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The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness e-newsletter |
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Partners
In a Vision
Prior to the
10-Year Plan launch event and the opening of the doors to Project Homeless
Connect with the 10-Year Plan Co-chairs and jurisdictional officials,
Hudson County Executive Thomas DeGise - who has long been recognized in
the community for his commitment on the issue of homelessness - met with
Director Mangano. In last year's State of the County address, which
Director Mangano attended, the County Executive called on state officials
to create a network of county-based trust funds to fight homelessness,
calling it an approach that would be stable and cost effective, combined
with a "Housing First" strategy to significantly reduce chronic
homelessness and a means to dramatically improve government's ability to
deal with this problem. Noted the
County Executive about the planning initiative: "It is based on a new
approach - one that has produced real progress. It includes a Housing
First strategy that focuses on getting the chronically homeless into
permanent housing as quickly as possible. Cities like Baltimore, Columbus,
and Denver have used this approach to cut their number of chronic homeless
cases by as much as half - and they have significantly reduced the
attendant medical and social service costs to the taxpayers. A trust fund
dedicated to fighting homelessness will give us the stable source of
funding needed to make this plan a reality. Doesn't it make far more sense
to finally solve chronic homelessness - than to go on endlessly,
expensively managing it?" Jersey City
Mayor Jerramiah Healy, United Way President Daniel Altilio, and Most Rev.
Thomas A. Donato, Auxiliary Bishop of Newark met together with Director
Mangano to discuss their progress and next steps. Mr. Altilio, who last
year hosted Director Mangano for the statewide Project Connect events and
the Hudson County State of the County 2007 address by the County
Executive, has provided ongoing support and strategic direction to efforts
statewide to develop 10-Year Plans through United Way chapters.
"Keys to
Ending Homelessness in Hudson County" was presented by the Hudson County
Alliance to End Homelessness to Hudson County Executive DeGise and Jersey
City Mayor Healy, at Grace Church Van Vorst, hosted by Reverend Janet
Broderick. As noted by the Director, the new Plan adopts many of the best
practices from results-oriented plans around the nation. The community's
housing goal includes 65 units annually for the chronically homeless
population and 18 units annually for individuals plus 42 units annually
for families, for a total of 1250 units. The Housing First initiatives
will be piloted with the United Way.
The County
Executive noted that the Bergen County plan will include best practice
strategies, such as the Housing First model. Two Housing First projects
are already available in Bergen County - one by Advance Housing and a
second by Christ Church Community Development Corporation in partnership
with the Housing Authority of Englewood. The United Way of Bergen County
and the Housing Authority of Bergen County will begin a new Housing First
initiative in 2008. Valerie
Williams Dargan, Ph.D, Director of the Bergen County Department of Human
Services, also welcomed Director Mangano, who discussed the National
Partnership constellated by the Council with Bergen County jurisdictional
and county leaders with invited guest members of the Board of Chosen
Freeholders, including Freeholders Julie O'Brien and Bernadette McPherson.
Joseph Rutch, Director of Bergen County's Division of Community
Development also took part. Council Regional Coordinator Samuel Miller
took part in all the events. Also
participating throughout the day was Richard Brown, Executive Director of
Monarch Housing Associates, which has taken the lead in organizing the
statewide PHC and supporting 10-Year Plans. New Jersey's 2007 Project
Homeless Connect statewide event reached over 5,000 homeless neighbors at
43 sites in 20 counties. Among the PHC locations and sites this year were
Atlantic County's Salvation Army, Bergen County's BCCAP Drop-In Center,
Camden's Cathedral Kitchen, Cape May's First Baptist Church, Gloucester
County's Godmother's Blessing Thrift Shop, Mercer County's Shiloh Baptist
Church, and Middlesex County's Elijah's Promise, Salvation Army, Mexican
American Organization, and Grace Lutheran Church. In Cape May, new
partners joining this year included new partners joined local communities
this year, including State Farm Insurance Agency, Boy Scouts, local Avon
Representatives, Sun Bank, and Soroptimist International.
"By focusing
on ending chronic homelessness, through a strategy of permanent housing,
the community will end the suffering endured by the most downtrodden, and
will reduce the high associated financial costs," stated planners. "A
reduction in these costs will free up public and private resources that
can then be reallocated to reducing homelessness among other segments of
the homeless population." In his recent
State of the City Address, Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer named homelessness as
one of "five core priorities that I believe reflect our current
challenges, our vision and our values," calling on the Task Force to
deliver its Plan, which will now go through a public comment process.
