CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA. Noting that "our 10- year implementation plan will become a series of ten short-term, tactical plans," the leadership of "A Way Home," Charlotte and Mecklenburg County's new 10-Year Plan, last week unveiled the engagement, housing, and prevention focused vision and goals that have resulted from their planning partnership. "The evidence is compelling that the scope of our crisis has become too large and the causes too complex to continue working from an institutionalized, agency-driven system that relies heavily on emergency shelters and crisis management," observes the Plan.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, invited to join Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and Mecklenburg County Commissioners Jennifer Roberts, and Norman Mitchell at Charlotte's Urban Ministry Center, lauded the partners: "Isn't this the way it should be? Every level of government - federal, state, county, city - and the private sector which supported the Plan's development - all partnered, all on the same page, all committed to using their expertise and resources to accomplish the one goal, one objective, one mission, - to end the moral, spiritual, and economic disgrace of homelessness. Special credit goes to Mayor McCrory and Commissioner Mitchell who both promised that, when the time was right, the Plan would be done. They've kept their word." Pictured here are (left to right): Charlotte City Council Member Anthony Foxx, Mecklenburg County Commissioner Norman Mitchell, Congressman Mel Watt, United Way Board Member Michael Smith, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, and Mecklenburg County Chair Jennifer Roberts.

A Way Home Board Chair Keith Wilson (pictured here), Congressman Watt, Charlotte City Council Member Foxx, and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Homeless Policy Specialist Martha Are, joined Bart Landess, Senior Vice President of the Foundation For The Carolinas, Andy Elliot, Board of Directors of United Way of the Central Carolinas, Board of Directors, Dale Mullenix of Urban Ministries, and Chris Wolf, Executive Director of A Way Home for the event. Greensboro HUD Field Office Director Chris Stearns presented the City and County with a check symbolizing the recent award of more than $3 million in HUD homeless resources.

In his remarks Mayor McCrory indicated the need to move forward beyond "doing business as usual" and credited the Council and the President for persistence in creating a national initiative.

The new Plan proposes to evolve and build each year through an annual community planning and priority setting process. Guiding principles for the Plan include setting targets to identify specific, measurable outcomes; emphasizing tactics by identifying a select number of tangible, actions each year to begin implementing immediately and around which momentum will build and be sustained within the community; ensuring accountability for results by designating individuals, organizations, groups and/or other entities to be held accountable for results and for reporting on them; keeping the planning process alive by monitoring and evaluating progress throughout the year; and continuing to seek partners and resources in the political, faith, business, education and other community sectors.

To support the Plan's housing focus, the implementation strategy calls for creating 2,500 supportive and service-enriched housing units over the next ten years - 500 supportive units for chronically homeless men and women and 2,000 service-enriched units for families and individuals. Housing action steps include developing new sources of short and long-term housing subsidies to enable people to move into and retain housing; expanding community-based case management services that embody a coordinated "wraparound" service approach that helps residents of service- enriched housing reach their goals for self-directed living; developing systems integration strategies to ensure that mainstream services such as public assistance programs, employment training and placement, health care and mental health and substance abuse treatment are streamlined to provide access to residents living in supportive or service-enriched housing; and incorporating housing assistance centers and rapid re-housing strategies and processes into the overall homeless support system to quickly assess housing and services needs of those experiencing homelessness and provide links to permanent housing. Director Mangano is pictured here with consumers at the event.

Engagement strategies include streamlining and improving access to SSI (Supplemental Security Income and Disability Insurance) and Medicaid benefits; developing non-traditional approaches to connecting chronically homeless to mental health, substance abuse and health services; and expanding jail diversion strategies for chronic offenders charged with public inebriation.

