households.

The percentage of Americans living with severe housing cost burden (paying 50 percent or more of their monthly income on rent) stayed at a steady 12 percent for two decades – from 1980 to 2000. In 2008, that percentage shot up by a third to 16 percent. According to the report, a record 18.6 million households faced severe housing cost burdens this year – an increase of 4.7 million since 2001.

Sadly, the group most affected by severe housing cost burden is single-parent families with children. These households require more – more space, safer neighborhoods, better schools – but are restricted by a single-income. In 2008, half of low-income single-parent households spent 63 percent of their monthly income on housing. Minority households often spent more.

The story doesn’t improve from there. The housing report goes on to highlight other challenges presented to low-income and cost-burdened households. It’s a song that’s been sung before: affordable housing grows scarcer and scarcer and real incomes stay ever more stagnant.

Perhaps the most resonating message from this section of the report, however, is the rigid persistence of housing cost burdens over the years. Many economic indicators fluctuate; there are often breaks in data reflecting changes in the financial market, world events, or a shift in industry.

This is not the case for severe housing cost burden. Since the 1960s, the report notes, housing cost burden for the bottom income quartile has only become more and more severe.

The connection to homelessness couldn’t be clearer: as individuals and families struggle to cope with an ever-bleaker affordable housing landscape, the risk of homelessness grows. In order to prevent and reduce homelessness, we must – with great urgency – address the clearly critical need for more affordable housing.

For the full report, please visit the Joint Center for Housing Studies website. For more information about the relationship between homelessness and housing, please visit ours.

Friday News Roundup: It’s all local…

2010-06-11T16:29:00.001-04:00

It’s been a week of local news about homelessness – local plans, NIMBYism all across the country, and community efforts to confront housing.

In Tempe, Arizona, there’s a project underway to target chronic homelessness – the Temple Pilot Project funded by the federal Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing fund. The effort is part of Maricopa County’s effort to reduce homelessness by a notable 75 percent by 2020.

In Johnson County, Missouri, a more nascent effort is underway. Johnson County is seeking applicants to serve on a task force to find solutions – both long-term and immediate strategies to service people experiencing homelessness. Five representatives are expected to be selected and a report of finding and recommendations is due in early 2011.

News is less positive in other communities – NIMBYism seems to be a strong theme in some communities across the country. In Tulsa, OK and Dallas, TX, community members are strongly protesting the construction of a permanent supportive housing building and low-income housing complex. Despite calls from advocates to demonstrate support for their most vulnerable friends and neighbors, riled residents are thus far compromising progress.

From Colorado, there was a great article explaining how a community effort to end homelessness is not just a moral issue, but an important economic issue. The article goes on to discuss how Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper presented his case at the 2010 United Way Community Luncheon and extolled the virtues of the community Road Home program, Denver’s Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness.

And while we’re on that note, that’s something that’s been trickling into our thoughts and minds this week – the Ten Year Plan. In 2000, the Alliance launched the idea of a Ten Year Plan – an innovative, community-based strategy to end homelessness. At it’s anniversary, we’re taking a moment to see where we’ve been, evaluate where we are, and decide where to go next. While homelessness continues to persist in our country, there’s little question that we’ve come a long way and now – confronted with 21st century challenges – we’re considering our next steps.

What do you think they should be? Let us know!

Staying Home: The Rights of Renters in Foreclosed Properties

2010-06-10T09:47:00.000-04:00

Today’s guest post comes from Whitney Gent of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty.

Even though she had been paying her rent on time, Beverly, a resident of a rental property in Ohio, came home one weekend last year to find her apartment had been padlocked, and her belongings removed. She didn’t know the building was in foreclosure, and its new owners had illegally evicted her. Forced to stay with relatives, as even her bed had been taken, Beverly became another victim of the foreclosure crisis.

Unfortunately, Beverly is not alone. Estimates show that 40 percent of families facing foreclosure-related eviction are not owners, but low-income renters.

In February 2009, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Low Income Housing Coalition issued a report entitled Without Just Cause: A 50-State Review of the (Lack of) Rights of Tenants in Foreclosure. The report revealed that most states’ laws provided virtually no protections for tenants in properties that were the subject of foreclosure actions. Indeed, only two – New Jersey and the District of
Columbia – provided that tenant leases survived foreclosure.

Thanks in part to this research, the federal government has taken action to protect renters like Beverly. The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA) was signed into law by President Obama in May of last year, and it affords tenants unprecedented federal protections – including the right to 90-days notice prior to eviction or, in many cases, the right to stay in their home until the end of their lease. These protections can be the key to homelessness prevention for some families.

States are stepping up, too. Since the release of that report, 16 states have enacted new laws to protect tenants’ rights, and 21 have legislation currently pending. These actions are especially important because PTFA carries with it a 2012 sunset provision, and because the federal law does not negate stronger state protections.

But much more remains to be done. The Law Center’s new report, Staying Home: The Rights of Renters Living in Foreclosed Properties, shows that renters’ rights are still being violated across the country. New property owners (often banks) are still sometimes failing to inform or misleading renters about their rights, or even illegally evicting them. Federal and state regulators must get more involved to curb these trends, exercising their oversight of banks and working to ensure compliance with the law. And we advocates must hold these entities accountable.

We invite you to check out Staying Home, and to visit www.homelessnesslaw.org for more on related topics.

Worst Case Housing Needs - A report from HUD

2010-06-09T17:42:00.000-04:00

A short while ago, the Department of Housing and Urban Development released a report on “Worst Case Housing Needs.”

According to HUD, a person or household is experiencing worst case needs when:

they’re paying 50 percent of more of their monthly income on rent (also called “severe housing cost burden,”
they’re living in severely substandard housing conditions,
or both.

Highlights of the report confirm the critical need to continue investing in affordable housing:

In 2007, 5.9 million households – nearly 13 million people – experienced worst case needs.
This number is a marginal increase from 2006.
In general, worst case needs are experienced by “extremely low-income” families (families earning less than 30 percent of the area median income). 93 percent of the 5.9 million households were extremely low income. 7 percent were “very low-income” households, making 30 to 50 percent of area median income (AMI).

While those took care of the headline themes of the report, there were other pieces of information that painted a fuller picture.

Though “worst case needs” is defined by severe housing cost burden, severely substandard housing, or both, it was the severe housing cost burden that was the primary cause of worst case needs. Of the 5.91 million households counted, 5.48 cited severe rent burden as their sole problem.

Among the households examined – families with children, disabled households, elderly households, and “other” – disabled households were most likely to experience worst case needs. Eldery households were the second most likely to experience worst case needs. Elderly households are also at higher risk for severe housing cost burden.

Nearly half of the households with children that experienced worst case needs were working full-time (or the equivalent) and making at least minimum wage.

Reports like this reiterate the need to understand the importance of economic indicators to homelessness – and there exist economic indicators of homelessness, including housing affordability, severe housing cost burden, and doubling-up. And what this report suggests is decreasing housing affordability is directly linked to an increased risk of homelessness. And if that is the case – and it is – than increasing housing affordability contributes to a decreased risk of homelessness. Which falls right in line with what we know at the Alliance: housing is the solution to homelessness.

What’s heartening is that we aren’t the only ones who know. In their press release, HUD affirms that the results of the report indicate a strong need to continue to invest in affordable housing. Likewise, the Administration’s FY2011 proposed budget also indicates an investment in affordable housing, prevention and rapid re-housing strategies for those experiencing and at-risk of homelessness, and a commitment to the National Housing Trust Fund.

For more information about homelessness and housing-related studies and legislation, please visit our website!

The Tax Extenders bill: From the House to the Senate!

2010-06-07T17:10:00.000-04:00

The last time we wrote about it, the Tax Extenders bill passed the House.

Next stop: the U.S. Senate.

Senate leaders are hoping to start debate on the bill as soon as tomorrow! and could vote on the bill this week!.

You can’t stop now when we’re so close! We need your senators to vote for H.R. 4213.

What you can DO

Call the housing staffer in your Senators' offices today. Congressional office phone numbers can be found by calling the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Urge the housing staffer to continue their support for preventing and ending homelessness in your community by voting YES on H.R. 4213 and making sure funding for the NHTF and extension of the TANF ECF are included in the bill.
Let us knowhow it turned out! Contact Amanda Krusemark - and let us know who you contacted and what they said so we know who to target in the future!

Remember:

The Tax Extenders bill includes capitalization for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) and extends the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF) – both critical programs in reducing and ending homelessness in the United States. In fact, synchronizing housing and services has shown to be the most effective way to end a person’s homelessness and lead them towards stability. For more background on these programs, check out our old blogposts.

Thanks in advance to ALL our supporters – let’s do it!

Friday News Roundup: a farewell, vets, and the cost-effectiveness of Housing FIrst

2010-06-04T11:49:00.000-04:00

This is my last Friday news roundup at the Alliance. I've been really inspired by all the fantastic work that's happening, both locally and at the federal level, and I'm so glad I got to help spread the word. Hearing stories from community across the country has made me believe that ending homelessness really is possible.

Catherine's back at the helm of the About Homelessness blog and soon she'll be joined by a NEW new media intern. Thanks for reading!

Memorial Day brought some attention to veterans experiencing homelessness. An in-depth piece from the Arizona Star takes a look at the divide between the VA's plan to end homelessness within 5 years and the attitudes of some vets who are chronically homeless.

Change.org's Poverty in America blog features Swords and Plowshares, a facility that combines housing and services to get former soldiers back on their feet.

The Corporation for Supportive Housing's Deborah DeSantis shares a recent report that shows there are three times more mentally ill people in jail than in hospitals. The solution is not only humane, but cost-effective: Permanent Supportive Housing.

Speaking of cost-effectiveness, the Providence Journal discussed the benefits of the Housing First model by telling the story of Bill Victoria, who was homeless for 30 years before finally finding stable housing: "I thought I'd be homeless forever," he says.

Not so.

About the Housing First approach, Eric Hirsch, a sociology professor at Providence College, says:

It’s definitely cost-effective, especially for people who have been homeless for a long time. This is how you end homelessness.

Make your voice heard on the Hill

2010-06-03T15:10:00.002-04:00

So you’re joining hundreds of advocates, policymakers, and service providers from across the country, heading to DC for our National Conference on Ending Homelessness. You’re excited to learn about everything from creating a rapid re-housing system to accessing mainstream services, from the latest in federal policy to employment strategies for your clients.

That’s not all: you also have the opportunity to make your voice heard in Congress. Conference participants are invited to participate in our annual Hill Day, where you'll educate members of Congress about homelessness in your community and encourage them to take action to end homelessness.

We know what works in the fight against homelessness, and as constituents, we need to tell Congress is that we have proven strategies. With our experiences and strategies in hand, we can share our policy priorities with our Congressional Representatives:

Provide $2.4 billion in FY 2011 for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants Program.
Fund 200,000 new Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers in FY 2011, including 10,000 new HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers, and 10,000 vouchers for the Administration’s proposed Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration.
Provide $120 million for SAMHSA Homeless Services Programs in FY 2011, including $15.8 million for the Administration’s proposed Housing and Services Demonstration.
Provide $165 million in FY 2011 for Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs, with the full $50 million increase targeted at the Transitional Living Program.
Pass the Zero Tolerance for Veterans Homelessness Act (S. 1547).

YOU are the most effective advocate for your community and it’s important that Members of Congress hear what’s happening on the ground. This is your chance.

If you want to join up, email akrusemark@naeh.org and she’ll connect you with the state captain for your state, who will work with you through the Hill Day process.

Making Progress with HPRP - Second Quarterly Leadership Council Report

2010-06-02T17:41:00.003-04:00

The Homelessness Research Institute (HRI) recently released the second installment of the Quarterly Leadership Council HPRP Report.

To recap: HRI is tracking the use of federal stimulus-funded Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing funds (HPRP). The objective of the project is to determine how cities are using this new funding source and how effective communities are at turning dollars into real, measurable improvement.

In the first quarterly report, we saw that:

Family homelessness was up slightly (6 percent) in the 11 reporting communities
Collectively, the 11 reporting communities spent approximately $10.4 million on HPRP financial assistance and housing relocation – this is just over 6 percent of their total grant allocation.
Collectively, there is slight emphasis on prevention over rapid re-housing with wide variation among communities. San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle heavily emphasize prevention while Columbus and Denver focus on rapid re-housing.
To date, about 7 percent of households projected to be served by prevention programs had been served by December 2009. That number rises to 8 percent for households projected to be served by rapid re-housing programs for the same timeframe. Of the communities, New York has served notably more.
Collectively, the 11 reporting communities saved/created approximately 505 full-time jobs my December 2009 with HPRP funds.

For the 2-page report – as well as a list of all participating communities – please find the report online.

Now on to the second.
In the second report, we included two cities not originally in the first: New Orleans, LA and Washington, D.C.

There were a couple notable changes in the second report, though it’s important to take into account the added cities:

This quarter’s report shows that approximately 2/3 of HPRP funding has been allocated for prevention activities. Of the participating cities, San Francisco, Miami, New Orleans, and New York heavily emphasize prevention while Columbus and D.C. focus on rapid re-housing.
And on that note, collectively, the 13 communities are using 56 percent of their funding for direct financial assistance while the remaining 44 percent are being used on housing relocation services. Of the cities, only New York is using less than half of it’s allocation for direct financial assistance.
This quarter, the 13 cities created/saved 680 full-time jobs.

Now on to the really good stuff. It gets a little confusing, but hang in there.

Of the 15,869 people that have exited from prevention programs to date, at least 11,754 (74 percent) have exited to permanent housing. Of the 18,969 that have exited from rapid re-housing services, at least 18,642 (97 percent) exited to permanent housing.
Through March 2010 approximately $16 million has been spent on homelessness prevention or 39,000 in the 13 communities. About $5.5 million has been spent to rapidly re-house 23,000 people.
13 percent of prevention funds and 8 percent of rapid re-housing funds have been used to date and several cities – including Miami, Portland, Philadelphia, and Ne York – are using their funds very quickly.

So what does this all mean?

While we're still drawing conclusion about the data set thus far, there are some things that are clearly emerging.

In the first quarterly report, we saw that some communities were still preparing to allocate and use their HPRP funds - in the second quarter, we saw that all communities were serving people.

