SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS. Describing his city’s 10-Year Plan as reflecting a new mindset and commitment to "not housing after shelter, not housing never, but housing first," Springfield Mayor Charles V. Ryan unveiled Springfield’s Homes Within Reach Plan at a press conference at city hall last week. Mayor Ryan was joined at the press conference by United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano and regional coordinator John O’Brien; and members of the Mayor’s Homelessness Strategy Committee including Plan co-chairs, Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce President Russell Denver and Springfield Department of Health and Human Services Director Helen Caulton-Harris, Springfield Housing Authority Executive Director Betsy McCright, and Open Pantry Director Kevin Noonan.

Mayor Ryan outlined a series of initial implementation steps that include creating 140 supportive housing units for the city’s most vulnerable residents experiencing chronic homelessness, and the appointments of Peter Pan Bus Lines Executive Vice President Bob Schwartz to chair the implementation effort and Geraldine McCafferty, Deputy Director of Homeless and Special Needs Housing, as the city’s overall homelessness coordinator. 100 of the supportive housing units will be made available through a collaboration with the Springfield Housing Authority, which will provide section 8 project based vouchers, while the city engages service providers to ensure that supportive services will be in place. Shown here, l-r, Plan Implementation Chair Schwartz, Director Mangano,and Mayor Ryan.

In his remarks, Mayor Ryan noted that the most important and dramatic change in the city’s approach to homelessness is the commitment to housing first and called the Springfield Housing Authority “a significant community asset that has responded to this housing first commitment.” The city is also using HOME funds to provide rental assistance to some residents currently living in supportive housing who are ready to live more independently. As a result of the supportive housing opportunities to be created, the city anticipates closing one of its two shelters- a former jail- by July. A 24/7 Homeless Assistance Center will be created within 2 ½ years replacing the second shelter which does not have facilities for supportive services. The new center would have space for up to 150 beds, and a variety of supportive services including medical and dental care, and housing and employment resources. Peter Pan Bus Lines President Peter Picknelly and Mayor Ryan will chair a Capital Campaign for the center for which state funding is also being sought.

Invited to speak at the Plan unveiling by Mayor Ryan, Council Director Mangano congratulated the Mayor and the City for creating a business-minded, results-oriented plan that is “a national model for cities your size.” Particularly noteworthy is the First 3-5 Years Implementation Blueprint with benchmarks and costs.

Springfield is the the 3rd largest city in the Bay State and the 4th largest in New England with a population just under 152,000. An editorial in the Springfield Republican following the plan unveiling concluded, "The new business-based approach Springfield is adopting is a model that other communities should emulate. When tough circumstances strike, there is no shame in being homeless. The shame is allowing the homeless to walk among us while we just drive by them on the way home to the comfort of a warm meal and a roof over our heads."

DES MOINES, IOWA. This week, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano traveled to Des Moines, Iowa to meet with Mayor T.M. Franklin Cownie, City Manager Rick Clark, City Councilwoman Christine Hensely and other key city staff to discuss development of a 10-Year Plan for this capital city and the surrounding metro region. Carlisle Mayor Ruth Randleman, chair of the Metro Advisory Council’s Homeless Committee, also participated in the discussion at the invitation of Mayor Cownie. Des Moines, a city of 200,000, lies within a metropolitan region of more than half a million people. Council Regional Coordinator Charlene Moran Flaherty joined Director Mangano at the meeting.

In the discussion, Director Mangano focused on the business principles, political will, cost benefit analysis, and best practices underlying successful 10-Year planning efforts. In a subsequent meeting on Wednesday with members of the Polk County Housing Continuum, which is comprised of city and county officials and providers, Mayor Cownie committed to leading the effort to create a 10-Year Plan to end long term homelessness. The mayor stated, "We need to have a long term plan focused on disabled, single adults who have been on the streets a long time. If we can show success in that area, business and community support will follow to address the 90 percent of homeless people who are in families and not disabled. There are new and better solutions on the horizon. We need to get people into housing with services."