Mayor Brewer is a signatory to America's Road Home; Mayor Brewer
and Director Mangano met at the recent United States Conference of Mayors
meeting and discussed progress on the Plan.
The Task Force
conducted its work in four areas: studying homelessness and available
resources in Wichita, identifying gaps in resources for persons who are
chronically homeless, researching best practices nationally, including
examining cost benefit studies, and developing strategies to end chronic
homelessness Key elements
of the Plan's recommendations include: developing a one-stop Resource and
Referral Center as a welcoming facility designed to assist homeless
clients find permanent housing appropriate to their needs and move toward
self-sufficiency, providing a single entry point to access community
resources and permanent supportive housing, and designed and operated
under a philosophy of expanding or partnering with existing community
service providers wherever possible. The Plan will also provide permanent
supportive housing to chronically homeless individuals through the
addition of 64 permanent supportive housing units with accompanying
services and adding emergency housing options for 25 - 50 people until the
housing units are available. The Plan calls for the identification of
sustainable resources to support plan goals and be allocated independently
but in coordination with the continuum of care. The Plan calls for
development of an Oversight Committee to for Plan implementation to be
established by City and County resolutions.
The Plan,
which was called " . . . a well-thought-out strategy with the unusual
potential to have a tremendous impact . . " by the Calgary Herald, estimates that the
cost of the current status quo could add up to $9 billion in the next
decade, sets a goal of ending chronic homelessness in seven years, and
reducing it by 85 per cent in five years and close 50 per cent of
Calgary's emergency shelter beds by 2013. Other goals include ending
family homelessness in two years and reducing shelter stays to less than a
week. The Calgary
Plan details the levels of effort that brought to fruition the partnership
and learning that crossed the borders of the U.S. and Canada. Council
Director Philip Mangano, who met with Mayor Bronconnier on several
occasions and addressed the Federal of Canadian Municipalities, the Big
City Mayors caucus, and the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association on
10-Year Plans, also addressed a September 2006 meeting arranged by the
Calgary Homeless Foundation and identified for the partners the economic
case for addressing chronic homelessness and the 10-year planning model,
both of which were showing remarkable results in the U.S. through
encouragement by the Council. Mayor Bronconnier endorsed the proposal of
Calgary Homeless Foundation Board Chairman Brian O'Leary and Calgary
United Way President Ruth Ramsden Wood, and together they recruited a
leading business person to head the effort. Director Mangano and the Mayor
are pictured here from an earlier visit. TransAlta
Corporation CEO Steve Snyder was recruited in December 2006 to lead the
planning process which brought together volunteers from front- lines
agencies, the private sector, the faith community, foundations, Calgary
Health Region, post-secondary education, the Aboriginal community, the
City of Calgary, the Province of Alberta and the Government of Canada into
the Calgary Committee to End Homelessness. The Government of Alberta and
the Government of Canada were among those who invested in the committee's
work. The Plan
focuses on Housing First; prevention protocols, especially discharge
planning initiatives which end the "bailing the leaking boat" syndrome of
homeless response; research and data, which replace conjecture and
anecdote as the appropriate vehicles for policy and investment; Project
Homeless Connect, the one-day-one-stop which offers a welcome to homeless
neighbors and a trajectory out of homelessness, and the identification of
a inclusive and expansive group of stakeholders who frame a public-private
partnership and include every level of government.
WASHINGTON,
DC. Hundreds of
Mayors from across the nation gathered for their annual meeting in
Washington last week, many of them committed to the National Partnership
constellated by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness over
the last five years and expanded with the Council's engagement in each of
the USCM meetings annually. A half decade
ago, in January 2003, Council Executive Director Philip Mangano addressed
the plenary session of the United States Conference of Mayors meeting in
Washington, DC, where he challenged 100 Mayors to join the National
Partnership being constellated by the Council by committing to the
creation of jurisdictional 10-Year Plans to End Chronic Homelessness.
Fewer than 5 cities had such jurisdictionally-led plans at the time. By
the 2004 summer meeting of USCM, 127 cities had committed to 10-Year
Plans. Last week, as the Mayors again convened in the Nation's Capital,
Director Mangano reported that over 325 Mayors and County officials have
committed to 10-Year Plans across the nation.