Another point worth discussing is the use of these HPRP funds. Note the breakdown of funds used for financial assistance and housing relocation - it's about half and half. This information suggests that people are using HPRP funds to assist people into permanent housing without providing a rent subsidy. These activities can range far and wide - service providers can negotiations with landlords, some may offer legal services, some may connect at-risk people with families, some may assist clients through the maze of resources available. While some people are receiving rent subsidies through the HPRP program, it's important to note that these other services are playing a critical role in preventing and end homelessness as well.

A Peek Inside Fairfax, VA

2010-06-01T09:15:00.001-04:00

Last week there was a blog post in the Washington Post about Fairfax County, VA and the great work they’re doing using HPRP funds to prevent homelessness. To date, over 600 people have evaded homelessness in Fairfax.

The success in Fairfax County prompted some curiosity and excitement about the work being done there.

As a member of the Capacity Building Center at the Alliance, I’ve worked in Fairfax County to support their community leaders’ efforts to achieve this great success. For the last 18 months, the Alliance has worked to help the County transform their homeless assistance system into a Housing First/Rapid Re-housing model that focuses on housing-oriented strategies.

Fairfax County covers 395 square miles and has a population of over one million residents. With an Annual Median Income (AMI) of over $100,000, you might think that homelessness wouldn’t be a huge issue for the county – but high rental prices and low vacancy rates make the house-hunt hard for low-income families.

At the last point-in-time count, conducted on January 27, 2010, there were 1,544 people experiencing homelessness.

Luckily, the County’s taking action.

In 2007, the County approved the proposed Ten Year Plan to end homelessness; an implementation plan was completed in March 2008. The plan called for the creation of the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness and has since formed a Governing Board responsible for overseeing the progress towards the goal of ending homelessness by the end of 2018.

Ten task groups of dedicated stakeholders from across the community were formed to create specific work plans on different elements of the plan – those elements included intake and assessment, discharge planning, housing location, and transitional housing conversion. The task groups also work to define best practices, asking what works well in the community, how things can be changed to work more effectively, and how to codify those ideas into procedure manuals and trainings.

As for me, I served as a co-chair on the intake and assessment task group. In that role, my co-chairs and I convened a group of nonprofit and public stakeholders, including shelter, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing staff as well as representatives from the Sheriff’s department, the County health department, and the department of family services.

Together, we examined the existing intake process and then developed a new assessment process focused on collecting housing and income-specific information from families and individuals. The new process helps caseworkers focus on housing as the primary solution to homelessness, move families and individuals through the intake process more efficiently, and creates a continuity of care so that all clients can be assured of receiving the same quality of services no matter where they access services.

And then, while all of the task groups were diligently planning for system-wide changes, the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program was announced.

The federal program was both a blessing and a burden. With improvements to the County’s homelessness system already being plotted, planning meetings for HPRP would only add another layer to the carefully considered strategy. Moreover, the County determined that much of the task groups’ work would need to be in place to most effectively use the new HPRP funds – adding a stricter deadline to the existing workload.

Still, thanks to the dedication and commitment of community leaders and key stakeholders, Fairfax County is using the HPRP funds to jumpstart their systems change process in addition to preventing and ending homelessness for its most vulnerable citizens.

I’ve been lucky enough to bear witness to the community’s great success. Fairfax County’s story demonstrates that real change is possible in the homeless assistance system and, that together, we can end homelessness.

This, after all, is what ending homelessness looks like.

The Tax Extenders bill passes the House!

2010-05-28T15:23:00.000-04:00

Hey, big news!

Today, the House passed the Tax Extenders bill (after their hiccup yesterday).
As a reminder, the bill capitalizes the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) and extends the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF).

The bill now heads to the Senate, and we need your Senators to vote for the legislation, H.R. 4213.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Call the housing staffer in your Senators' offices next week. Congressional office phone numbers can be found by calling the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Urge them to continue their support for preventing and ending homelessness in your community by voting YES on H.R. 4213.
Call your Representatives and thank them for passing H.R. 4213. The list of who voted for the bill will available here shortly.

Needless to say, none of this progress can happen without your voice and support. Thank you so much! for your efforts to sway your members – and don’t stop now!

For more information about the Tax Extenders bill, check out our blogpost about the legislation or see our Advocacy Updates.

Friday News Roundup: 3 powerful arguments for permanent supportive housing

2010-05-28T10:40:00.000-04:00

Start your Memorial Day weekend by reading "Honoring our veterans can begin with housing." Here, the Corporation for Supportive Housing's Deborah De Santis not only reminds us how important it is to end homelessness among veterans, but she also reminds us that we know how to do it:

The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Congressional Committees that authorize its programs should immediately consider how they can better utilize Housing First to move chronically homeless veterans off the streets, out of the shelters and into permanent supportive housing...

Creating permanent supportive housing for veterans, utilizing Housing First and other models, is not only the smart thing to do, it's the right thing to do.

For more on veterans' homeless, listen to Housing our vets on Where we live.

Speaking of permanent supportive housing, check out "Shelter's the fool’s gold in the pursuit to end homelessness", a piece in Street Roots by Heather Lyons. In response to the announcement that Portland is planning to open a 100-bed shelter, she makes a pretty airtight argument for housing over shelter:

I just read that the city is providing 100 new shelter beds for individuals as part of “a campaign to strategically reduce the number of homeless people in Portland.” That’s like opening two new emergency departments because cancer is on the rise. Like emergency departments, shelters serve a very important purpose, but they do not end homelessness for very many people, unless they are connected to various types of housing and services.

I guarantee that opening new shelter beds will not reduce homelessness.

Individual stories are perhaps the most powerful argument for permanent housing. Rich and Elizabeth Lombino shared Gina's story on Change.org's End Homelessness blog this week. After struggling with incarceration and addiction, Gina finally had her own home for the first time at age 57:

After a few more months of apartment searching and jumping through some administrative hoops, the day finally came for Gina to move in. The next day, she came to see Elizabeth. Through tears in her eyes, Gina spoke of the pure joy she felt at having her own apartment. She felt truly free and alive. She had accomplished a dream that she never thought would come true for her. She spoke at length about the incredible feeling of having her own key and a door to open with it. She said, "I always hoped I would have my own key to my own home. Now I have it. Putting that key in the door of my apartment is the best feeling."

Happy long weekend, everyone! Take a minute and call Congress in support of HR 4123, the "extenders bill," which will capitalize the National Housing Trust Fund.

RE: the Tax Extenders Bill

2010-05-27T17:29:00.000-04:00

As many of our advocates know, the Alliance has long supported the capitalization of the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). This fund – intended to support the creation, preservation, and rehabilitation of affordable housing – was created in July 2008 when Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act.

But Congress has yet to allocate any resources – read: funds – to the NHTF.

After two years of requesting capitalization, supporters of the NHTF are closer than ever. As we’ve blogged about before, Congress is currently considering H.R. 4213, known as the “Tax Extenders” bill, which include $1 billion to capitalize the NHTF.

(The bill also extends the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF) – another important resource for vulnerable families. Find out more about the Tax Extenders bill by reading our Advocacy Updates.)

The bill was originally slated for the House floor this week, but spending concerns delayed action. The legislation was sent to the House Rules Committee last night, where an amendment further complicated the already dense bill, according to The Hill.

Advocates are still hopeful that the bill may pass this week.

The Implications of HUD’s Five-Year Strategic Plan

2010-05-26T15:27:00.000-04:00

The Department of Housing and Urban Development just released its Strategic Plan for 2010 to 2015.

The most important aspect of this strategic plan is what it says about the thinking of HUD current leadership and what it communicates to HUD staff and partners – namely, a shift towards housing-oriented, integrated solutions to end homelessness.

First of all, the plan signals an extremely important change in approach for the whole department. Homelessness a high priority goal for its mainstream programs, particularly the Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers program. This is critical because it will be nearly impossible to end homelessness if our only resource is targeted homeless assistance funding, like the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants.

Another interesting part of the plan is the heavy focus on combining housing and services, which is described as one of HUD’s signature initiatives. This includes the Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration that we’ve blogged about before.

If HUD sticks to this message in the coming years, it would dramatically improve our efforts to end homelessness.

Here are some more specific:

HUD has five goals, and they’re not much different than in the last Strategic Plan. They include:

Strengthen the Nation's Housing Market To Bolster the Economy and Protect Consumers
Meet the Need for Quality Affordable Rental Homes
Utilize Housing as a Platform for Improving Quality of Life
Build Inclusive and Sustainable Communities Free From Discrimination
Transform the Way HUD Does Business

Within each goal are several sub-goals, and one of those (sub-goal 2A to be exact) is: End homelessness and substantially reduce the number of families and individuals with severe housing needs.

The plan also says that HUD will measure the following outcomes:

Reduce the number of homeless families.
Reduce the number of chronically homeless individuals.
Reduce the number of homeless veterans to 59,000 by June 2012 (jointly with the Department of Veterans Affairs).

So there is a fair amount of content on homelessness, but how important is this Strategic Plan? Strategic Plans are supposed to guide the budget and policy making process, but Congress has a very big role in those decisions, and what HUD plans to do isn’t always what happens.

While it’s not exactly a picture of the future, it does tell us a lot about the thinking of the people who are leading HUD and the message they are sending to HUD’s nearly 10,000 staff and many partners, including local Public Housing Agencies.

The good news is that message they are sending is that ending homelessness is a priority, and they are willing to make changes to some big programs to help make it happen.

A Transforming Time: Rapid Re-Housing in Salt Lake City

2010-05-25T11:41:00.003-04:00

Today's guest blog post is from our partners at the Road Home in Salt Lake City. Thanks to Donor Coordinator Jacqueline Jensen for contributing!

It is a transforming time for our agency and the services we provide. After many years without the tools to really help families end homelessness, we are finally seeing the resources needed to end homelessness. (The Road Home in Salt Lake City -operating the largest homeless shelter in Utah as well as an extensive transitional and permanent housing program.)

The Road Home has recently partnered with the State of Utah, Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County to utilize federal stimulus dollars to rapidly re-house families.

With the flexibility allowed by the funds, our Rapid Re-Housing program is designed to give families a jump start. Funding allows payments for utility debts, deposits and rental assistance as well as a strong case management component. We have seen that once in housing, families rarely need to return to emergency shelter ever again.

The Road Home recently assisted a young single mother who had been living in the family winter shelter facility. She was able to move out with the assistance of the Rapid Rehousing Program. She and her three children found a nice apartment in West Valley City. Soon after moving, the mother found a job at a grocery store. Recently, she was promoted to be a manager there and has increased her income enough to afford her rent. She no longer needs our assistance.

We have also used these funds in conjunction with other programs. Another single mom staying in our women’s shelter was approved to re-unite with her children but needed a home to bring them to. We were able to access a single family home, beautifully renovated by the Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds, for this family. We worked with the mom through the application process for a Shelter Plus Care voucher with our local Housing Authority. And we used Rapid Re-housing funds to assist her with an old housing debt so that she would qualify for the voucher. In addition, we partnered with LDS Church’s thrift store to help this family acquire beds and basic furniture as well as a two week supply of food.

“Our team has been working side by side with our families to move out of homelessness and into housing,” said Matthew Minkevitch, Executive Director for The Road Home. “During the first six months of the project (Oct 1, 2009-Mar 31, 2010), the Rapid Rehousing team assisted 232 households as they moved out of homelessness and into housing in the community.”

To learn more about programs and services provided by The Road Home, visit www.theroadhome.org.

Las Vegas: Lights, Glitz, and Public Policy

2010-05-24T09:28:00.002-04:00

Today's guest post is from Policy Associate Anthony Stasi.

You might assume that people experiencing homelessness in Las Vegas and the surrounding areas are former gamblers, drifters from California, or people that were hit hard by the foreclosure crisis. But according to Continuum of Care Coordinator Michele Fuller-Hallauer, many of the homeless in this region are mentally ill, and require regular intake of medication.

Last week I visited the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition’s Committee on Homelessness, where I met Fuller-Hallauer, Shannon West, and Catherine Huang Hara, who are part of a small group that oversees homeless policy in this area.

The Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition works with several other organizations and committees in an effective team that has seen results: street homelessness has decreased 16.4%.

They’ve also seen family homelessness drop: in 2008, there were 933 homeless households with children. In 2009 that number dropped to 346 homeless households with children. This is a reduction of 587 households or a 63 percent reduction in family homelessness.

Still, the overall figure of homelessness in Las Vegas has climbed 16.8 percent. The increase in the overall number of homeless comes from their increase in people that are utilizing transitional housing programs. They have experienced a great deal of success in moving people to permanent housing, but – in cases of those who are mentally ill and unable to make rational choices – they cannot move them into permanent housing as easily.

They do a great job in what is a very busy social services system in southern Nevada.

Friday News Roundup: Welcome new Alliance staff!

2010-05-21T13:21:00.000-04:00

We're welcoming two new staff members at the Alliance this week: Kim Walker is our new Capacity Building Associate and Kate Seif is our new Assistant to the President. We're excited to have their experience and enthusiasm in our office!

We had a visit this week from Sarah, John and James, three intrepid college students from North Carolina who are biking across the country to research Housing First initiatives and raise money for housing in their own community. We'll be following them on their blog - and you should too.

We're still waiting on the Federal Plan to End Homelessness, but in the meantime, check out the Homeless Law blog's post "Five Reasons I'm Looking Forward to the Federal Plan.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities sets the record straight about the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund, in response to claims on the YouCut website. (Pssst: The Emergency Contingency Fund is part of HR 4123, which is being discussed in the House today. if you haven't called your Members of Congress about HR4123, do it now!)

We've mentioned Street Roots' photo project, where they asked their vendors what matters most and this week, they posted this cool word cloud. What jumps out at you?

Love this editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune about how to end homelessness. They're speaking our language:

How do you eliminate chronic homelessness? The problem seems so complex that the obvious solution is often overlooked. If you want to take people off the streets and put them on the road to a better life, you start by putting a permanent roof over their heads.

And then's there our social media survey, part of our ongoing discussion about how to work together online to end homelessness. We want to hear from you!

http://streetroots.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/what-matters-to-our-vendors-word-cloud/
http://www.agreatercleveland.org/?p=550

The political commitment to ending veterans homelessness

2010-05-21T10:56:00.002-04:00

Today, our Vice President of Programs and Policy Steve Berg went up to the Hill to attend a joint hearing including the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development. The joint hearing examined the nation’s progress in ending veterans homelessness.