A Way Home proposes a detailed prevention strategy, observing "we need to be strategic and target our limited prevention resources on those families and individuals at greatest risk of becoming homeless . . ." including teens aging out of foster care; families seeking financial and other assistance at Crisis Assistance Ministry on more than one occasion; families who lose their housing as a result of evictions, code violations, or other public action; victims of domestic violence; and people being discharged from prison, jail, hospitals, mental health facilities and other institutions. The prevention strategies include: expanding the role of Crisis Assistance Ministry as a "one-stop" support center for families and individuals susceptible to becoming homeless; expanding the capacity of mainstream service agencies to screen and assess their clients for risk factors for becoming homeless through development of a web-based screening and assessment tool; developing and concentrating community-based prevention strategies and education in neighborhoods where high numbers of homeless people have come from and/or most of the requests for emergency financial assistance and/or evictions emanate; stopping the discharge of people into homelessness from institutional settings, including jails/prisons, mental health and substance abuse treatment and detoxification programs and foster care, by developing discharge planning policies and plans based "zero tolerance" for discharging people into homelessness; and providing additional emergency beds and transitional housing for victims of domestic violence so they receive the specialized support they need to help prevent further abuse and longer-term homelessness.

Planners also looked at local costs of homelessness. A study conducted by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Department provides data on the cost of chronic offenders in the county jail, including 33 homeless individuals. The study sample included 81 chronic offenders (arrested at least five times in the last year). The average number of arrests for the 33 chronic homeless offenders was 11.1 (compared to 9.1 for others), and the average length of stay in jail was 86.6 days (compared to 75.2 for others.) This translates into an annual cost to the County of $9,266.20 per offender or a total of nearly $306,000 annually. Petty larceny, trespassing, drug and alcohol and public disturbance charges were the most common for this group.

Charlotte and Mecklenburg have conducted earlier assessments of homelessness in the community and relied on the baseline provided through these efforts to generate local initiatives that included: creating A Way Home - the Mecklenburg Council on Homelessness to serve as an advocate and facilitator of strategic planning and partnership building; finding a winter shelter site; opening Charlotte's McCreesh Place, Charlotte's first SRO for disabled men and Samaritan House, a medical respite facility for homeless people; establishing a mental health court; developing and implementing a rental deposit program at Crisis Assistance Ministry; and creating a mobile health crisis team.

NEW 10-YEAR PLAN COMMITMENT IN NORTH CAROLINA GREENVILLE AND PITT COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. Also in North Carolina last week, Council Director Philip Mangano joined Greenville Mayor Patricia Dunn, Pitt County Chair Mark Owens and Co- chair Melvin McLawhorn for the kickoff of the City- County Plan under the leadership of a Blue Ribbon Task Force. Albert Schuler and Robert Thompson will co-chair the Task Force. Pictured here are (left to right): United Way President Marilyn Williams, Mayor Patricia Dunn, Pitt County Chair Mark Owens, and Director Mangano.

Mayor Dunn welcomed Task Force members to the meeting along with County Chair Pitt, and the co- chairs and Director Mangano were introduced by Marilyn Williams, President, Pitt County United Way. State Policy Specialist Martha Are also made remarks on the state's initiatives in 10-Year Planning and partnership. The County Partnership was addressed by Co-chairs Robert F. Thompson and Reverend Albert Shuler, and Planning Process and Timeline by Ruth Peebles, Project Manager.

D. Scott Elliott, County Manager, Wayne Bowers, City Manager, North Carolina's Martha Are, county and city officials, and business leaders attended a breakfast meeting to discuss elements of the plan. The role of business leaders in the 10-Year Plan partnership was the focus of a special meeting with the Greenville Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Commission. The visitors also made a morning visit to the Greenville Community Shelter hosted by Executive Director Lynne James who indicated a new focus in the agency in the creation of permanent supportive housing.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. "Ending and preventing homelessness is possible. The Massachusetts Commission to End Homelessness has developed a 5-year plan that, if implemented and funded appropriately, will succeed in ending homelessness in the Commonwealth by 2013. The Commission believes that ending the pervasive social and economic problem of homelessness is possible and is a moral imperative . . . Ending homelessness will not be easy and will require a dramatic transformation of the Commonwealth's system for responding to homeless individuals and families. The Commission generated a broadly-accepted vision for a new system, where shelters are used only for emergency transitions and every family and individual has a permanent place to live. "

In July 2007, at the initiation of State Representative Byron Rushing and the subsequent charge by Governor Deval Patrick, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts formed a Joint Legislative-Executive State Commission to End Homelessness. Tina Brooks, Undersecretary of the Commonwealth's Department of Housing and Community Development was appointed co-chair by the Governor. State Representative Byron Rushing was elected co-chair by the Commission. The Commission took as its goal: "to house all those who are currently homeless and to prevent homelessness for those who are at- risk of becoming homeless."