Meeting last
week at the United States Conference of Mayors annual winter meeting, more
than two dozen Mayors from across the nation gathered for a briefing by
Director Mangano on the results of the 5-year partnership of the USCM with
the Interagency Council. The Task Force was convened by its Co-chair, Des
Moines Mayor Frank Cownie. Director
Mangano updated the Mayors on progress in 10-Year Planning partnerships,
federal investment, and the adoption of Housing First and Project Homeless
Connect innovations in cities of all sizes. Director Mangano briefed
Mayors on America's Road
Home, the unprecedented 12-point mayoral agreement now signed
by more than 155 Mayors and elected officials. Developed in a Council co-
sponsored Mayors' Summit last November in Denver, the America's Road Home
Statement of Principles and Actions commits Mayors to work together in a
housing-focused strategy that gives special attention to the needs of
veterans and involves partnership with business, philanthropy, and
community and faith- based organizations. Director
Mangano congratulated Mayors for their commitment and discussed the
Administration's November 2007 announcement of an unprecedented 11.5%
documented decrease nationally in the number of persons experiencing
chronic homelessness, from data aggregated from localities across the
nation, the first such results in 25 years. According to data collected by
the Council, Mayors of more than 35 cities cross the nation now report
results of up to 70% reductions in street homelessness.
"There are now
innovative ideas and initiatives at work across our country that are
evolving our response to homelessness and that move us beyond the
ineffectiveness of good intentions and punitive responses," Director
Mangano told the mayors. "All of them are shaped around the central
antidote to homelessness - namely a place to live."
House
Financial Services Committee staff member Jon Harwitz also reported on
bipartisan legislative reauthorization proposals for the McKinney-Vento
Act programs, now underway in the House Subcommittee chaired by Rep.
Maxine Waters (CA). The 3-day
conference brought Regional Coordinators Michael German, John O'Brien,
Samuel Miller, and Eduardo Cabrera from the Interagency Council together
with Mayors from across the nation, including with new Mayors interested
in 10-Year Planning and dozens of new signatories to America's Road Home
(see related e-news story.)
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 155. America's Road
Home Statement of Principles was a focus of mayoral attention last week at
the United States Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, DC, as more
than forty mayors stepped forward to become new signatories, bringing the
total number of signatories to more than 155 across the nation.
New mayoral
signers are: Mayor Larry Nelson, Waukesha/Waukesha County, WI; Mayor Mick
Cornett, Oklahoma City, OK; Mayor Roy Buol, Dubuque, Iowa; Mayor Gwendolyn
Faison, Camden, NJ; Mayor Jennifer Hosterman, Pleasanton, CA; Mayor Thomas
O'Grady, North Olmsted, Ohio; Mayor David Coss, Santa Fe, NM; Mayor Lionel
Rivera, Colorado Springs, CO; Mayor Donald Culliver, Mansfield, OH; Mayor
Arlene Mulder, Arlington Heights, IL; Mayor Elaine Walker, Bowling Green,
KY; Mayor Michael Coleman, Columbus, OH; Mayor James Baker, Wilmington,
DE; Mayor Bryan Barnett, Rochester Hills, MI; and Mayor Morgan McPherson,
Key West, FL. North Dakota
Mayors with 10-Year Plans underway signed at the USCM meeting, with Mayor
Dennis Walaker, Fargo, ND and Mayor Michael Brown, Grand Forks, ND
stepping forward. Mayor Virg Bernero, Lansing, MI; Mayor James Schmitt,
Green Bay, WI; Mayor Eugene Marks, Northbrook, IL; Mayor Richard Moccia,
Norwalk, CT; Mayor Meyera Oberndorf, Virginia Beach, VA; Mayor Robert
Bowser, East Orange, NJ; Mayor Bob Foster, Long Beach, CA; Mayor William
Gluba, Davenport, Iowa and Mayor L. Douglas Wilder, Richmond, VA became
signatories. Puerto Rican
Mayors, many of whom have previously shown their support for 10-Year Plan
commitments, also became signatories in Washington: Mayor Walter Torres
Malden, Penuelas, PR; Mayor Jorge Gonzalez, Jayuya, PR; Mayor Bienvenido
Ramos Ramos, Penuelos, PR; Mayor Martin Vargas Morales, Guanica, PR; Mayor
Pedro Padilla, Trujillo Alto, PR; Mayor Pedro Garcia, Hormiguenos, PR;
Mayor Jose Santiago Rivera, Comeriio, PR; Mayor Manuel de J. Ortega,
Naranjito, PR; and Mayor Carlos Delgado Altium, Isabela, PR signed.