Currently, there are about 131,000 veterans experiencing homelessness in the United States, representing about one-fifth of the entire homeless population on any given night. Veterans often experience homeless as a result of post-war distress, including emotional or physical trauma which can manifest in diseases, including substance abuse and addiction.

In our last Veterans Update, we presented the challenges to women veterans as a new emerging component of this issue. As women continue to make up a greater percentage of the armed forces, we take greater note of their particular vulnerability to and experience with homelessness. There is also a growing body of evidence that indicates that female veterans have a higher risk of homelessness as compared to their male counterparts – some speculate that this may have to do with a greater incidence of sever housing cost burden, lower incomes, higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, among others contributors.

In recent months, both Secretary Shinseki of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and President Obama have come out strongly with intentions to reduce and end veterans homelessness in the United States. Secretary Shinseki has publicly announced the VA’s intent to end veterans homelessness in five years; in his proposed fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget, President Obama includes a 50 percent increase in funding for veterans homelessness programs.

We at the Alliance are hoping that this surge in support – evidenced by the hearing, the budget, the announcements coming out of the VA – are an indication that there will be real political support to end homelessness among our nation’s veterans. We look forward to working with both Congressional leaders and the Administration to ensure that those who have offered themselves in the service of the country will never face homelessness. Because, as Secretary Shinseki says in his video address on the issue, “there’s still no reason why a single veteran is living on the streets of our country.”

Well said, Mr. Secretary.

Call Congress today: Fund the National Housing Trust Fund!

2010-05-20T10:05:00.004-04:00

It's time to act!

Homelessness is complicated, but in the end, we believe that people are homeless because they can't find housing they can afford. Today, there is something YOU can do about it.

The National Housing Trust Fund aims create 1.5 million units of affordable housing within ten years - and tomorrow, the House will debate H.R. 4213, which would fund NHTF with $1 billion. With your help, the bill will move on to the Senate next week. (H.R. 4213 also includes funding for a variety of programs that low-income Americans need, including the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund. More info is available here).

Here's what you can do:

1. Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

2. Ask for your Congressional Representative. If you're not sure who that is, you can find out here.

3. Ask for the staffer who works on housing.

4. Urge them to continue their support for preventing and ending homelessness in your community by voting YES on H.R. 4213. Here's what you can say:

I am deeply concerned about homelessness in my community, but I know the way to end homelessness is to house people. I'm calling to ask you to fund the National Housing Trust Fund.

The National Housing Trust Fund is critical for efforts to prevent and end homelessness. The majority of the people who enter the homeless system have experienced some sort of crisis that causes them to lose their housing. At least 75% of NHT funds funds for rental housing would be aimed at extremely low income households.

H.R. 4213, the "tax extender bill," would provide $1 billion for the NHTF and an additional $65 million for project-based vouchers to be released in conjunction with capital grants. Please vote yes on H.R. 4213 today.

5. Hang up, then call back: follow steps 1-5 for both your Senators!

Want more information? Courtesy of the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, here are some important facts about NHTF.

The housing trust fund will, once capitalized, provide communities with funds to build, preserve, and rehabilitate rental homes that are affordable for extremely and very low income households.
It is a permanent program, and will have dedicated source of funding not subject to the annual appropriations process.
At least 90% of the funds must be used for the production, preservation, rehabilitation, or operation of rental housing.

Stay tuned to this blog for advocacy updates!

Doubling Up: Examining the recession, homelessness, and economic indicators

2010-05-19T15:56:00.003-04:00

How many people are homeless due to the recession? We're not sure yet. Homelessness is what we call a "lagging indicator" of a poor economy, so we still have yet to see the full impact of the economic recession on homelessness.

But that doesn’t mean the recession hasn’t had – or won’t have - an impact on homelessness. Today, the Homeless Research Institute's launches our Economy Bytes series, in which we investigate economic indicators that are associated with homelessness. The first in this series investigates doubled-up situations.

Our research shows that 5 percent more people lived in doubled up situations in 2008 than in 2005; in particular, we've seen a growing share of doubled up families.

Wait, so what's doubled up? Doubling up means that an individual or family lives with extended family, friends, and other non-relatives due to economic hardship. In this case, we define economic hardship as earning no more than 125 percent of the federal poverty level.

Not all doubled up people or families will become homeless but for many, it's a precursor. Of those people who weren't homeless before staying at a shelter, 46 percent spent the previous night at the home of a friend or family member, according to the 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR).

But why do people double up? In short, people double up because they can't afford housing. They have had to choose between basic necessities like food, health care, clothing and housing, and people who are doubled up have had to sacrifice their own housing.

The following chart shows the relationship between poverty and people in doubled up situations.

What about services for doubled up people and families?

The growing number of people in doubled up situations likely means there is a growing demand for services.

In 2009, the Homeless Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act expanded the definition of homelessness to include some doubled up families, making them eligible for homeless assistance services, but in order to effectively serve this population, we need more information about doubled up people and families.

Want to know more? The full brief is available here.

Ending Family Homelessness: Learning from Massachusetts

2010-05-19T11:53:00.004-04:00

We tweeted it our and we posted it on our Wall and now we’re ready to chat about it further.

As you already know, we found a paper called “Reducing Family Homelessness in Massachusetts.”

Noted homelessness scholar – and co-chairman of our Research Council - Dr. Dennis Culhane was commissioned to investigate ways to improve the Emergency Assistance program in Massachusetts. The goal was the identify ways to more effectively and efficiently help families experiencing or at-risk of experiencing homelessness - without investing more budget resources in the program.

And you know what? Dr. Culhane and his research assistant Thomas Byrne managed to do just that. The pair recommended two primary ways to improve the performance of the Emergency Assistance program:

1. Increase flexibility in both eligibility and levels of service based on individual need.

2. Focus on reducing the time families spend in emergency shelter, by requiring a shelter exit and self-sufficiency plan as a condition of receiving services.

Dr. Culhane and Byrne also prescribed a number of shifts in thinking and practice to help guide the work and efficiency of the EA system.

What's interesting about Massachusetts is that the state is already making considerable headway towards ending homelessness - and is doing so in a comprehensive way. As the writers point out in their paper, Gov. Deval Patrick's Special Commission Relative to Ending Homelessness has already developed a plan to end homelessness in the state, and a special interagency commission exists to implement that plan. The special interagency commission has created partnerships with regional networks in the state, to ensure that services and systems are coordinated and reaching vulnerable areas.

Emphasizing this idea, Byrne noted, "One of the most interesting things about Massachusetts is that some providers in the state are already having great success in implementing some of the strategies that we present in the paper as effective alternatives to emergency shelter. This is just one of several reasons why Massachusetts is in a particularly good position to adopt some these strategies on a larger scale and truly change how it approaches family homelessness."

Still, Massachusetts also demonstrates that even the most advanced of states often require guidance to refine and strengthen their existing systems.

Byrne adds, "However, to craft a new approach that is better at meeting the unique needs of families, a number of challenges facing the current system need to be addressed. The existing system offers limited alternatives to families beyond emergency shelter, which, as we suggest in the paper, is not always necessary or effective in terms of helping families resolve their housing crises. Instead, families need to have access to more flexible forms of assistance. The key is figuring out how to assess a family’s need and provide them with just the right amount of assistance—not too little and not too much. Fortunately, in talking with some of the people in Massachusetts who are working hard every day to end family homelessness, it is clear that they are committed to figuring out how best to make progress towards that goal."

Now, when we initially introduced this paper to our social networks, we got a few comments and concerns about the recommendations.

Pulling from our Facebook page:

We had the rare opportunity to send those thoughts to the authors of the report. And Byrne, very graciously, emailed back!

"I think the commenter raises some valid points. It is true that there are not enough permanent subsidies to go around. Regrettably, in Massachusetts and in much of the country, the long waiting lists for Section 8 vouchers suggest that the will and/or resources to provide everyone with a housing subsidy are not there. Nonetheless, it is cheaper to provide a family with a subsidy for a year than for them to stay in shelter for a year. There is a telling graph in our paper that plots the dramatic increase in expenditures on shelter in Massachusetts and the corresponding dramatic decrease in funding for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program. As we suggest, if there is a shift in Massachusetts away from a reliance on shelter, it could free up resources that could potentially be used to reverse this trend and dedicate more resources towards permanent and short-term rental subsidies. On the other hand, if no changes are made to the current system and its cost continues to grow, there will likely be even fewer resources for permanent subsidies.

The commenter is also correct that not all families will be able to transition off of a short term rental subsidy. Indeed, some, although likely not the majority, will require longer term and more intensive support. This underscores the importance of assessing family need and appropriately calibrating assistance to meet that need. When resources are finite, it is important to provide the most intensive interventions like permanent subsidies to families with the greatest needs and the less intensive interventions to families with less intensive needs. In the paper we discuss different models for doing so, including establishing multiple eligibility criteria for different levels of assistance."

As part of their solutions, Dr. Culhane and Byrne offer some basic principles to help communities focus on ending homelessness through their homeless assistance programs:

What do you think of these suggestions? What do you think of these principles? Don't you think it was awesome that we were able to ask your questions to the researchers?

Let us know what you think, here, on Facebook, on Twitter - whatever works for you!

Are you out there?? Help us find you...online!

2010-05-17T15:56:00.000-04:00

You’ve been asked before – and no doubt you’ll be asked again.

Yes, the Alliance is asking you to participate in an online survey. (We’ve gone to great lengths to try and ensure it’s as quick and painless as possible – I promise.)

Here’s the thing: like all nonprofits navigating our way through an increasingly social, online world, we’re trying to figure out where you’re finding us online – and then move in that direction.

Like I mentioned in last week’s post about social media in the homeless assistance field, we’ve been trying to make the best use of these great new online tools. Our own personal social media journey has been a pretty rewarding one. We launched social networks in June 2009 and with our one-year anniversary around the corner and a slowly-but-surely-growing audience of supporters, friends, and colleagues, we want to make sure that we’re meeting your needs and expectations.

What do you want to hear from us?
What do you find most helpful, least helpful?
Where do you connect with us – and what forum is most useful for you?
Where do you see the Alliance in the homeless assistance field? How do we fit into your efforts?

These are all important questions – questions that will undoubtedly inform the way we do our work. And only you can help us find the answers.

So please, take a moment to fill out our social media survey. It should take you a scant 10 minutes at most – and the data will be invaluable for us.

You can take the survey here.

Thanks for participating, everyone. I really appreciate it.

-Catherine

Friday News Roundup: 10 great blogs about homelessness

2010-05-14T11:11:00.000-04:00

As Catherine pointed out yesterday, many in the homelessness field have been slow to embrace using social media tools. As the New Media Intern at the Alliance, this hesitance has sometimes created challenges, but it has also made for some happy surprises.

As I've explored the social media landscape, I've been impressed and inspired over and over again by the homelessness blogosphere. Advocates, policy organizations, service providers and concerned citizens are using this new medium to share stories and information, to engage supporters and investigate new ideas.

So straight from my Google Reader, here's homelessness in headlines this week - from the blogopshere:

1) Just this week I started reading the Housing for Families blog out of Massachusetts and Healthcare for the Homeless: both are super useful and informative.

2) for those who can't afford free speech, the blog of Portland's street newspaper Street Roots, consistently shares a wide variety of great content. This past week, they published an interview with Liesl Wendt, CEO of 211info in the Portland area. It serves as a handy introduction to 211 services, as well as the recession's impact on the people of Portland.

3) The Homelessness Law blog is thoughtful and timely. This week, National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty Human Rights Program Director Eric Tars shared a success story from Salt Lake City.

4) Unity of Greater New Orleans' Signs of Life. I've said it before and I'll say it again: read it!

5) Inforumusa is updated daily with news and analysis about homelessness in LA and across the U.S. This week, they covered the Our Faith Matters Conference, which featured an appearance by HUD Deputy Director Anthony Love. He's talking about the federal strategic plan on homelessness - due out next week!

6) Change.org's End Homelessness blog represents a wide range of perspectives: service providers, advocates, formerly homeless people - and us! Plus, it's updated 2-3 times every day, so you can stay up to date.

7) Open House, the blog of the National Housing Conference, keeps us informed about affordable housing and housing issues.

8) It's brand-new and not specifically focused on homelessness, but Off the Charts makes the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' complex analyses easily readable and with great infographics, easy on the eyes.

9) Assistance providers like the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, the Road Home Utah and Calvary Services in DC use their blogs to share client stories and keep supporters up to date.

10) And then there's the Homelessness section on the Huffington Post, which just this week included a post from Maria Foscarinis of NLCHP connecting Arizona's new immigration law SB-1070 and homelessness. If you stay tuned, you'll also catch posts from Invisible People, which lets people experiencing homelessness share their own stories.

This is by no means an exhaustive list! What blogs about homelessness do you read? What did am I missing?

What's the deal with social media in the homeless assistance field?

2010-05-13T20:24:00.000-04:00

One of my responsibilities at the Alliance is to manage our social networks, and in the era of furious blogging and even more frenetic tweeting, it can get chaotic. Often times, I find the need to stop, take a breath, and evaluate exactly how all this social media frenzy contributes to the Alliance’s goals and mission.

Which isn’t to say I don’t see the value in the mediums. I’m the lucky product of a world full of information technology and social media tools. I grew up with high-speed internet at my fingertips and an iPod on my hip; I was an early adopter of Facebook and yes, I have my very own Twitter account. And while I would hardly call myself a pusher or an expert, I do truly believe in the potential of social media tools to cultivate change, progress, and conversation.

It's is why I’m so excited to be doing it in this field. While nonprofits are often slightly behind the curve to pick up new technologies, it’s been my personal experience that my own field has been particularly slow to adopt new media platforms. At this years Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC), I found a small cohort of colleagues in the homeless assistance and housing field to swap stories with – and a major theme of those stories is our missing presence among nonprofits utilizing these new tools.

And many of us are.

At NTC, I took a workshop analyzing the way nonprofit organizations use social media. The numbers are staggering - more and more nonprofit organizations are stepping into the world of social media. A few highlights of the 2010 Nonprofit Social Media Benchmarks Report:

Facebook dominates the field with a staggering 86 percent of nonprofit organizations reporting some kind of Facebook presence, up from 74 percent last year
60 percent report a Twitter presence, nearly doubling last year’s number.
A few nonprofit sectors have stronger social media presences, those sectors including international, environment, animal welfare, and education nonprofits.
Marketing, fundraising, and advocacy are among the intended goals/uses of nonprofit social networks.