Also discussed during Director Mangano's meeting with Mayor Cownie was the mayor's work as Vice-Chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Hunger and Homelessness Task Force and the continuing partnership between the Council and USCM on the issue of homelessness. The strength of this partnership is evidenced in the more than 280 10-Year plan efforts underway in cities and counties across the nation and Council participation in USCM Winter and Annual meetings where lessons learned and best practice information have been shared. The meeting of the Hunger and Homelessness Task Force at the Winter Meeting of USCM later this month will include recognition of those committee members whose cities have committed to 10-Year Plans and other communities will be encouraged by Mayor Cownie to join the effort.

Pictured here, l-r, Mayor Cownie, Director Mangano, and Mayor Randleman.

WASHINGTON, DC. SOAR is a federal technical assistance and training initiative to improve access by homeless people with mental illnesses or co-occurring substance use disorders to Social Security disability benefits. SOAR is an acronym for SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery. The SOAR initiative was an outcome from the federal interagency Policy Academies on chronic and family homelessness sponsored by a collaboration of federal agencies to help states identify and remove barriers that people experiencing homelessness face in accessing mainstream program benefits for which they qualify.

States were offered the opportunity to receive follow-up technical assistance through in-State Forums to develop state systems change to improve access to SSI and SSDI for homeless persons. Using a “train the trainer” approach, State trainers then conduct training for direct service staff using the Stepping Stones to Recovery training curriculum, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in consultation with the Social Security Administration. The consumer-centric SOAR effort supports the Administration’s goal of ending chronic homelessness by improving the ability of homeless people with disabilities to secure the benefits to which they are entitled, thus providing them with a source of income for housing and leading to greater self sufficiency. In most states, this is also the path to Medicaid eligibility.

A recent Preliminary Outcomes Report on SOAR by Policy Research Associates, Inc. provides evidence of the need for and efficacy of the SOAR initiative. The report cites preliminary outcomes from 7 states on SSA decisions on applications submitted between March and July 2006 which represented their first applications submitted after the SOAR training. Prior to SOAR training, the time to initial decisions by SSA was 120 days (the national average for all applicants) or longer, and the approvals for homeless applicants were typically 10-15% on initial application compared to the national average of 37% for all applicants. The applications reviewed by SSA after the SOAR training had an 81.5% approval rating on initial application across the 7 states and the number of days until decision decreased from 120 days to less than 90 days on average in most states.

With the addition of 11 states in September 2006, there are now 25 states in the SOAR initiative. Communities involved in 10-Year Plan efforts in these states should ensure that front line caseworkers attend SOAR trainings offered by the state. More information, including useful tools and resources, can be found on the SOAR website. A "Train the Trainer" program using the Stepping Stones to Recovery curriculum will be presented by Policy Research Associates in April. Click here to learn more about this training opportunity.

SOAR is an example of federal interagency efforts that are showing results for persons experiencing chronic homelessness by bringing federal technical assistance to state governments to create systems change resulting in more rapid and successful access to mainstream programs.

As discussed in last week’s e-news, Governors across the country are presenting their State of the State addresses, many of which describe new budget and legislative proposals that offer the opportunity for innovation, enhanced performance standards, and new and realigned resources that can help reduce and end homelessness. A theme in many of these proposals is increased focus and funding to improve community mental health services, substance treatment availability, and prisoner re-entry programs, the lack of which are known to contribute to the incidence of homelessness.

DENVER, COLORADO. As newly-inaugurated Colorado Governor Bill Ritter noted in his State of the State address, people “want a government that intersects with where they struggle- and then eases those struggles.” Included in his remarks was support for a bill introduced by Colorado state senator Joan Fitz-Gerald and state representative Alice Madden to use remaining tobacco settlement funds to make “significant” health care investments including improving mental health services for people in jails and prisons to reduce recidivism. The Governor noted that he has made recidivism reduction a top priority for the Departments of Public Safety and Corrections. The state will also undertake a “top to bottom” performance review of state operations.