Mayor John
Lazar, Turlock, CA; Mayor Robert Walkup, Tucson, AZ; Mayor Chris Cabaldon,
West Sacramento, CA; Mayor Anthony Santos, San Leandro, CA; and Mayor John
Brenner, York, PA became signatories at the conference.
Chair Ted
Wheeler, Multnomah County, OR; Mayor James Ruberto, Pittsfield, MA; and
Mayor Joseph Maestas, Espanola, NM also signed.
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.
WASHINGTON,
DC. Identifying
the partnership, innovation, investment, and results that the City of
Denver has seen in moving forward with its 10-Year Plan, Denver Mayor John
Hickenlooper last week described his city's path to success in achieving a
36% reduction in chronic homelessness to a broad array of partners
gathered for Fannie Mae's 17th Annual Maxwell Awards of Excellence,
including CEO Dan Mudd, Bob Hohler, Executive Director of the Melville
Charitable Trust and Executive Committee Chairman of the Partnership to
End Long Term Homelessness which collaborated in this year's awards,
National Alliance to End Homelessness President Nan Roman who serves on
the Fannie Mae Advisory Board, and United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano. The four awards, presented
in collaboration with the Partnership to End Long Term Homelessness,
include a $75,000 grant to each awardee from the Fannie Mae Foundation to
continue work in the field of supportive housing for homeless individuals
and families. Maxwell Award
winners were: Seattle's Downtown Emergency Service Center for the 1811
Eastlake project for Housing for Chronically Homeless Individuals;
Middleburg, Connecticut's Connection Fund: Legion Woods for Housing for
Homeless Veterans; Roseburg, Oregon's Umpqua Community Action Network -
Grandview Homes for Housing for Homeless Families; and Chicago's La Casa
Norte Solid Ground Supportive Housing Program for Housing for Homeless
Youth. "The Fannie
Mae Foundation commends all 2008 Maxwell Awards of Excellence winners for
their outstanding efforts to prevent and end homelessness. These
organizations are true leaders and we are pleased to honor them," said
Peter Beard, executive director of the Fannie Mae Foundation.
"These
organizations have greatly improved the lives of homeless individuals and
families through their ability to provide appropriate supportive services
and permanent housing for their tenants. They are wonderful examples of
organizations committed to ending homelessness in their communities," said
Bob Hohler, executive director of the Melville Charitable Trust and
executive committee chairman of the Partnership to End Long Term
Homelessness. In January,
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels released data showing that the city saved $3.2
million in emergency shelter and health care costs by placing 160
chronically homeless individuals into permanent supportive housing at 1811
Eastlake and a companion Housing First project.
Separate
studies by University of Washington researchers of Seattle's first two
Housing First projects - 1811 Eastlake and Plymouth on Stewart - revealed
similar findings. Preliminary research shows an estimated savings of $3.2
million because of fewer visits by these formerly chronically homeless
individuals to the Harborview Medical Center and the Dutch Schisler
Sobering Center, as well as less use of other crisis-treatment services.
Every year, the city spends approximately $40 million to prevent or end
homelessness. Since 2006, Seattle has added more than $6 million in
general fund resources for Housing First housing and service programs.
The Housing
First programs are operated by the Downtown Emergency Service Center
(DESC) and the Plymouth Housing Group (PHG) and supported by the City of
Seattle. In the past two years, they have helped to change the lives of
100 chronically homeless individuals. Since the opening of 1811 and
Plymouth on Stewart, two more projects have been completed with the help
of city funding.
CHATTANOOGA,
TENNESSEE. The Volunteer
State's fourth largest city, one of 11 awardees in the $55 million federal
Collaborative Initiative to End Chronic Homelessness and one of 11 in the
$10 million Housing for People who are Homeless and Addicted to Alcohol
program, last year initiated new strategies through its Public Housing
Authority to partner more closely with the goal's of the City's Blueprint to End Chronic
Homelessness, first developed by former Mayor Bob Corker and
now in implementation under Mayor Ron Littlefield.