I’d like to do a similar study, surveying only my colleagues in this industry, to gauge how active a strong a presence we have on social networks. I’m sure the data would suggest another picture entirely.

Which strikes me as curious. If the intent of social media networks is to build communities, share information, and open another portal of communications (which I posit are some goals of social media networks), then I can’t think of a industry better suited for those networks than human and social services. Our industry requires as much communication as possible – we’re working to directly better the lives of some of the most vulnerable of our friends and neighbors.

Or am I entirely wrong?

Don’t hesitate to comment and let me know – I’d love to hear your thoughts.

And, if you feel so inclined, you can call me out on Twitter, Facebook, or shoot me an old-fashioned email.

-Catherine

What you should know about the Runaway Homeless Youth Act

2010-05-12T16:26:00.000-04:00

Maybe you read in USA Today that the number of calls to the National Runaway Switchboard doubled in 2009. Maybe you've heard that running away from home puts young people at risk of violence, crime, prostitution, drugs and health problems. Maybe you're an outreach worker who hears these stories every day.

If, for these or any other reasons, you're concerned about youth homelessness, you should know about the Runaway Homeless Youth Act (RHYA). Along with the Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Act, RHYA is one of two federal programs aimed at helping homeless youth.

There are 3 main RHYA programs:

The Basic Center Program, which helps meet immediate needs of runaway and homeless youth and their families including providing emergency shelter, reunification when possible, food, clothing, counseling, and access to health care;
The Transitional Living Program, which provides funding long-term residential services to homeless youth ages 16 to 21 for up to 18 months;
The Street Outreach Program, which funds outreach efforts designed to move youth off the streets.

Particularly in these tough economic times, these programs are crucial. Not only do they prevent victimization on the streets, but they are more cost-effective than foster care or a correctional facility. And still, current programs do not meet the need: in 2009, RHYA programs served less than 41,000 with shelter services and less than 4,000 received transitional housing. Over 7,500 youth were turned away and denied shelter and housing.

We at the Alliance are now looking to Congress to appropriate $165 million to these vital programs. With our youth in crisis, the $116 million in the president's suggested FY2011 budget is simply not enough. The increase would assist about 18,000 additional homeless youth with shelter and housing services and provide for over 300,000 additional street outreach contacts and crisis intervention.

For more on ending youth homelessness, check out the Alliance's Federal Youth Policy Agenda.

McKinney-Vento Advocates Speak Out: Q&A with Leah Bradley

2010-05-11T13:13:00.004-04:00

As we've talked about the McKinney-Vento Appropriations Campaign on this blog, we've often mentioned the impact that that federal funding has on homeless assistance in your community. Today's blog post is from Leah Bradley, Director of Housing and Program Development at Community Health Link, and one of the winners of our 2010 Letter Writing Contest. She knows first-hand how crucial McKinney-Vento funding is for Worcester, and along with our advocacy team, she traveled to Washington DC to tell her members of Congress.

Why is it important for your community to fund McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance programs at $2.4 billion? Can you give an example of a program that might be affected?

The McKinney Vento- Homeless Assistance programs have been the primary programs in our community to reduce chronic homelessness. According to our 2010 Point In Time survey, chronic homelessness in the City of Worcester was reduced by 38% from 2009 to 2010. The majority of those were housed in McKinney-funded permanent supportive housing.

In addition, our community has used HPRP funds to transform our emergency shelter system to a rapid re-housing system. The components of this are a triage system where anyone seeking emergency shelter must see a triage worker first. No one is denied shelter; however, through this system we have been able to divert 67.4% (622 out of 923) of those seeking shelter from staying at the shelter.

In order to maintain this new system and house those individuals who become chronically homeless over the next year, we need to maintain the existing resources and increase the number of units available for chronically homeless individuals. Funding the HEARTH Act at $2.4 billion will assist us in continuing to decrease the number of chronically homeless individuals in Worcester. Without this funding level, we would most likely have to eliminate the new triage system that has shown to be very effective.

Diverting individuals from homelessness and housing chronically homeless individuals also saves money. A recent report from the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance shows that permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless individuals saves about $9,000 per year per person in public resources - mostly Medicaid and corrections - after accounting for housing and case management costs. Our newest McKinney-funded Housing First Program - Home Again - had an evaluation that was a randomized control trial with a group who received housing and a group who did not. This evaluation showed that over 95% of chronically homeless individuals can maintain housing with this model and the number of emergency room visits reported by individuals was less than those who remained homeless during this same time period.

How did you go about collecting letters to your Congressional Representatives? Describe the response in your community.

We sent emails to our Continuum of Care and our Advisory Council for our Home Again, made a presentation to our Health Care for the Homeless Consumer Advisory Board and made personal phone calls. We were able to collect 71 letters for the campaign. After the campaign, I was also informed of several other individuals who wrote letters and some of our program participants who sent emails. We had many participants who were willing to share their stories so that others can have the same housing opportunity they had through this additional funding.

What were your Congressional visits like? Do you think this year's McKinney-Vento campaign will be successful?

The Congressional visits were empowering and inspiring. Although we are in a tough budgetary environment, they all seemed to understand that homelessness should not exist.

They were all quite different. I met with Congressman McGovern personally who has been supportive of the Home Again program since its inception and spoke at our press event to release our evaluation results in November. I also met with Sarah Bontempo from Congressman Neal's office who was also very supportive of our efforts to end homelessness and I met with Congressman Olver and Laura Hogshead. He seemed appreciative of knowing how the funding that is allocated works on the ground level and the impact it is making in his home state.

I spoke with Sen. Brown for just a minute and then met with his aide. I was disappointed he did not sign onto the letter that was circulating, but I was able to let him know about the cost benefit of housing first and the family homelessness crisis in the state.

It was just an amazing experience that really showed me the work that NAEH does every year to maintain/increase this funding and the importance of informing legislators of the impact homelessness has on their constituents and the communities they serve. We will be inviting our congressmen and senators to visit our programs as seeing how they work will be the most impactful. I appreciate the opportunity NAEH provided me. I also understand the work it takes to get on the schedules of our elected officials - but it is worth it in the end!

The Alliance launches website redesign!

2010-05-10T10:30:00.001-04:00

Happy Monday, everyone! We have big news today – really really big news! And after months and months of planning, preparing, and posting, we’re finally ready to share it with you all.

In case you haven’t already noticed (and I’m hoping at least some of you already have!), the Alliance has made some significant changes to the website: a wider format, bigger pictures, links to our new media networks, and an awesome new library (if we do say so ourselves).

The new design wasn’t just an aesthetic improvement – we had some specific goals in mind. In particular, we wanted to:

improve access to content
improve search functionality
improve navigation.

(And okay, making the website cleaner and prettier was an added bonus.)

As we got started on this effort, the website team did some website evaluation – our expert consultants called it “user testing.” We asked our friends and colleagues about their experience using the website, and among the many suggestions and critiques we received, we heard one comment repeated over and over again: “your website is full of really great content – but I can never find what I’m looking for!”

So we definitely wanted to change that.

Among the many changes we’ve made to the website, we wanted to highlight just a few that we think you might find most helpful:

Check out the About Homelessnesssection.
As the new media and communications girl at the Alliance, I get a LOT of questions about homelessness – how many homeless people are there? Why are they homeless? What’s the rate of mental illness among the homeless population? What the heck are we doing about it? For these general overview questions about the homeless population, you should check this section first.
Notice how we’ve changed around the focus areas.
For those of you more familiar with the work of the Alliance, you know that a lot of our work focuses on four major population groups: families, veterans, youth, and people experiencing chronic homelessness. Once upon a time, we kept all our information about those four groups on four pages – now we’ve divided all that information into three distinct categories. Under Issues, you’ll get an overview of that subpopulation. Under Policy, you’ll get information about federal policies addressing that particular subpopulation. Under Solutions, you’ll get information about best practices for that particular population – what the Alliance has observed as the best way to reduce and end homelessness.
And while you’re in the Solutions section, take a look around. In that section, we outline all the most effective, most efficient, proven strategies to reduce and end homelessness. Find out more about the Housing First approach, prevention and rapid re-housing strategies, and the Alliance’s Ten Year Plan to end homelessness.
And don’t leave without checking out the Local Progress section. This new section highlights the efforts and successes of communities across the country. It features community snapshots, underlining the methods and tactics that have measurably reduced homelessness in a variety of localities.
And after learning all about homelessness, consider doing something about it! Check out our Advocacy section. At the Alliance, we work with state and local leaders to inform federal policymakers about the state of homelessness at the grassroots level. If you really want to make a difference – if you really want to reduce and end homelessness in your community – connect with the Alliance’s advocacy team to have your voice heard.

We’re really hoping that you find that the new design makes it easier for you to use the Alliance website and find the information you need. We had a wonderful, crazy, very enlightening time making the updates – and we hope you like it!

Let us know your thoughts, critiques, comments here or on any one of our Alliance social networks!

Thanks,
Catherine.

Friday News Roundup: talking TANF and Ten Year Plans

2010-05-07T15:04:00.000-04:00

It's been another seriously busy week at the Alliance. Not only did we recognize the formation of the new Congressional Caucus on Homelessness and launch a brand-new website, we also put out the latest Community Snapshot, which highlights the progress in Alameda County, CA. They've reduced homelessness by 15% since 2003. Find out how they did it here.

This week on the Change.org End Homelessness blog, blogger Jessica Rowshandel also discussed news about the Congressional Caucus on Homelessness briefing. Plus, they featured a post by our very own Catherine An!

On Off the Charts, the Center on Budget names yet another reason for Congress to extend the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund: it's helping create jobs for more than 180,000 people across the U.S. That's in addition to preventing families from ending up homeless by providing income and short-term rent assistance. (Read our latest on the Emergency Contingency Fund here. The Center for American Progress was also talking TANF this week - check out what they have to say about changing TANF asset tests.

And let's end on some good news: Memphis, a city where 1600 people experience homelessness each night, just announced that they've created a Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. Hats off to Memphis! Plus, Cape Cod's Point in Time Count showed a 10% decrease in the number of people experiencing homelessness.

Three cheers for Alameda County! Reducing homelessness in California

2010-05-06T15:56:00.002-04:00

It’s been a tough recently for California. The state of sand and stars has been plagued by political controversy and economic troubles leaving state and local leaders with some very tough choices.

Still, there are nuggets of good news coming out of the Golden State.

In Alameda County, for instance, we’re seeing some marked and measurable decreases in homelessness. In spite of the recession, in spite of the housing crisis, in spite of the state’s budget troubles – the county of Alameda is managing to reduce homelessness for their community.

In 2003, Alameda County identified over 5,000 people who experienced homelessness on a given night – 43 percent of those people were persons in families with children.

But over the last few years, the city has implemented some best practiced that have yielded real results.

Among those best practices was Housing First, an approach to ending homelessness that centers on providing homeless people with housing as quickly as possible – and then providing services as needed. Between 2005 and 2009, the county created 512 permanent housing units and carefully targeted those units to those who needed them most.

The city also developed the Priority Home Partnership (PHP) using funds provided by the federal governments Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP). PHP is an integrated, multi-agency approach to preventing homelessness that involved centralized screening at intake and an innovative assessment tool that aims to provide households and families the right mix of housing and services to prevent homelessness from occurring.

The county also created a Homeless Outreach and Stabilization Team (HOST) and strategic working committees that represented a diversity of community interests and were tasked with creating new permanent housing units through increasing awareness, capacity, and resources.

Alameda County was one of the first communities in the country to create a collaborative, multi-system plan to end homelessness, including the city of Oakland, city of Berkeley, the Alameda County Social Services Agency, Housing and Community Development Department, Behavior Health Care Services, and nine other sponsoring agencies. This partnership initiated the Alameda County Countywide Homeless and Special Needs Plan, known as the EveryOne Home plan.

The county’s collaborative, dedicated approach has created real results. From the initial 2003 survey, homelessness in Alameda County has declined by 15 percent overall. Family homelessness has decreased by 27 percent; chronic homelessness has decreased by 20 percent. Homelessness among children has decreased by 33 percent.

For more information on the great work of this community, please check out the 2-page snapshot on the Alliance website.

Conference scholarship deadline extended

2010-05-05T14:22:00.007-04:00

Nearly everyone in the office is already hard at work preparing the program for our National Conference on Ending Family Homelessness Alliance to End Homelessness.

We know that funds are hard to find right now, but we also know that our conference is far better because of participants who don't have the money to attend. That's why we're offering scholarships to individuals who are experienced or have experienced homelessness, as well as people who are part of organizations who working to end homelessness.

And we've just extended the deadline for applications! Scholarship applications are now due May 23. Apply now.

Scholarships are granted based on the following:

financial need,
geographic distribution,
targeted population(s) served, and
the leadership skills the applicant will be able to bring back to his/her community.

For more information and the official rules, visit the conference website.
You can submit your application in via fax, email OR mail to:
By fax: 202-638-4664
By email: dklingle@naeh.org
By mail: National Alliance to End Homelessness 1518 K Street, NW, Suite 410 Washington, DC 20005

Kicking off the Congressional Caucus on Homelessness with Representatives Judy Biggert and Alcee Hastings

2010-05-04T17:08:00.000-04:00

Today was a big day.

Today, I went to the inaugural event of the Congressional Caucus on Homelessness – the kickoff briefing.

Representatives Alcee Hastings (D – FL) and Judy Biggert - both founding members of this caucus – were in attendance and offered remarks.

Panelists included Barbara Poppe, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, Barbara Duffield of the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, Dariush Kayhan, director of homeless policy for the City of San Francisco, Mayor’s Office, and our very own Nan Roman, president of the Alliance.

The event started at 10 a.m. and I stood back, snapping pictures and trying to take some video, and heard the themes that I’ve grown to embrace and espouse: the effects of homelessness, the success of permanent supportive housing, the importance of a feasible plan to end homelessness, and the necessity to invest in affordable housing. These luminaries in the homelessness and housing fields expounded upon the lessons that I have learned in the past year, namely, that ending homelessness is possible – and we can do it together.

It was a packed room, a stirring panel, and a great kickoff event.

And just as things were finding their way to a close, a few things had me stop in my tracks as I waded towards the door.

A charming consumer advocate named Sabina Howard took the podium and shared her story of homelessness. A permanent supportive housing consumer in Washington, D.C., she and her three children had struggled to find housing in the last few years.