SALEM, OREGON. In Oregon, Governor Ted Kulongoski’s “Hope and Opportunity Budget for 2007-09”, moves to implement a redesign of the state’s mental health system, investing both in the expansion of community services for people with mental illness and in the construction of a new State Hospital System. Funding would be available to support pilot projects targeted at better meeting the mental health treatment needs of individuals with serious mental illnesses being released from local jails, and also for increased mobile outreach and respite services for people in crisis. Following the 2003 report of President Bush' New Freedom Commission on Mental Health that recommended systems transformation at all levels of government to improve services and supports for people with mental illness, mental health system transformation efforts are underway in many states. To learn more, visit the website of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Noting that “75% of Department of Corrections inmates suffer moderate to severe addiction to drugs or alcohol", the budget includes the phase-in of an additional 106 evidence-based alcohol and drug treatment beds, marking the first increase in substance abuse treatment beds in the Correction system in the last 7000 beds created by the state. An additional $3 million would be made available to recruit and retain qualified and effective substance abuse providers and another $4 million would support 30 additional mental health professionals to meet the needs of offenders suffering from severe mental illness. An article appearing in The New York Times this week took note of a study released by the U.S. Department of Justice in September reporting that 56% of inmates in state prisons and 64% of inmates across the country reported mental health problems within the past year. The Governor’s budget also calls for enhancing existing efforts to prepare offenders for transition back into the community.

A $16 million increase would support the development of 150 units of supportive housing for homeless individuals and families. A portion of liquor revenues would be dedicated to providing alcohol and drug treatment services to children and families in the child welfare system, $3 million for a Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Initiative, and a minimum of $2 million would be made available to expand investments in drug courts focused on family reunification. $10 million in new revenue from an increased corporate minimum tax would be used to upgrade the skills of unemployed and low income workers in collaboration with the Work Investment Boards. An additional $1.3 million would be made available for the Oregon Food Bank Network, bringing the funding level to $2 million.

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA. In addition to his highly publicized health care reform proposal to ensure that all Californians have health insurance, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also placed a priority on reducing recidivism. His proposed budget would almost double funding, from $52.8 million to $93.9 million for “anti-recidivism” efforts including drug treatment, job training, and housing assistance. Currently, many of the common areas within prisons that should be available for counseling, education, and training programs are being used instead to house beds in the overcrowded prisons. His budget proposes to fund over 16,000 new state prison beds on existing sites and add 5000-7000 beds in new secure re-entry facilities. Another 45,000 local beds would be created and 5000 juvenile beds using $4.4 billion in leased revenue bonds matched by $1.1 billion in local funds. New medical, dental, and mental health facilities, as mandated by a federal receiver, would be provided in the corrections system through $1 billion in leased revenue bonds.

CHEYENNE, WYOMING. Governor Dave Freudenthal urged the state legislature to support the creation of a 100-bed treatment facility for methamphetamine users. The City of Casper and individuals have offered to build the facility and the state is being asked to cover the operating costs.

As more communities embrace the Project Homeless Connect innovation, originated in San Francisco, results have been tabulated for the 47 cities and counties hosting Connect events during the last quarter of 2006 including National Project Homeless Connect Week:

     Number of homeless guests: 21,694

     Number of volunteers: 9,440

     Number leaving the streets: 1,058

     Number housed: 237

Already, 51 communities have scheduled Connect events during the first quarter of 2007. The events this month include San Diego, CA and Tempe, AZ on January 22; Portland, OR will hold its 4th Connect event on January 23rd; Waco, TX on the 25th; and 34 counties in New Jersey and 7 counties in Michigan will sponsor events on January 25 as part of statewide efforts timed to coincide with the Point in Time counts. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator Paul Carlson is facilitating “observer” visits to the Portland January 23rd PHC by officials and representatives from 3 Oregon jurisdictions-- Eugene, Albany/Linn County, Corvallis/Benton County--and 9 Washington State jurisdictions, all of whom have 10-Year Plans-- Yakima, Seattle/King County, Tacoma/Pierce County, and Snohomish, Thurston, Kitsap, Clallam, Clarke, and Cowlitz counties. Representatives of the Washington State Coalition for the Homeless will also attend as part of the observer group. Heather Lyons, director of the Portland/Multnomah County “Home Again” 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness will cohost the observers, whose activities will include opportunities to join a volunteer training session and an event debriefing.

The New Jersey events, being coordinated by the New Jersey Alliance for the Homeless, have the support of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, the New Jersey Department of Health Services, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, and numerous United Way organizations that have been working closely with New Jersey communities in the development of 10-Year Plans to end homelessness. In Michigan, where county 10-year plans covering every square mile of the state were unveiled at a State Homeless Summit in October, $1000 grants have been made available to counties through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority to support the local Connect events.