In October of
2006, Chattanooga Housing Authority Board of Commissioners approved an
emergency housing preference for people experiencing homelessness. Over
the next 12 months, 805 individuals - 412 adults and 393 children - were
housed through referrals from local social service agencies. People housed
include those experiencing chronic homelessness who were living on the
streets and in shelters, as well as those in transitional programs. The
initiative has shown a 96% housing retention rate.
Of the 366
households served, 260 were housed in the community through the Section 8
Housing Choice voucher program, while the remaining 106 were housed in
public housing. A study to determine the impact of the housing initiative
is currently being explored by CHA, the Chattanooga Regional Homeless
Coalition and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
One of the
first people housed was a man who was chronically homeless and in need of
back surgery. He was unable to receive his surgery until he had a place to
recover and was living with a lot of pain. His worry was, "how will I
carry my backpack all day if I can't walk?" Through the work of the
Chattanooga Housing Authority, AIM Center, Southeast Tennessee Human
Resource Agency (SETHRA) and others in the community, the individual was
able to receive his surgery and move into a fully furnished apartment the
day he was discharged from the hospital. His response was, "I am so
blessed." When the
Chattanooga Housing Authority did outreach at the Chattanooga Rescue
Mission, there were lines of people anxious to apply for housing. All who
met the eligibility criteria were housed in record time. There was an
overwhelming expression of gratitude for a new opportunity and the
beginning of a new life. The emergency
voucher program has provided housing for families and individuals
experiencing homelessness. Through partnerships with community service
providers, a single mother with three children who was working full-time
and making $9.00 per hour yet unable to afford rent was reunited with her
children and housed. A young woman with disabilities who had never had
permanent housing was housed. A paraplegic who had no place to go and
could not be accommodated by shelters was housed. People's lives have been
changed dramatically through the commitment and collaborations among
housing and service providers.
With Deputy
Assistant to the President and OFBCI Director Jay Hein and Department of
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, President Bush toured the Jericho prisoner
reentry program, a grantee of the federal Prisoner Reentry Initiative,
proposed in the President's 2004 State of the Union address as a signature
program of the Faith-Based and Community Initiative. The program is
operated by Episcopal Community Services of Maryland and serves non-
violent adult male offenders who have been released from prison within the
last six months. The program emphasizes employment readiness training and
job placement while providing recovery counseling, case management, and a
network of partner service providers to meet the needs of recently
released ex- offenders as they transition back to society.
In addition to
the success of PRI in initiatives to achieve Administration goals, OFBCI
also noted the Administration's recent announcement of an unprecedented
documented 11.5% decrease in street and chronic homelessness across the
nation from 2005 to 2006, 20,000 people moved from the streets. In the
OFBCI Mentoring Children of Prisoners initiative, more than 70,000
children whose parents incarcerated have been matched with mentors and the
program is on-track to reach its goal of 100,000 matches this year.
PRI is a
collaborative effort between the Departments of Labor (DOL) and Justice
(DOJ) to help reduce recidivism among ex-offenders in urban centers and
other areas with the greatest need by connecting them with faith- and
community-based organizations in the cities to which they return. Labor
Department funds are awarded to faith-based and community organizations
that provide a variety of assistance to returning prisoners, including
workforce development services, job training, pre-employment training,
work experience, basic skills remediation, counseling and case management,
mentoring, and other reentry services. Justice Department grants are
awarded to State agencies to help them join their anti-recidivism efforts
with the personal touch of faith-based and community-based organizations.
The DOJ grants to State agencies help these entities provide prerelease
services to offenders transitioning back to the communities where DOL
grantees are located. In 2008, Congress accepted the President's proposal
to merge PRI with the Responsible Reintegration of Youthful Offenders
program. This created a single program (Reintegration of Ex-Offenders) to
bring together the strengths of both programs and assist youth and adult
ex-offenders. Thirty-five
governors - 19 Democrats and 16 Republicans - and more than 100 mayors
have offices or liaisons dedicated to strengthening faith-based and
community organizations and extending their vital works. Twelve of these
States have changed governors, with all continuing these initiatives.
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email: ichnews@setechnology.com
web: http://www.usich.gov
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