A person in the third row raised his hand and asked a question about youth homelessness. He was a young man himself, and he told the panel about his observations about the city, noting that he often saw young homeless women – maybe 14 or 15 years old, he said – who were young homeless mothers. It seems, he commented, that there was not enough information being distributed about resources and assistance.

An older gentleman in the back of the room asked a question I sometimes fear I’ll get. He said that it seemed some people he had encountered were perfectly content being homeless, having made their camp and communities in the woods. To him, Dariush and Barbara offered wonderfully eloquent responses, noting the success San Francisco has had in reducing homelessness in Golden Gate Park and overcoming the specific barriers to housing for those more reluctant to accept government help.

I would count myself as among the choir – I believe homelessness is a problem, I believe it can be solved, and I believe that housing is the answer.

But sitting at my desk, plodding away at my keyboard, and inundated with data and reports and legislative briefs, it’s easy to lose sight of the real, human impacts that this issue has on thousands of people everyday.

But as I listened to the testimony of people who have themselves personally interacted with homelessness – something that I’ve never had to do – it reminded me of why we do this work. And of it’s utmost importance.

So it was a big day. I got to see what ending homelessness – really ending homelessness – might look like.

(For more pics, check out the Facebook page!

Meet Anna: Our new Administrative Associate!

2010-05-03T15:22:00.001-04:00

Today's guest blogpost comes from Anna Blasco - the newest addition to the Alliance staff serving as our Administrative Associate.

Hello! My name is Anna Blasco and I am the new Administrative Associate at the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Although this first week has been a whirlwind, the energy and commitment with which the Alliance bunch works has been exciting to witness!

My interest in ending homelessness originated the summer before my senior year at American University when I volunteered on the DC Rape Crisis Center’s hotline. I received calls daily from women in abusive relationships who felt they would have no where to go if they fled. I realized then that having secure and stable housing needed to be the first step towards any other positive life change.

I am so excited to be working towards ending homelessness and to learn more about the incredible community of support service administrators, policy makers and, of course, the Alliance staff, that have made this essential issue their life’s work.

Friday News Roundup: the latest on HPRP, homeless female veterans and counts

2010-04-30T10:59:00.000-04:00

If you've never read UNITY of Greater New Orleans blog Signs of Life in Greater New Orleans, do it now. This post highlights the complex issues many chronically homeless people face, as well as their dedication to finding each and every person a place to call home. Last week, UNITY GNO took home our Nonprofit Achievement Award and this week, let's continue to celebrate their work.

Although we've been discussing programs like the National Housing Trust Fund and the Housing and Services Demonstration Program, our key federal priorities are still on our minds. Here's some updates:

The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program is one with transformative potential, and an initiative we've covered extensively on this blog. The latest on the significance of HPRP comes from from Change.org's End Homelessness blog. Blogger Steven Samra writes:
The beauty of HPRP over the few other sources of assistance available is that agencies participating in HPRP are able to help remove the huge barriers to housing that people who are newly homeless often face.
We've been paying particular attention to the struggles facing female veterans experiencing homelessness, and it looks like the federal government is, too. The Department of Labor announced a $5 million dollar grant for reintegration initiatives this week, while one former servicewoman in Florida moved into her new home.
We're also keeping a close eye on data released from January Point in Time counts. This week Dallas announced that despite national economic woes, their homeless population decreased slightly and they saw significant decreases in the number of chronically homeless people.

In other news, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities discussed the importance of the Housing Voucher Choice Program and its role in ending homelessness on their new blog Off the Charts. THe post also provides some useful historical context.

Finally, we'll have a full report next week, but we're excited to announce the formation of a Congressional Homeless Caucus! Stay tuned for more details.

The National Housing Trust Fund: Have YOU Shown Your Support?

2010-04-29T16:39:00.001-04:00

It’s been a long, ongoing struggle to create and fund a National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). After years of campaigning, advocates won a huge victory in July 2008 when Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, which established the NHTF.

The legislation that created the NHTF also included a funding mechanism but unfortunately, that mechanism involved using resources from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and only if they are in sound condition. That's not the case now, and it may not be for a very long time.

So now, nearly 2 years later, Congress still hasn’t put any money into the Trust Fund. In December, the House passed a “jobs bill” that includes $1 billion for the NHTF, along with an additional $65 million for project-based vouchers to be coupled with the Trust Fund grants. However, the Senate has yet to follow suit.

To encourage Congress to finally provide some initial funds for the NHTF, the National Housing Trust Fund Campaign is collecting organizational signatures on a sign-on letter calling on Congress to provide $1 billion for the NHTF.

So far, an astounding 1,684 organizations from across the country have signed on! Their goal is to get organizations from every single congressional district in the country to sign on. So far, we're at 379 out of 435 congressional districts.

If your organization hasn’t signed on yet, click here to sign on~! Below is a list of the congressional districts not yet represented on the letter:

Why is the NHTF so important? The NHTF would provide funds to help communities build, rehabilitate, and preserve housing units for the lowest-income households, which is critical for preventing and ending homelessness.

At least 90 percent of the Trust Fund resources have to be used for rental housing, and at least 75 percent of those funds must serve extremely low income households – those households earning 30 percent or less of the area median income (AMI) – or households living below the federal poverty line. All funds must serve households below 50 percent of AMI, or very low income households.

Advocacy Update: Let's keep the pressure on!

2010-04-28T13:34:00.007-04:00

Our Senate sign-on letter asking for $2.4 billion for McKinney-Vento programs has been signed, sealed and delivered with 28 Senator signatures - and you made it happen! Those federal funds will be used to keep homeless assistance programs up and running in your community and across the country.

But it's not over yet. As appropriations season begins, let's keep up the pressure on Senators and Representatives to provide $2.4 billion for McKinney programs!

Here's how:

More Letters. If your Senator didn’t sign onto the group Dear Colleague letter, you can ask him/her to send an individual letter to the Senate HUD appropriations subcommittee. You can find a list of which Senators signed onto the letter here.
Site Visits. Urge your Senator or Representative to visit a local program while they’re home over the Memorial Day Recess (May 30 – June 6). Click here for sample invitations and tools for inviting Members of Congress to visit a program. Email akrusemark@naeh.org if you want help planning a site visit – we’d love to work with you!
Media. Members of Congress pay close attention to their local papers, so another way to reiterate the importance of making ending homelessness a federal priority and funding McKinney programs is to write an op-ed for your local paper, particularly over congressional recesses. Let us know if we can help you work to earn media.

Your hard work hasn't gone unrecognized: several of our Senate signatories were reluctant initially, but advocates stepped up their efforts and Senators responded. As a result, we got 5 more signatures than last year! (Special shout-outs to folks working hard in California, Connecticut, Illinois and Minnesota.)

This increase in Senate support shows how effective your advocacy can be. Keep reading this blog to stay up-to-date and keep making your voice heard!

Norm Suchar: "It's a Great Time to be Working on Federal Policy"

2010-04-27T16:15:00.006-04:00

In the homelessness world, we have a keen awareness of the need to link services with housing for homeless people with a lot of barriers to maintaining their housing. But at the federal level, getting the agencies that operate housing and services programs to coordinate their efforts has been a real challenge.

We also know that trying to end homelessness using only the resources provided by homeless specific programs won't work. We need to find better ways to tap into "mainstream programs:" those programs that serve low-income people generally, and have much higher levels of funding.

The Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration Program was proposed by the Obama Administration, and it combines Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers funded by HUD with services provided by a combination of HHS programs, including a special grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and Medicaid.

Last week, the Alliance helped pull together a roundtable discussion between officials from HUD, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the White House, some key Congressional staff, and a Leadership Council, which consists of officials from several cities across the country who are working to end homelessness. The topic of conversation was a new proposal to combine housing subsidies with services to help end homelessness for 10,000 families and individuals.

The great thing about this demonstration program is that it tackles both the need to link services to housing and the need to tap into additional resources. It uses mainstream programs, including Section 8, TANF, and Medicaid, and it tries to bridge the HUD and HHS bureaucracies.

At the roundtable discussion and in various other meetings with Congressional and Administration officials, I've noticed that the people developing this program are deeply engaged in making it work and work well. They are asking the right questions, and they are going farther than the collaboration efforts of the past. It leaves me optimistic that even in this time of tight budgets and ridiculously high unemployment, we can do something that brings us a giant step closer to ending homelessness once and for all.

Awards Ceremony: Pictures from the Big Night!

2010-04-26T15:24:00.002-04:00

On Thursday, March 22, the Alliance hosted our annual Awards Ceremony - a celebration of the leaders and innovators in the housing and homelessness fields.

All the luminaries in the field were in attendance, including all our awardees, our partners from like-minded and like-missioned organizations, and federal officials.

More information about the Awards Ceremony can be found on the event website and pictures from the event can be found our our Facebook fan page.

A sampling of pictures are below. As you can see, Nan Roman, president and CEO of the Alliance, was certainly speaking from earnest experience when she wrote for the Huffington Post: "this is what ending homelessness looks like."

Friday News Roundup: News from New York. Press Around Awards Ceremony

2010-04-23T14:30:00.004-04:00

From the resignation of NYC Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Rob Hess's to HUD's proposal for a new definition of homelessness, from the deadline for Senators to support a $2.4 allocation for McKinney Vento programs in the FY2011 federal budget to our Annual Awards Ceremony last night, it's been quite a week here at the Alliance.

While we recover from last night's festivities, check out some of the coverage of our Awards Ceremony from across the country:

Folks in New Orleans joined us in recognizing the re-housing and prevention efforts of UNITY GNO. In particular, this piece notes that the organization got 500 homeless people in their own apartments over eight months after Hurricance Katrina.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer heralded the success of congressional ally Senator Patty Murray, as well as baseball-player-turned-affordable housing champion Mo Vaughn.
The Boston Globe shouted out to hometown hero Mo Vaughn.
In the Huffington Post, Alliance President Nan Roman wrote about our awardees:

These leaders have proven that through innovation, creativity, and unyielding allegiance to the cause, we can make progress on the greatest social challenges. Their examples show that we can aim towards a time when everyone has a place to call home.

This is what we aspire to tonight, as we gather to recognize the achievement towards our collective goal. This is what we honor, the persistent hope of a country without homelessness. This is what ending homelessness looks like.

And finally, the New York Times painted a complex picture of the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program - something we've covered extensively on this blog. We think it's a transformative initiative, but the Times points out some of its drawbacks. What do you think?

Awards Ceremony: A sneak peek from Alliance event planner D'Arcy Klingle

2010-04-22T12:39:00.027-04:00

The Alliance’s 2010 Awards Ceremony will be held today – Thursday, April 22 – at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

As Meeting and Events Coordinator here at the Alliance, it has been my privilege and responsibility to see another Awards Ceremony come together. The event is a great opportunity to reflect on the significance of our work and recognize the accomplishments of our friends and colleagues. As a community, this moment marks a time when we’re able to pause, appreciate, and celebrate.

It’s a wonderful event every year, and I can’t wait to see you all there!

And - as a special sneak preview- I thought I’d share a few things I’m looking forward to at tonight’s Awards Ceremony:

Mistress of Ceremonies, Ms. Judy Woodruff:
For the second year in a row Judy Woodruff, PBS Senior Correspondent, will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies. The broadcast journalist has covered politics and national news for CNN, NBC and PBS and now regularly co-anchors the PBS NewsHour. We’re delighted to have the lovely and charming Judy back!

Musical guest Mighty Sam McClain:
During his journey towards music, Mighty Sam McClain personally faced episodes of homelessness and can attest to the significance the experience has had in his life. Mighty The Grammy Award Nominee, will serve as a very special guest performer in tonight’s event.

T-Shirts:
Alliance “End Homelessness” t-shirts are making their debut at the Awards Ceremony reception following the Ceremony. Shirts are $15 and proceeds will go to Alliance programs. Make sure to pick one up

Mmm, crabcakes!
Of all the refreshments that will be served at the reception, the crab cakes really need their own special number: lucky number seven! Crab cakes at the Awards Ceremony have become tradition through the years – and they never fail to please! Make sure to try one (or two!) tonight!

And while we're on that note...
Old Dominion Brewing Company and Quattro Goomba’s Winery have graciously provided the beverages tonight. Show your support for our local businesses by raising a glass tonight.

Did we mention the view?
D.C. offers some spectacular evening views – complete with majestic skyline – but in the four years that I’ve lived in Washington, I can firmly say that the outdoor terrace at the Kennedy Center rivals the best of them.

The main event!
We haven’t forgotten the main event! This year, we truly have reason to celebrate. The night’s awardees have shown such commitment, innovation, and tireless effort in our collective goal to end homelessness. What I’m really struck by is the diversity of the night’s special guests: from former MLB first baseman Mo Vaughn to human rights activist Martha Kegel to public servant Sen. Patty Murray. We thank them for their incredible work and this opportunity to recognize their achievement.

Affordable Housing: For many Americans, it's Out of Reach

2010-04-21T16:01:00.002-04:00

Today, the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released Out of Reach, an annual analysis of the cost of rental housing in the United States.

In order to understand the report, it’s important to establish two things:

“Fair Market Rent” refers to the national average cost of a rental unit; it usually refers to a two-bedroom unit.
”Housing Wage” refers to the hourly wage a person must earn – working full-time – in order to afford Fair Market Rent.

The report found that a family needs to earn $18.44 per hour in order to afford a modest rental, two-bedroom home in the United States. This amounts to $38,360 per year - $16,310 more than the federal poverty level for a family of four.

Key findings of the report include:

In 2010, the estimated average wage for renters in the United States is $14.44 – a decline from $14.69 in 2009;
At the federal minimum wage of $7.25, a household would have top work 102 hours a week to afford the national average FMR;
There is no county in the United States in which a full-time minimum wage worker can afford even a one-bedroom apartment at FMR.

The report also found that the two-bedroom Housing Wage topped $20 in 10 states, including the District of Columbia, California, New York, Florida, and Hawaii. The five most expensive metro areas included San Francisco (CA), Honolulu (HI), Stamford-Norwalk (CT), San Cruz-Watsonville (CA), and Westchester County (NY) – the housing wage for each of those areas topped $30 per hour.

In their report, the NLIHC calls upon Congress to allocate $1 billion to the National Housing Trust Fund, a federal program that, once capitalized, could provide funds to build, preserve, and rehabilitate rental homes accessible for very low-income households.

From our perspective, this report shows that the most vulnerable residents of the United States are struggling to maintain housing. The risk of homelessness becomes more and more salient as rental rates rise and wages fall, especially for those already on the precarious brink of economic stability.