The legislatively created commission unveiled its report and 5-year plan last week, including recommended elements of the new system. The planners set a new housing goal of 200 units annually for five years of Single Person Occupancy (SPO) housing and 800 new family units annually over the same 5-year period-500 in private developments and 300 in new public housing.

The Commission proposes to reduce dramatically reliance on shelters, recommending adoption of the goal of reducing the number of family shelter units and individual beds by 20% and notes that a key task for the Massachusetts Interagency Council will be to develop effective measuring tools to assess progress. In order to achieve the shelter utilization reduction, the Commission also recommends an initial investment of $10 million to establish a pool of flexible resources to develop and test a Uniform Assessment Tool to ensure resources can be targeted to precisely fill the need for each individual and family; develop pilot Regional Coordinating Entities to develop early warning systems and coordinate access to the broad array of income supports and services necessary to stabilize housing situations; provide a flexible array of tools for stabilizing, diverting and rehousing families and individuals who present as homeless or at imminent risk; and begin the planning for repurposing shelter facilities and service providers to play a key role in the new system.

The Commission's focus was in three areas: Prevention strategies to keep as many people housed as possible; Housing placement, subsidy and production responses that result in stable, permanent housing options; and Asset development supports that enhance the economic stability of individuals and families as protection against future homelessness. As a key component of its work, the Commission identified a defining principle for the new system is targeting the right resources to the right people at the right time, "observing "that doesn't happen today, where statutory and regulatory restrictions of the limited programs available to address and prevent homelessness unduly constrain our ability to fix the problem in the particular case."

The Commission proposed to rely on existing services and create a broad array of prevention, production and asset-building tools including: linkages to income maximization, entitlement, workforce development and service programs; flexible cash assistance to stabilize a housing situation; case management resources; housing search, vouchers and access teams; specialized supportive housing; and emergency shelters for temporary, transitional stays when necessary.

The Commission continues the Commonwealth's longstanding approach of specific strategies for subpopulations of those who are homeless, noting about its proposed typology: "To devise a strategy to promote housing stability for all who touch the state's homeless system, it is necessary to understand the needs of the populations involved. For both families and individuals, while we want the new system to treat each case as unique and devise a situation-specific response, we have adopted a nomenclature of 'tiers' to characterize the subpopulations so that we can frame categories of responses.

In addition to the Chair and Co-chair, members of the Commission included 5 members of the State Senate, 1 of whom shall be a member of the minority party, 5 members of the State House of Representatives, 1 of whom shall be a member of the minority party, Commissioners of Mental Health and Transitional Assistance, Secretary of Veterans' Services, Mayors of Boston, Northampton, and Holyoke, the President of the Massachusetts Sheriffs' Association, Chief Justice of the Housing Court, 6 persons appointed by the Governor, and each member of the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Homelessness and Housing, previously established by Executive Order.

WAKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. Moving from homelessness to permanent supportive housing in the Lennox Chase development in North Carolina's Wake County produced cost reductions and increased personal stability as recently documented by the Jordan Institute for Families of the University of North Carolina -Chapel Hill School of Social Work. The research was supported by the North Carolina Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs (ICCHP), according to the State's policy point person, Martha Are.

"The Cost Effectiveness of Supportive Housing - A Service Cost Analysis of Lennox Chase Residents," released in December, found that key costs for more than 20 individuals living in Lennox Chase for two years dropped while costs for two individuals with serious health issues demonstrate the role that chronic illness plays in the economics of managing homelessness. Preliminary data show that overall costs fell and costs for inpatient substance abuse treatment also fell. Outpatient mental health services and incarceration costs also dropped.