Last week, representatives of 24 of the 39 cities and counties that participated in 2006 National Project Homeless Connect Week participated in a national “wrap up conversation” conference call hosted by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. Best practices and lessons learned identified during the wrap-up conference call will be described in detail in future editions of the e-news and will be added to the Council’s NHPC website. A number of innovations were described in the Council’s December 14, 2006 e-news report on National Week. Communities interested in learning more about Project Homeless Connect are encouraged to visit the website and can contact the Council at nphc@usich.gov.

The observance last week in Washington of the 5th anniversary of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation and the welcomed news from the U.S. Department of Labor that the unemployment rate for veterans ages 20-24 dramatically declined over the past year from 15.6% to 10.4%, the largest decline in more than a decade, serve as reminders of the different profiles of homelessness in a community.

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness recognizes the importance of providing states and communities with technical assistance resources to help ensure that both the educational needs of homeless children and youth are understood and met and that the needs of homeless veterans are incorporated into 10-Year Plan efforts to end chronic homelessness. Please visit the Council’s website, www.usich.gov, to access technical assistance resources that address each of these areas as noted below.

Ensuring Access to Education for Homeless Children and Youth

The underlying premise of the federal legislation is that homeless students are entitled to the same educational opportunities as their non-homeless peers. Homeless children and youth must have access to the educational and other services that they need to enable them to meet the same challenging state student academic achievement standards to which all students are held. States and school districts are required to review and undertake steps to revise laws, regulations, practices, or policies that may act as a barrier to the enrollment, attendance, or success in school of homeless children and youth. Every school district must designate a local liaison for homeless children and youth to ensure that homeless children and youth are identified, enroll in, and have a full opportunity to succeed in schools, and receive educational services for which they are eligible.

Meeting the Needs of Homeless Veterans

The Council believes that every state, county, or city jurisdictional 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness needs to address directly the issues of homeless veterans and, to that end, to include in jurisdictional planning partnerships those individuals and organizations that can effectively represent the needs of homeless veterans and are knowledgeable about the resources and proven strategies to serve them. This webpage provides examples of helpful resources to inform the development and implementation of 10-Year Plans that address the needs of homeless veterans.

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. During his State of the City Address this week delivered at New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg singled out the Nurse-Family Partnership program for recognition, noting the city’s intention to expand this program as recommended in last fall's report of the Mayor’s New York City Commission for Economic Opportunity organized by Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs.

NFP, said Mayor Bloomberg “is designed for low-income first-time mothers who are often ill-prepared for the life-altering stresses of parenthood. An experienced nurse provides them and other family members the practical guidance they need during pregnancy and the very demanding first two years of an infant's life. In many cases, these nurses offer the first examples of capable, nurturing parenthood that young mothers have ever experienced. Nurse-Family Partnerships, you should know, are a proven success. Last year's heartening decline in African American and Puerto Rican infant mortality- reported in the recent MMR-was attributable in part to the success of the pilot NFP program we launched in several communities. In other parts of the country, low-income women and their now-teenaged children who have been involved in NFP programs over many years have had dramatically reduced rates of child abuse and neglect, lower rates of dependency on public assistance, and fewer run-ins with the law. We believe that NFP holds out promise for similar results here, and we will look for ways to expand NFP as rapidly as feasible.”

Nurse-Family Partnership is an evidence-based nurse home visitation program for first time mothers with little or no income that has been shown to help achieve long term improvements in the lives of these at-risk families. The RAND Corporation has independently estimated that the return for each dollar invested is $2.88 . NFP has been recognized as a model program by the U.S. Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and by the U.S. Department of Justice' Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To read more about the program including the cost-benefit research, visit www.nursefamilypartnership.org. Information is also available on SAMHSA's website.

. . . that the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services has created a new web portal, www.aids.gov, as the information gateway to federal domestic HIV/AIDS information and resources including funding opportunities?

. . . that FirstGov.gov, the federal government's main information web portal, is now USA.gov?

. . . that a Spanish language version of USA.gov is available at GobiernoUSA.gov ?

. . . that January is National Mentoring Month? The Corporation for National and Community Service, one of the 20 member agencies of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, offers an array of mentoring information on its website including issue briefs, research, and a toolkit.

email: ichnews@setechnology.com

web: http://www.usich.gov