What this report demonstrates is the necessity of approaching the problem: we are now living in a country where the FMR of a two-bedroom apartment is just under $40,000 a year. We are now living in a country where a person earning the federal minimum wage requires a person to work 102 hours/week to sustain housing. We are now living in a country where, in some places, the Housing Wage for a two-bedroom apartment is over $60,000 per year.

In such a reality, it’s little wonder that the lowest-income individuals and families are at real risk of experiencing homelessness.

Luckily, the solution is clear. The Alliance stands firmly besides NLIHC in their call for a greater investment in affordable housing. Homelessness – at it’s very root – stems from the inability to afford housing and therein lies the solution. With a sufficient supply of affordable housing, we can provide everyone a place to call home.

Many thanks to the NLIHC for this important report. For more information about the findings - and to see data on the Housing Wage and FMR in your community – check out their website.

Action Alert: Call your Senator today!

2010-04-21T14:12:00.009-04:00

We need you to call your Senator today to ensure assistance providers have the funding they need to prevent and end homelessness.

Tomorrow is the last day Senators can sign on to the "Dear Colleague" letter asking the Senate T-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee to include $2.4 billion for the McKinney-Vento programs in the FY 2011 budget. In order for homelessness assistance programs across the country to continue their work and implement changes required by the HEARTH Act, $2.4 billion is critical.

Joined by the winners of the McKinney-Vento Letter-Writing Campaign (thanks for your support!), our advocacy team has been working hard to make sure McKinney-Vento programs are fully funded. Check out their lunchtime strategy session with our Director of Field Mobilization Sarah Kahn in the photo at right.

Anthony Stasi, a new addition to our staff, has also been talking to members of Congress about the importance of McKinney-Vento programs. He guest blogs about his Congressional visits below.

In the effort to influence the legislature to consider an increase in the HUD budget for fiscal year 2011, the Alliance has been actively informing members of both houses of the importance of the minimum funding necessary to keep new rapid re-housing programs running.

The current appropriation from the administration is $2.055 billion. While this is quite generous, the minimum needed to keep these programs solvent is $2.4 billion.

This is an interesting time on the Hill, as many ‘housing friendly’ members are eager to help and sign-on to letters addressed to committee chairs in order to secure these funds. Other members that might be considered ‘probables’ in this request are a little uncertain about any increases or earmarks (this is not an earmark, but members sometimes refer to it as such) in these economic times.

Offices in both houses have been extremely polite, with some more helpful than others. Even getting around the Hill is pleasant, once you get past removing belts, jackets, and clothing in order to get inside.

But as a great man once said; “the Dude abides.”

The programs that the Alliance (and many other non profits with an interest in homelessness) wants to keep running are programs that keep people from falling into homelessness, where there is a danger of individuals becoming chronically homeless. Chronically homeless people use a great deal of government services and the costs are absorbed by local communities and governments. These rapid re-housing programs save money in the long run, and that is why they are a priority to us.

Modifying the Definition of Homelessness

2010-04-20T15:48:00.005-04:00

Today's guest post is from our Senior Policy Analyst Norm Suchar.

The definition has been a controversial issue for many years, but Congress managed to achieve enough of a compromise to pass a homelessness bill last year, the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act, a.k.a. the HEARTH Act. The HEARTH Act made several changes to the definition, but, as is usually the case, it left some of the operational details to HUD, and HUD published its draft of those implementing regulations for comment this week.

We're still analyzing the regulations, but on first read, they're about what we expected. Currently, HUD considers people homeless if they are in one of the following situations:

1. Their nighttime residence is an emergency shelter, transitional housing program, or a place not meant for human habitation (e.g. car, sidewalk, park).

2. They are exiting an institutional setting where they resided for up to 30 days and immediately prior to entering the institution, they were living in a place not meant for human habitation or an emergency shelter.

3. They are in housing but are being evicted within the next 7 days and have no other place to go and no resources or support networks to obtain housing.

4. They are fleeing domestic violence and have no other place to go and no resources or support networks to obtain housing.

The new definition makes a few changes.

• It extends the time a person could be living in an institutional setting (number 2 above) to 90 days,

• It extends the amount of time prior to being evicted that a person would be considered homeless (number 3) to 14 days,

• And it creates a new category of homeless families with children or unaccompanied youth who have not lived independently for more than 90 days, have moved frequently (at least 3 times in the last 90 days) and have a disability or multiple barriers to employment that make it likely that they will continue to remain in an unstable situation.

These changes are most relevant for people who will now be considered homeless who weren't before. They will be eligible for more assistance, particularly shelter, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing programs. However, the programs will not grow in size to meet the new demand, so the overall number of people served won't change.

Providers that operate HUD funded homeless assistance programs will also be affected. More people will be eligible for their programs, and they will have to collect different types of documentation. Overall, though, the effects will be modest.

The draft regulation is open for public comment for 60 days (until June 21). HUD will then issue the final regulations.

NYC Homelessness Commissioner Rob Hess Steps Down

2010-04-19T12:46:00.005-04:00

Today, we at the Alliance learned that Rob Hess, commissioner of the NYC Department of Homeless Services, will be stepping down from his post on Friday, April 23.

During his tenure, Rob has been a valuable contributor to the efforts of the Alliance and an important ally in our fight to end homelessness in America.

Most recently, Rob had served as co-chairman of the Alliance’s Leadership Council - a group of eleven leaders in the homeless assistance field from across the country. The Leadership Council has been instrumental in pulling together information about effective work around the country, most notably in the implementation of the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), the $1.5 billion stimulus-funded effort to prevent and curb homelessness resulting from the recession.

Rob also served as frequent speaker at Alliance Conferences, sharing his experience as a leader in our homeless assistance community and offering lessons from the field. He has been an important source of information, for people working at the local level and for policymakers.

He also made important strides in his work at the city-level. As DHS Commissioner, Rob was committed to innovation – he expanded the HomeBase program in NYC, which was the inspiration for the existing federal HPRP program. He worked to reduce street homelessness and focused his efforts on homelessness prevention for families. He also brought thoughtful, empirical data to the problem – integrating data into prevention efforts and emphasizing outcomes for street outreach.

His leadership on this issue will continue as he transitions into his new job with the Doe Fund. We look forward to future opportunities to draw on his wisdom and experience.

Friday News Roundup: homelessness headlines from New York, Ventura County, Denver and the blogosphere

2010-04-16T11:10:00.001-04:00

What a week!

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness released the findings of their listening process - the result will be the very first Federal Plan to End Homelessness! Keep an eye out for the plan on May 20.

Along with other policymakers and advocates, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan showed up for the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Annual Policy Conference was this week. Find out more about the event on the National Housing Institute's blog Rooflines, which I just discovered this week.

From the headlines:

From California, the Ventura County Star published a surprisingly detailed story about their community count on homelessness. While similar stories tell a sparse story of the numbers, this story examined deeper issues, including the role of housing, services, and detailing the strategies that local stakeholders thought caused the decrease. Perhaps the most resonating message in the story came from the executive director of the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition: When you write and follow a plan - it works.
Robert Pear of the New York Times offered a story on the eligibility requirements of welfare. Pear noted that even in the tough economy, old limits to the program remain - sometimes to the detriment of the community's more vulnerable citizens.
Another story from the Times caused some conversation in the office - the Bloomberg administration has announced that a work requirement to the city's "Advantage voucher" - a rent subsidy. The idea has gotten some negative feedback from those in the homeless assistance field. Still others have noted that as long as those who don't qualify for the subsidy are eligible for other - likely more intensive - interventions, the new work requirement may be a good way to target the resource.
And finally, some personal news in this week's clips: Jamie Van Leeuwen of Denver's Road Home has resigned to work as the policy director for Mayor Johhn Hickenlooper's gubernatorial campaign. During his tenure, the outgoing executive director made significant strides in implementing the organizations' 10-year plan to end homelessness.

From the ever-expanding, ever-exciting blogopshere:

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities just launched a new blog: Off the Charts. Check out the awesome infographics!
On the, Change.org End Homelessness blog, Neil Donovan of the National Coalition for the Homeless breaks down the problems with the U.S. Census's attempts to count people experiencing homelessness.
The Portland Rescue Mission blog looks at youth homelessness from the perspective of a school bus driver.
I also just discovered The Road Home blog. It does a fantastic job of keeping us up to date about their work, which is definitely a national model.

(Careful readers of this blog might notice that we promised a post on youth homelessness this week: please stay tuned! We'll feature the Runaway Homeless Youth Act next week, plus more on our Annual Awards Ceremony).

McKinney-Vento: Now, Time for the Senate

2010-04-15T15:20:00.005-04:00

It's been awhile since we've talked about the McKinney-Vento Appropriations campaign on this blog, but our advocacy team has been hard at work behind the scenes to make sure homelessness assistance providers have the funding they need.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance programs is the largest portion of the federal government’s investment in ending homelessness. McKinney-Vento (for short) funds critical federal and state programs, and – maybe most importantly - provides financial assistance to the local programs in your own neighborhoods. This funding couldn’t be more important to our community’s most vulnerable citizens – especially now.

What we need is $2.4 billion: $2.4 billion will help keep all those funding streams alive and kicking, while making the changes outlined in the HEARTH Act.

So we’re asking you to reach out again! PLEASE call your senator today and urge them to sign the "Dear Colleague" letter asking the Senate T-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee to include $2.4 billion for the McKinney-Vento programs in FY 2011.

The deadline is April 22!

Here's what you can do:
Call the congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121.

Ask for your senator.
If you don't know who that is, you can find out here. Did your senator sign-on last year? Find out here.

Ask for the staffer who works on housing issues.
It’s helpful to start something like, “Hi, I’m Jane. I live in STATE and I’d like to speak with the staff member who works on housing issues.”

Here's what you can say:

I am calling to ask if the senator will support a funding level of $2.4 billion for HUD’s McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants program in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011. Specifically, I would like the senator to sign a Congressional sign-on letter regarding this funding level, which is being circulated by Senators Jack Reed, Charles Schumer, and Olympia Snowe. McKinney-Vento programs are the primary federal funding source for local efforts to reduce homelessness and help people move back into permanent housing. These programs work. Before the recession, these programs helped reduce homelessness by 11 percent between 2005 and 2008 across the country.
Last year, your boss helped Congress pass the HEARTH Act - the first time the program has been reauthorized in nearly two decades. It will provide more resources for important programs - particularly those that focus on preventing homelessness - but a one-time large increase in funding is needed to pay for those changes in FY 2011.
It is critical that Congress provides a funding level of $2.4 billion for the program in order to fully implement the HEARTH Act while continuing to provide our community with the necessary resources to make progress toward ending homelessness.

For more information about our ongoing campaign, visit the McKinney Appropriations Campaign website.

2010 Awards Ceremony: Honoring Virgin Mobile USA for their work in the fight against youth homelessness

2010-04-13T23:12:00.004-04:00

We're gearing up for our 2010 Annual Awards Ceremony next week, and we're so excited to be honoring Virgin Mobile USA and Virgin Unite for their commitment to the fight against youth homelessness through their RE*Generation project.

In what follows, CEO Dan Schulman describes their work and why it's so important to end youth homelessness.

How did you start working in the field of homelessness (or housing)?

When we looked to establish a charitable initiative for Virgin Mobile, I felt it was important that we involve our customer base by supporting a cause that would resonate well with them. At the time, we were exposed to the issue of youth homelessness and were moved by the lack of awareness for the issue in general throughout the country. The decision to focus on this cause seemed natural especially because we had a high population of teens and young people as customers.

The Re*Generation was established in 2006 with the support of Virgin Unite, Virgin Group's charitable arm. The Re*Generation is Virgin Mobile USA's initiative to address the issue of youth homelessness and empower a generation to help its own. In June 2007, we worked with legislators from both the House and Senate to have Congress officially declare November as National Homeless Youth Awareness Month with the support of singer-songwriter and former homeless youth, Jewel.

Over the past three years, Virgin Mobile has continued to expand its efforts in this area. When we decided to make our annual Virgin Mobile Festival free this past summer, given the terrible economy, we also introduced our “Free I.P.” program. It gave people the opportunity to volunteer at a homeless shelter in order to upgrade to a V.I.P. ticket at the concert. Through this program, more than 30,000 hours of community service were donated by volunteers throughout the country, more than $80,000 was raised, 1,000 pairs of sneakers were donated to homeless youth organizations, and 7000 hygiene kits were produced for distribution to homeless youth organizations. The Free I.P. program was an acclaimed success and we are continuing to integrate it into various branding programs including our sponsorship this year of the Lady Gaga tour.

Where do you draw your inspiration?

I grew up in a family that valued giving back to the community. One of my attractions to joining Virgin was the brand’s, and Richard Branson’s, commitment as well to businesses giving back and contributing to important social causes.

When we first got involved, we worked with some key non-profit partners including StandUp4Kids. They had a program that put supporters out on the street to get somewhat of a taste of what it’s like to live on the streets. There I was, dressed shabbily with no money, no cell phone, trying to get a dollar for a cup of coffee. I can never fully understand the difficulties that homeless people experience, but I did feel what it’s like to be invisible to people walking by, and feel completely minimized. It was a very profound experience for me, and only heightened my commitment to the issue.

With more than 1 million children and teens living without a home, it is more essential than ever that broad-based awareness complement significant private philanthropy and government support toward solving this pressing social issue.

Why do you think ending homelessness is possible?

Through our efforts and the work by so many, we have made incredible strides to date and I’m hopeful that our work to raise awareness will continue to gain momentum for the issue and help to lessen the impact over time.

We’re very excited about partnering this year with the National Association to Educate Homeless Children and Youth NAEHCY. They provide liaisons within school districts to support homeless youth onsite at school. These and other innovative programs will help make a difference.

And the efforts we started with programs like TXT2CLOTHE and TXT2DONATE were early examples of mobile giving which has exploded over the past few years. By making giving accessible and easy, people are more likely to contribute and then hopefully get involved as well. Lady Gaga has a PSA about homeless youth that appears during each of her concerts – she starts touring again in July – with a direct appeal to Text to Donate.

Through our programs, more than 200,000 items of new clothing have been made available to homeless youth through partner organizations. Virgin Mobile has provided more than $3,000,000 of its own money to support awareness programs, and generated close to $500,000 in donations.