Lennox Chase, opened in 2003, is a Low Income Housing Tax Credit housing complex for individuals with low incomes, many of whom were formerly homeless. The development provides 36 efficiency apartments, each with a kitchen, bath, bedroom, and living area. Each apartment is designed for single room occupancy. All residents pay rent which is based on the individual's income.

The cost analysis identifies a number of potential benefits of supportive housing. One benefit is stability. More than half of the residents interviewed have been living in the complex for more than three years. Case management and crisis management services are provided by an onsite social worker.

The cost analysis indicates that overall costs for the 21 residents in the study have fallen from $377,141 in the two years before entry to $265,785, a decline of $111,356, or 29.53%. If the cost of social worker who is stationed at Lennox Chase is excluded, the service costs decline to $210,950, a decline of 44%.

The costs for inpatient substance abuse treatment have fallen from more than $127,720 in the two years prior to entry to zero after they moved into Lennox Chase. Outpatient mental health services for these individuals fell from close to $85,381 to $4,000. Costs for incarceration fell from $3,486 to zero.

For two individuals with chronic health conditions, the identified costs were very different. The cost for medical treatment has risen from around $110,550 to close to $201,604. Two individuals account for 64% of the spending in the two year period after entry. Both have chronic medical conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), asthma, high blood pressure, heart problems, emphysema, and diabetes.

The overall focus of the report was to describe in detail the demographic and personal characteristics of the residents who participated, to explain how the cost data were acquired and how costs were measured, and to present service costs incurred by these individuals two years before and two years after entry into permanent supportive housing.

WITH this issue, the e-news continues its coverage of the momentum building among Mayors and County officials who are Charter Signatories to the unprecedented 12-point America's Road Home Statement of Principles and Actions to end chronic homelessness, bringing the signers to a total of more than 85.

Charlotte, NC Mayor Patrick McCrory and Mecklenburg County, NC Commissioners Chair Jennifer Roberts became signatories last week as they unveiled the new Charlotte and Mecklenburg County 10-Year Plan, More than Shelter.

Greenville, NC Mayor Patricia Dunn and Pitt County Chairman Mark Owens, Jr., who last week partnered to launch a new 10-Year Plan process for the region, became America's Road Home signatories.

Mobile, AL Mayor Sam Jones, who hosted United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano last week for a recalibration session for Mobile and Baldwin County's 10-Year Plan, signed the Statement. Fairhope, AL Mayor Tim Kant, who partnered with Mayor Jones for the strategy session, became a signatory.

Mayor Royce Pollard, Vancouver, WA and Bellingham, WA Mayor Dan Pike became the latest Washington State Mayors to sign America's Road Home. Clallam County, WA Board of Commissioners Chair Stephen Tharinger also signed.

Windham, CT First Selectman Jean deSmet, and Norwich, CT Mayor Benjamin Lathrop, in communities which have recently moved their 10-Year Plans to implementation, became signatories.

Jackson, MA Mayor Frank Melton, Rochester, NY Mayor Robert J. Duffy, Gainesville, FL Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan, Fresno, CA Council Member Cynthia Sterling, Barnstable County, MA Commissioner Mary LeClair, and Supervisor Helen Thompson, Yolo County, CA are new signatories.

At the November Denver press conference announcing the signing of the Statement, participating Mayors declared their intent to promote America's Road Home with their fellow Mayors and County officials. The Statement has been made available to other Mayors and County officials to sign. Mayors and County officials who are interested in becoming partners to the agreement can download the Principles and guidelines for signing at the Council's web site at www.usich.gov.