The triggers of youth homelessness- poverty, family instability, mental illness, homophobia and abuse- are societal issues that are complex and have followed our human experience for hundreds of years. Virgin Mobile believes that there is more that can be done on both a national and local level to appropriately respond to these breakdowns. We are one organization working to make a difference with a handful of partners. We will remain passionate and committed to moving closer towards the goal of ending homelessness, and empowering people to help make a difference for some of the kids living on the streets.

Lessons from the NTEN conference

2010-04-12T22:51:00.002-04:00

The 2010 NTEN Conference is officially done and over - we all said our goodbyes to lovely, friendly Atlanta, the gorgeous Omni Hotel, and all our new friends and colleagues.

And after six sessions, two keynotes, three receptions, and endless networking - followed by a plane ride and a night to sleep on it - I've finally come up with some official lessons from the NTEN conference.

We are not alone!
Nearly 1500 people descended on Atlanta, GA to take part in the conference - communications officers and IT professionals and fundraisers and executives and a host of other non-profit stakeholders. It was incredible to see the role that technology played in the professional lives of such a diversity of people and positions.
Technology = tools.

A lot of times, I think we get deluded and think that these new gadgets and gizmos are the answers to our problems. What resonated loudly to me, at least, are that all these innovations in technology are tools - they're instruments presenting new ways an strategies to make us more effective at what we're ultimately trying to do - and not the answer in and of themselves.
Technology can be small and intimate...

Andrew Sullivan's take on the intimacy of blogging and the social media platform was a new idea for me. Of course I was familiar with the idea that social media is all about relationships, but the idea that blogging, in particular, is a one-on-one discourse moved me. With the seemingly infinite reach of the web, it can seem that we're screaming into the vast abyss, so it's remarkable to think that when we make contact, we're making small, personal, intimate contact.
...and technology can be grand and profound.
On the other hand, I see the remarkable lesson that Asi Burak's theory of utilizing video games for the social good (who I met personally in the lobby on the last day of the conference!) can teach. Harnessing the utility and engagement of video games to explore the ideas of hunger and war and charity seems so far-fetched, but he's showing us how effective and powerful it can be.
We really really really like penguins.
Goals + planning = success...

In every session that I went to, each presenter seemed to emphasize the importance of goals and planning. Sometimes, it seems like we're drowning in a sea of possibilities: do we need a Facebook page? Should we be on Twitter? Is it time to blog? Do we redesign our website? How can we increase online donations? And as newer and shinier toys and tools come at us faster and faster, that panicky threat of getting behind is only more salient. But before jumping on ever bandwagon, it's critical to examine how these new instruments fit into the overall goals of the organization, and how they contribute to the the mission.
...and in that same vein, think strategically - act tactfully.
I stole that from a speaker in my last session, Demetrio Maguigad, who had it rolling across his iPhone screen in front of his name tag. It's another theme I heard over and over again in my sessions - think in the long term. Consider how each new tool, each new idea, each new strategy fits into the long-term plan. Consider your mission. Approach each task from different angles, consider every perpective, analyze every approach. It's easy to get carried away with the motion and fervor - but success is earned with deliberation.
There really is such a thing as southern hospitality! It was ALL over the conference and city!
We can learn from each other...

You know what there was a lot of during sessions? Case studies. Case studies about SEO in my first session, case studies about testing landing pages in my third. Case studies about communications strategy in my last session and case studies about leadership skills in my fifth. In every session I went to, I heard story after story after story about the trials, foibles, and successes of people who had tried it before me and failed - and people who had tried it before me and succeeded. And not only was it very entertaining to hear the stories of others, it was reassuring to note that I was the first and I will certainly not be the last. I learned there is a wealth of experience out there, experience willing to share an insight and lend a hand.
...and we're in it together.

On the last day of the conference, I took a picture with David Krumlauf, Becky Trombley, and Mark Horvath. We're an odd bunch - to be sure - but we were the small homeless assistance cohort at the conference. As Holly Ross told us again and again, we are a community of people coming together around the idea that we can make the world a better place - and we can help each other do it! - using new and innovative ideas. What brings us together is our commitment to that idea, and our commitment to achieving that goal.

So that is the moral of my story for now. But more later soon!

-CA

NTEN: Day Two

2010-04-09T23:56:00.000-04:00

Day two of the conference and my first day of workshops!

Ever the eager beaver, I was ready; I was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. After a day of mixers and games and socials (complete with slideshows and singing and a science fair!), I was ready to get what I came for: the tools, skills, and knowledge to make my organization more effective at doing what we're aiming to do - end homelessness.

And I wasn't disappointed. Three workshops into the afternoon, I learned how to optimize my website to help people find content faster, I learned how other organizations were using social media; I learned that we could test our landing pages to see what elements make them the most effective, and I learned how important it was for all organizational departments to contribute to making the website more user- and search-friendly.

And I learned a lot about the people here too. Over lunch, I was lucky enough to meet Ed Doolittle of AID Atlanta and Pam Gaston of Health Mothers, Health Babies Coalition of Georgia - both here with the Georgia Center for Nonprofits, a collaborative partner for this year's NTEN Conference. Ed and I swapped stories about how difficult it can be to find housing for people with chronic, high-maintenance illnesses like HIV and AIDS - and how difficult it can be for people to successfully manage chronic illnesses like HIV and AIDS without stable housing. Similarly, it's difficult for mothers to raise healthy, happy children without safe, permanent housing and access to health care - which is harder and harder to come by for people of fewer and fewer means.

I also got to meet Jessica Dally of Community Voice Mail National - a really interesting organization that provides voice mail services to people experiencing homelessness. I had honestly never considered how important voice mail service might be to people without permanent shelter or regular access to a telephone, but 20 minutes into the conversation and I was thinking about voice mail in a whole new way!

Some colleagues and partners have observed that the homeless assistance community can seem a little behind in utilizing existing technology to advance our common goals (in fact, the moderator in my social media benchmarks session noted that international, environmental, and animal rights groups were at the top of the pack in using social media - homeless assistance services didn't even show up on his list!). And admittedly, it's a thought that's crossed my mind more than once. But being here at the conference, meeting these great people and hearing about their work, it's amazing to see how many issues and ideas and projects could intersect with our own. I heard myself saying over and over again today: "Here's my card. I'm sure we can find a way to work together."

[Pause for the cheesy moment.]

Which, of course, is one of the points this conference is trying to make. That point being that we are one community of like-minded, mission-driven, well-intentioned do-gooders, with the potential to collaborate and support each other and work together using all the neat tools that technology as to offer.

[Pause for cheesy moment 2].

At the moment, I'm settling into bed to sleep off the lingering buzz of the day and prepare for the third - and last! - day of he conference tomorrow. I'm hoping - no, I'm sure! - that it'll be more of the same: learning, mingling, listening...it's possible there'll be more singing.

But I'll let you know either way.

Good night, all,
Cath

Friday News Roundup: Good News for People Who Want Progress

2010-04-09T10:55:00.000-04:00

I like good news. As I read our daily media clips and search the blogosphere for news about homelessness, what I find is mostly infuriating, depressing, or somehow deeply upsetting. While that's the nature of the beast, I also think we're making progress, and I want to highlight it. Here's a few bright spots in homelessness headlines from the week.

Boston's WBUR reported on how funds from the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program helped a mother fleeing from an abusive boyfriend find housing. (I interned for Heading Home, the organization profiled, in summer of 2006, helping out in their drop-in shelter and helping pave the way for their transition to providing permanent housing. I think they're amazing - and that's where I first learned about the Alliance!)
Folks broke ground on a new housing development for veterans experiencing homelessness outside Seattle
As part of their ongoing series on youth homelessness in FL, the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida posted some adorable pictures of the children at their Early Child Development Center.
This is a pretty incredible story: despite struggling with homelessness, this LA teen has totally conquered his high school and is moving on to West Point with the help of their alumni association.
A new permanent supportive housing development called Florence House opens this week in Portland. For more on progress toward ending homelessness there, check out this post from HUD's blog.

Speaking of frustrating news, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty posted this week about insurance companies that consider domestic violence a pre-existing condition, which is apparently legal in DC, my adopted hometown:

DC has the dubious distinction of remaining among the handful of states that permit insurance companies to regard a history of domestic violence as a pre-existing condition for purposes of denying coverage . As outrageous as this fact might seem in isolation, it is particularly disturbing when viewed in tandem with such additional barriers to stability as housing and employment discrimination.

Despite these barriers, organizations like the District Alliance for Safe Housing are working to keep survivors We put out a best practices brief on their work this past week.

I'd also recommend checking out this persuasive argument for permanent supportive housing on the new and improved Inforum.

Hearing from Campus Progress that a recent panel on youth homelessness offered "no definitive remedies" makes me glad we're covering policy updates on the Runaway Homeless Youth Act on our blog next week. A new study shows that the situation for young people who age out of foster care is often pretty dismal - which makes policy solutions all the more critical. Stay tuned!

NTEN: Day One

2010-04-08T18:19:00.001-04:00

Greetings from Atlanta!

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is attending the Nonprofit Technology Network Conference (NTEN) for the very first time - on the year if the conference's own 10th birthday!

NTEN is a community of nonprofit organizations committed to using technology to help fulfill our missions. In their own words:

"We believe that technology allows nonprofits to work with greater social impact. We enable our members to strategically use technology to make the world a better, just, and equitable place."

What that means in practice is a lot of sharing: online workshops to learn about the latest gadgets and tools, local gatherings in cities across the country to swap skills, online and off-line forums for people with similar interests and jobs to trade challenges and solutions, and - drumroll - the annual Nonprofit Technology Conference.

This year, there are about 1350 people in attendance, all buzzing around to learn what's new and effective. And while there are plenty of people here who do what I do (communications!) there are plenty of other jobs represented here too - IT folk, webmasters, fundraisers, executives, organizers. And there are lots of different kinds of organizations here too - I met Melissa from Free Range Studios, ran into Michaela from Forum One Communications, saw old friend Stacy from See3 and caught a glimpse of the Google kiosk.

It's been quite whirl - and we haven't even started workshops yet!

But sitting here - just for a minute to catch my breath - I'm a little-tiny-bit-cheesily-inspired by what brings us all here. Together, we're a collection of mission-driven organizations, all trying to do our part to make the world a better place. And we're trying to apply the technology that makes our personal lives just a little bit easier (hello, iPhone!) to create real, substantial social good. It's an idea that's still (still!) being debated, but here at the NTEN conference, people really belive it's possible.

And I totally buy that.

So starting tomorrow, I'm going to workshops to find out how I can do my part to make that happen.

I'll keep you posted!

-Catherine

"Housing can save lives," says Martha Kegel, 2010 Nonprofit Achievement Award Winner

2010-04-08T17:00:00.000-04:00

At our Annual Awards Ceremony on April 22, we'll honor Unity of Greater New Orleans, a nonprofit organization leading a collaborative of 63 agencies providing housing and services to the homeless in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish. In 2009, UNITY provided housing or services to 19,468 homeless children and adults - nearly twice the number of people served annually before Hurricane Katrina.

Executive Director Martha Kegel will accept our Nonprofit Achievement Award on behalf of UNITY. Read on to learn more about Martha's story and UNITY's work.

1. What is the newest issue emerging in homelessness policy?

As climate change leads to more disasters of great severity here and around the globe, a sustained commitment is needed to ensuring permanent housing solutions for the poorest and most vulnerable victims of disasters. Here in New Orleans, nearly five years after poorly designed levees broke, several thousand of the most vulnerable victims of Hurricane Katrina – most of whom have serious disabilities but were stably housed before the disaster -- are living in Third World conditions, squatting in New Orleans’ 61,000 abandoned buildings filled with mold, rotting debris and gaping holes in the ceilings as though Katrina just happened.

The Mississippi Gulf Coast too is seeing widespread homelessness as a result of massive loss of housing stock and dramatic increases in rents since Katrina. The lion’s share of attention is given to emergency relief when disasters happen, but a strong and sustained partnership is needed between nonprofits, government and philanthropies in order to ensure that the most vulnerable victims of disaster --- especially children, the elderly and extremely poor people with mental and physical disabilities -- are a top priority in designing and implementing long-term recovery programs.

No one should stop working on behalf of the most vulnerable until they are all stably re-housed. In the devastated areas of Louisiana, innovative programs have been launched. But we and our partners still need help to finish the job of rescuing and rehousing vulnerable people.

2. What issue in homelessness policy should everyone be reminded of?

Homelessness kills people, plain and simple. Research shows that homeless people are at increased risk of dying because of the rigors and dangers of having to live on the street. People forced to live for many months or years on the street or in abandoned buildings tend to see their health dramatically deteriorate.

Conversely, housing can save lives. Fortunately there is a new movement to prioritize housing resources for the most vulnerable people with the greatest need for housing. As people in the HIV/AIDS community have long understood, housing is truly a form of health care. It’s tragic that people with disabilities in this country do not yet have the legal right to housing. Of course, housing should be recognized as a fundamental human right for everyone.

3. How did you start working in this field?

I have been involved in civil rights and affordable housing advocacy for many years, first with the ACLU and later as a Skadden Fellow working in some of the poorest communities of Louisiana. In 1997, I began directing a homeless legal advocacy project at New Orleans Legal Assistance Corp. I found my clients’ struggles profoundly moving. They were the people who had fallen through what I discovered were gaping holes in the social safety net. I realized that as a lawyer I could file appeals and lawsuits to obtain disability benefits and unpaid wages for my clients, and I could challenge unlawful arrests resulting from the criminalization of homelessness, but legal action was never enough – in good conscience I could not close a case until my client’s homelessness was ended. I realized that it often took a bunch of people and organizations working together to actually pull my clients out of their homelessness.

In 2003, I eagerly took on the challenge of leading a network of organizations which now provide housing and services to nearly 20,000 homeless people annually in New Orleans. Since Katrina, we work hard to advocate with government at all levels for the resources our clients need, work with the news media to increase awareness of homelessness and what is needed to solve it, and seek to involve the entire local community – as well as the many people around the nation who deeply care about New Orleans’ recovery – in ending homelessness here.

4. Where do you draw your inspiration?

Our outreach team – the brave and deeply compassionate people who spend their nights rescuing vulnerable people from the abandoned buildings of New Orleans – provide daily fuel for my determination to end homelessness. One morning a video snippet sent to me by an outreach worker -- showing him trying to comfort a woman who had been sleeping on a bedroll heaped on piles of garbage in an abandoned house -- left me in tears. One afternoon the team took me to meet an elderly man whose gutted home was filled with thousands of aluminum cans he had collected in a desperate attempt to raise the funds to make it livable. And one evening they led me into a flooded abandoned hospital occupied by homeless people, including a severely mentally ill man. As long as our outreach workers continue to find elderly and disabled people living in these conditions, I will not give up this fight.

Love for New Orleans – my adopted hometown with its unique culture and beloved hodgepodge of people and neighborhoods -- drives me. Like nearly every New Orleanian, when I evacuated for Hurricane Katrina, I suddenly found myself and my family, including my 20-month-old toddler, homeless. It was a transformational experience. I got a tiny inkling of what it’s like for my clients. In six weeks’ time, my family and I slept in five different places.

For the first time, I had the humbling experience of accepting public and private charity. For the first time, I did not know where my family would sleep the next night. For the first time, I experienced the mental confusion, the physical disorganization, the fear and hopelessness that people experience when they do not have a stable permanent home. Because of our prolonged displacement, New Orleanians understand as never before the importance of home. We cannot rest until our most vulnerable neighbors have one, too.

5. Why do you think ending homelessness is possible?

Because we now know full well what the solutions to homelessness are, and they are cost effective compared with the cost of keeping people homeless. Here’s what we learned in New Orleans, when we re-housed 457 people, mostly ill, from two large squalid homeless camps in eight months (despite the fact that we had no housing or services resources in hand when we began): You can achieve permanent housing solutions for large numbers of people quickly, if you have a sense of urgency, if you use evidence-based practices, and if you call on the entire community and your government partners for help.

Annual Awards Ceremony in Two Weeks!

2010-04-08T13:08:00.002-04:00

I am happy to share that the Alliance’s Annual Awards Ceremony is two weeks from today! This exciting event, taking place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, will celebrate solutions to ending homelessness and the people that make those solutions a reality.

We are happy to honor the following individuals and organizations for their great work:

Virgin Mobile USA and Virgin Unite for their focus on youth homelessness, introducing ground-breaking initiatives to raise awareness, increase volunteerism, and provide critical resources to local agencies throughout the United States.

Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) who has been instrumental in securing much-needed funding for homeless programs at the federal level. She has also spearheaded countless efforts to help homeless veterans as well as provide rapid re-housing for families experiencing homelessness.

UNITY of Greater New Orleans for being a leader in the battle to end homelessness in New Orleans. Since Hurricane Katrina, the organization has reached into the streets and hurricane-ravaged buildings of the city to find and house thousands of the community’s most vulnerable residents.

Maurice “Mo” Vaughn who is building affordable housing and strengthening communities in New York. The former MLB star is the co-founder of OMNI New York LLC, a development company that has built over 3,000 units of affordable housing.

Other highlights: Senior PBS Correspondent Judy Woodruff will serve as the night’s emcee and Grammy-nominated musician Mighty Sam McClain will provide entertainment.

And aside from the highlights – this is an important event. It brings together so many people – federal lawmakers, local officials, grassroots activists, direct service providers – everyone involved in the grand scheme to bring assistance to our nation’s most vulnerable residents. It is an opportunity for us to reflect on the mission that brings us together: to end homelessness for all in our country.

It promises to be an important evening - so mark your calendar and plan on joining us at the Kennedy Center on April 22nd at 7:30pm. For full details and to purchase tickets, check out the event website.

I hope to see you there!

Friday News Roundup: Elderly homelessness, the Census, and even some good news

2010-04-02T09:54:00.000-04:00

Policymakers can consider themselves warned: in 10 years, homelessness among the elderly population will have increased dramatically unless they take action. Along with our own report, The Rising Elderly Population, the AARP's Public Policy Institute and the Center for Housing Policy also released a study this week on Strategies to Meet the Housing Needs of Older Adults. It even comes with an online toolkit to help make these strategies into reality.

Although predictions about elderly homelessness are a cause for serious concern, there has been some good news in headlines about homelessness this week:

In San Francisco, a new 56-unit development for formerly homeless individuals opened its doors this week. 149 Mason Street also offers a host of services, including an on-site medical clinic.
Two officials in Ventura County, CA are working to invest extra revenue in homeless assistance, including start-up money for a housing trust fund.
The Cleveland Homeless blog reported on a study by the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless that shows despite increasing unemployment and an increasing difficult housing market, homelessness has only risen slightly due to a solid network of prevention and emergency services.
The Huffington Post featured a story about a mother with two children who recently moved into permanent supportive housing after escaping domestic violence.

And it's census week! We shared some neat trivia on our blog as census workers visited emergency shelters, free meal sites, and outdoor areas like parking lots in an attempt to get an accurate count of people experiencing homelessness.

In case you missed it, check out this New York Times piece, Times Square's Homeless Holdout, Not Budging.

His name is Heavy, and he has lived on the streets of Times Square for decades. Day after day, he has politely declined offers of housing, explaining that he is a protector of the neighborhood and cannot possibly leave, the workers who visit him every day said.

Yet they are determined to get through to Heavy, the last homeless holdout in Times Square.

He might also be the most famous homeless person in the country this week. I wonder if we'll ever read the story about Heavy moving into his own place.

Reoprt out today: Homelessness among the elderly to rise 33% by 2020

2010-04-01T16:05:00.008-04:00

According to The Rising Elderly Population, the latest report from our own Homelessness Research Institute, homelessness among the elderly is set to increase 33% between 2010 and 2010.

I sat down with MWilliam Sermons, director of HRI, to talk about the report, specifically our recommended solutions to the increasingly urgent problem of elderly homelessness.

Liz: These projections are pretty dire. What can we do to start curbing elderly homelessness now?

Bill: I think the primary thing that can be done right now is to trying shore up affordable housing programs on which elderly persons rely.

There's a mix between project-based Section 8, housing choice vouchers, Section 202, Section 515. Because elderly persons have a diverse range of needs, they utilize a diverse range of federal programs and local programs. So I think it’s really critical that the housing stock in these programs be preserved.

Bill: It’s also critical that new housing units be created moving forward. Federal policy definitely has to move in a direction such that we’re dramatically expanding the availability of affordable housing that elderly persons rely on.

I also think that one of the things that’s critical from a homelessness perspective is that the job of ending chronic homelessness be completed. The projection is that there will be a 33% increase in elderly homelessness between 2010 and 2020 and a lot of the people that are chronically homeless now are in the "older adult but not yet elderly" category.

So the success that we can have in the next 10 years at actually housing the chronically homeless population, particularly the older adults, will go a long way to avoiding one of the pathways into elderly homelessness, which is older adults becoming elderly.

And one of the issues with that is that as they become elderly, their needs may change. So their needs in terms of the services, they’ll likely become more frail, so it’s important to get them into housing, so those needs can be anticipated and dealt with moving forward.

The third thing we can do, after we shore up the affordable housing stock and after we finish the job of ending chronic homelessness, is to better understand the elderly homeless population so that services and housing can be provided in a very targeted way.

One of the limitations in the research we were seeing – the studies we were cobbling together as a part of informing the background of this study – was that there’s very little that’s known about the elderly homeless population, in terms of how they use the shelter system, in terms of whether they’re episodic users of the system or chronic users, how they use the mainstream services and systems, including Social Security and Medicare – what their utilization is like of those sort of programs – and other sort of things about their characteristics, dynamics and location.

There’s a lot that’s not known about the elderly homeless population. Having better knowledge and a typology of the elderly homeless population is critical for being able to figure out whether or not there’s a set of prevention programs, for example, that could be put in place for elderly persons with low needs and whether or not there are service-enriched strategies that need to be put in place for people with higher needs and we need to figure out just how many people are in those two categories.

The Decennial Census and Homelessness: Then and Now

2010-03-31T10:00:00.004-04:00

This is an excerpt from a longer report by HRI Research Associate Megan Henry. Big hat tip to her!

In honor of the 2010 Census, here's a few interesting facts about the way the census has included people experiencing homelessness over the years:

The first Census occurred in 1790, and consisted of just four questions. Since then, the United States has increased efforts, changed methods, altered principle criteria and time frames, and expanded the survey considerably.
In 1850, for the first time, “pauper” was included on the Census questionnaire alongside deaf, dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, and convict. Paupers were considered poor beyond a failure to meet an income threshold, and the word indicates a sort of dependency on government or private assistance to survive.
By 1854, when the Census results had come out, the New York Times was contesting the numbers. An articled identified, quite specifically, that the “outdoor paupers” were not included in the U.S. Census, and asserted that the Census’ number of paupers (134,392) was deficient by 50 percent.
Between 1870 and 1920, anywhere between 40,000 and 75,000 people were counted living in poorhouses.
While some Censes of the 19th century included populations similar to those we consider “homeless,” only Census operations beginning in 1970 identified specific efforts to count the homeless population.

Obviously, the way the Census counts people experiencing homelessness has changed. As we speak, census workers are counting: today, they'll count those staying outside; yesterday they counted people at soup thkitchens and mobile food vans. They started Monday at emergency shelters.

For the 2000 census, Census Bureau implemented "Service-Based Enumeration," counting people at emergency shelters, transitional shelters, shelters for unaccompanied youth, hotels, motels, soup kitchens, regularly scheduled mobile food vans, and targeted outdoor locations.

In 2000, 283,898 people were counted as homeless in 14,817 locations. Approximately 50 percent of the locations were shelters. 62 percent of people were counted at shelters, 28 percent at soup kitchens/food vans, and 10 percent outdoors.

There were numerous issues associated with the 2000 count: the limited number of outdoor sites included in the count, shelters that were not open during the day were not included, and shelters that were only open for two days a week were not included.

Since the last census, the Census Bureau has worked with local government and advocacy organizations to create a more comprehensive list of shelters and homeless service providers. Also, a “Be Counted” questionnaire has been developed for people who do not believe they were counted in the census effort. Questionnaire assistance centers (QAC) will be set up in libraries, post offices, community centers, gas stations, etc. and will provide people with assistance in filling out the questionnaire.

What about the census in your community? Do you think it will be accurate?

New NHC President and CEO Maureen Friar on the past, present and future of affordable housing

2010-03-30T10:44:00.001-04:00

Today's guest post is from Maureen Friar, the new President and CEO of the National Housing Conference. We asked her some of the most pressing questions in the field. Here's what she said:

Where do we – as a national community – stand on the issue of affordable housing? Where should we go from here?

Our country still faces a huge affordable housing problem. Housing is not affordable for many segments of our society, including low-income households and working families. In addition, when the cost of transportation is combined with the cost of housing, households are finding it even harder to make ends meet.

With the recent downturn in economy, collapse of the financial markets, and the overextension of credit, the number of foreclosures continues to rise, affecting millions in our communities. According to our research affiliate the Center on Housing Policy’s newest Paycheck to Paycheck study, between 2008 and 2009, home prices rose or held steady in 90 (44 percent) out of 207 metropolitan areas. Over the same time period, the income needed to purchase a median-priced home decreased in 193 of these metro areas (93 percent).

As well known to NAEH, we have made great strides in ending chronic homelessness, but many still are without a home. People are also living in substandard housing and families often are doubled- and tripled- up, which adds to the affordable housing crisis.

We must work with the Administration and Congress as one national community to implement measures to halt foreclosures, increase and expand new and affordable housing options, and fund the Housing Trust Fund. We must also continue to attack homelessness, which is the most visible sign of our housing crisis. It is essential that we raise our voices together to highlight the need for safe, decent and affordable housing for all Americans.

What is the most important innovation or development in the field of affordable housing that you’ve seen in the last decade?
I have seen extraordinary commitment and increased capacity from the nonprofit community to develop quality multifamily housing projects that integrate private and public financing. These developments, financed with private equity, primarily through the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit, show that public private partnerships are effective and create solutions that work for our neighborhoods.

There are wonderful examples across the country – in rural, urban, and suburban settings. They incorporate mixed financing, as well as green and sustainable initiatives, and ultimately create high quality, affordable housing that is viable in the long-term. I also applaud the housing solutions that help successfully integrate people with disabilities and special needs into neighborhoods and affordable housing developments. As a result, we are moving away from housing people in isolated communities and making a variety of options available like never before.

What are a few of your most important policy priorities for the year?
NHC’s policy priorities for this year include, first and foremost, preventing foreclosures and stabilizing impacted neighborhoods. This includes developing better tools and improving the implementation of federal policies to stem foreclosures. We have been particularly active on this front through the NHC-sponsored National Foreclosure Prevention and Neighborhood Stabilization Task Force.

In addition, NHC is focused on helping low- to moderate-income working families meet their housing challenges through rental preservation, employer-assisted housing and workforce housing. NHC also plans to help improve the coordination of housing, transportation and energy. Specifically, through NHC’s advocacy at the local, state and national levels we hope to create incentives to preserve and expand the availability of housing that is permanently affordable to low- and moderate-income families near transit, job and retail centers, and develop the incentives necessary to improve the energy-efficiency of existing residential dwellings.

What brought you to NHC and what do you hope to accomplish there?
I am tremendously excited to be the new NHC president and CEO after 14 years of building the Supportive Housing Network of New York into an effective advocacy organization at the state and local levels. I am very interested in working on federal policy because it is the foundation on which most housing policy is developed.

With its nearly 80-year history, NHC is the oldest housing advocacy organization in America. Our membership comprises every segment of the housing industry. Given that we have just experienced the most dramatic housing crisis since the Great Depression, NHC has a tremendous opportunity to make an impact in helping fix this crisis and developing creative solutions to address future housing needs.

Known as the United Voice for Housing, we plan to build on our role as a convener by collaborating with our membership and drawing upon their strengths to craft and promote ideas for improving government programs, financial opportunities, and expanding the dialogue on housing solutions.

In addition, NHC will be increasing the presence of affordable housing as a first-tier national priority through our new Center for Housing Communications (CHC). The primary mission of the CHC is, ultimately, to improve collaboration between the housing and related industries in order to better communicate the need for, and benefits of, affordable housing.

NHC is also actively engaged at the state and local levels through its regional forums. We act as a clearinghouse to provide information on best practices for preserving affordable rental housing, foreclosure issues, and the connection between housing and transportation. I am delighted to be working in partnership with our research affiliate the Center for Housing Policy and our other national partners to be an effective and proactive voice on these issues.

I truly believe that by working collaboratively and diligently, change is possible. We can make affordable housing a first-tier national priority.