The Summit was convened by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, and Melville Charitable Trust President Robert Hohler. The Summit was supported by Fannie Mae.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA. When Atlanta's Blueprint to End Homelessness identified that some homeless newcomers and city residents needed support to be reunified with local or out-of-region family but faced barriers to doing so, planners spurred a new family reunification initiative that has documented results and proven cost effective. Atlanta's Regional Commission on Homelessness developed the Blueprint at the direction of Mayor Shirley Franklin and under the leadership of Plan Champion Horace Sibley and the United Way. The Plan is supported by Atlanta, and Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Rockdale Counties.

Individuals in the region often faced homelessness or prolonged homelessness after jobs, relationships, or housing opportunities did not materialize. Without provider training and sufficient transportation and staff resources, individuals did not have needed support to make key contacts and arrange travel. But with Atlanta's new Traveler's Aid initiative in place over the last 4 ½ years, over 6,100 individuals have had a different outcome to their homelessness, with 2,400 assisted in just the last year. At an average cost of just $125, individuals are reunited with family or friends, with case management and transportation support from Traveler's Aid. Follow-up conducted at both 3 and 6 months with services coordinated by Travelers Aid.

Lorenzo B., aged 29, settled in his Atlanta apartment from Detroit with his girlfriend. A dispute over finances with his girlfriend forced him out of the apartment and onto the streets. He had no money. Traveler's Aid helped by reuniting Lorenzo with friends and family. He was able to connect with his aunt in Detroit and relocate there. Traveler's Aid paid all food and travel expenses associated with the trip. Within two weeks of living in Detroit, Lorenzo secured full-time employment with a construction company. Two weeks later, Lorenzo moved into his own apartment.

San Francisco, also a leading 10-Year Plan jurisdiction, also identified family reunification as an element of its Plan and proposed that reuniting with family networks in other parts of the country can be the most effective tool to help the transition out of homelessness. The 10-Year Plan, led by Community Champion Angela Alioto, recommended expanding out-of-region reunification resources to all persons experiencing homelessness, as well as "at risk" persons who wish to be reunified with verified family social support systems.

The San Francisco Homeward Bound Program (HBP) provides homeless individuals with the opportunity and means to return home by contracting with a service provider who establishes validity of connections, provides counseling support and mediation for the connection, and provides one-time transportation assistance, e.g. bus tickets, to reunite individuals with their family or other supports.

The individual must be homeless living in San Francisco, and be medically stable enough to successfully travel to the destination. HBP staff directly contact the individual's family member or friend at the point of destination to ensure that the person will have a place to reside and have ample support to assist in establishing stabilized housing and transition from homelessness. The individual cannot have any outstanding warrants or other legal problems that would prevent them from leaving San Francisco. Persons who meet the criteria receive a bus ticket home. HBP staff follow up one month later to check on their well-being. Homeless persons wishing to return home can access the service by going to a city screening location and meeting with the Homeward Bound Team.

Of the first 800 individuals served in the program, approximately 25 have returned to San Francisco. The average cost of assistance was approximately $140 per person. Of 1260 individuals served in first 18 months, half had been in San Francisco for fewer than 105 days.

WASHINGTON, DC. The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Community Services (OCS) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), has announced the availability of $8 million in competitive resources for applicants to the CSBG Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) Program Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Other Asset Formation Opportunities. The funds are for up to 16 capacity-building collaborations that create or expand asset formation and financial literacy services. Up to $50,000 is available annually for each award with an expected duration of three years. Applicants should read the complete announcement for the funds, and apply by February 15.

Funds will be awarded to provide capacity-building assistance that enables local, State or regional Community Services Block Grant networks to plan, establish, improve or expand asset formation and financial service opportunities for eligible individuals and families. The projects carried out by these networks should be designed to help low-wage earners, at or near the poverty level, become more knowledgeable about money management and other financial services. Additionally, the projects carried out by these networks must offer a range of services that help eligible clients take advantage of asset formation opportunities, increase disposable income, build financial resources and make wiser financial decisions that ultimately help the community thrive and become more economically stable.

Formal State CSBG Lead Agencies and State Community Action Agency (CAA) Association partnerships are especially encouraged to apply for funding. OCS realizes that CSBG service providers will be most effective in helping low-income individuals and families increase assets and financial literacy when they partner with others in the community. Therefore, applicants that show collaborations with other community-based organizations and institutions are also strongly encouraged to apply.

Successful applicants for these grants must have a plan for assisting the CSBG network's ability to provide EITC outreach, free tax preparation, and other financial and asset formation services and training within the Community Services Network. The network includes local CAAs and other CSBG eligible entities; State CSBG offices and other national associations; CAA State, regional and national associations; and related organizations that collaborate and participate with CAAs and other eligible entities in their efforts on behalf of low-income people.

At a minimum, all projects funded in this area must present proof that within the collaborative there exists a partner with demonstrated experience in the delivery of EITC outreach and free tax preparation services, and should include a description (letters of agreement or memoranda of understanding) of the nature of the existing or proposed working relationship with the local Internal Revenue Service (IRS) office. Applicants must also describe how their proposed plan and training curriculum will improve or expand the access of eligible low-income families and individuals to tax preparation and asset formation information and services beyond the scope of the current offerings, as well as identifying constituencies who have been underserved with these programs.

NEW YORK CITY. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced the launch of New York City's new Young Adult Internship Program targeting the disconnected youth population between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither enrolled in school nor are part of the workforce. Joining the Mayor for the announcement were Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Linda Gibbs; CEO Executive Director Veronica White; Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) Commissioner Jeanne B. Mullgrav; Good Shepherd Services Executive Director Sister Paulette LoMonaco; and LRS Communications' Marketing Director Manny Burgos. Good Shepherd Services is one of 15 sites throughout the five boroughs implementing the program which will provide paid internships and job training support to an estimated 1,360 young adults each year.

The new program focuses on a population often dismissed as being difficult to serve - youth between the ages of 16 and 24 who are disengaged from both school and the labor market. More than half of the participants enrolled in the program do not have a high school diploma or a GED. The program helps to prepare them for the labor market through paid internship placements, the majority of which are in the private sector.

Enrollees participate in internships in a range of occupational fields, from television post-production to fashion promotion, to caring for the elderly. The program will also teach participants essential job- readiness skills that will lead to permanent employment and advanced training, a process that will be facilitated by the program's community partners. In addition to employment and training, the program's goals also include placing youth into educational settings including GED programs, high school or college.

Mayor Bloomberg also has reported successful implementation of more than 30 of 40 planned anti- poverty initiatives in New York City, all of which were the result of the Mayor's creation of the Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) just one year ago. The CEO was tasked with implementing and evaluating new approaches to poverty reduction among the working poor, young adults, and children under age 5, with the goal of investing in the lives of poor New York City residents by promoting education and employment opportunities that help them to move out of poverty. The initiatives are required to show measurable results according to an independent evaluation, and will serve as a guide for future policy and funding decisions. The pilot projects are being implemented by 20 City agencies and are funded by an annual $150 million public/private commitment.

ON MONDAY, JANUARY 21, the nation will honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In anticipation of that commemoration, President Bush this week issued a Presidential Proclamation.

"Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., changed our Nation forever through his leadership, service, and clarity of vision. On the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, we honor the lasting legacy of this great American, remember the ideals for which he fought, and recommit ourselves to ensuring that our country's promise extends to all Americans across this great land.

"In the brief time Dr. King walked upon this earth, he devoted his life to strengthening the content of the American character and called on our Nation to live up to its founding principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all its citizens. Dr. King's faith in the Almighty gave him the courage to confront discrimination and segregation, and he preached that all the powers of evil are ultimately no match for even one individual armed with eternal truths. Through his determination, spirit, and resolve, Dr. King helped lift souls and lead one of the greatest movements for equality and freedom in history.

"Our Nation has made progress toward realizing Dr. King's dream, yet the work to achieve liberty and justice for all is never-ending . . .

"As we observe Dr. King's birthday, I encourage all Americans to celebrate his memory by performing acts of kindness through service to others. Let us live out Dr. King's teachings as we continue to work for the day when the dignity and humanity of every person is respected."

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