GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA. "Today your cities and county join the unprecedented national partnership created by the Council, a partnership that begins in the White House and extends to the streets and includes federal, state, and local government, the private sector, advocates, providers, consumers, and faith-based organizations," said United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano in his keynote address to over 150 members of the community in Greensboro, North Carolina last week as local leaders committed to 10-year planning.

Guilford County and the cities of Greensboro and High Point have joined together to become the 15th community in the state and the 210th in the nation to make a commitment to a 10-Year Plan. Leaders from both cities and the county convened on February 9 to announce a joint initiative to create a 10-year plan.

Greensboro Mayor Keith Holliday and Guilford County Commissioner Bruce Davis were joined by North Carolina Homeless Policy Specialist Martha Are. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Field Office Director Edward Ellis was also on hand, along with Council Regional Coordinator Michael German. Guilford County Commission Chairwoman Carolyn Coleman and Highpoint Mayor Becky Smothers also support the planning effort.

The 10-Year Plan will be developed by a task force that includes 31 members appointed by local government, business organizations, and community groups. The Homeless Prevention Coalition of Guilford County will serve as task force facilitator. The plan is expected to be completed in 2006.

Pictured here at the Greensboro event are (left to right): Guilford County Commissioner Bruce Davis; HUD's Ed Ellis; Mayor Holliday; Director Mangano, and Ms. Are.

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN. "We certainly can't be satisfied with the comfort of our warm and beautiful homes as long as there are families, children in this city of Grand Rapids, in this county of Kent, living in shelters who are indeed homeless," said Grand Rapids Mayor George Hartwell, who, along with Kent County Board Chair Roger Morgan, unveiled the community's Vision to End Homelessness on February 8. More than 100 citizens as well as local, state and federal officials attended the event at Aquinas College. United States Interagency Council Executive Director Philip Mangano, who keynoted the event, joined Michigan State Housing Development Authority Executive Director Michael R. DeVos, Michigan Department of Human Services Director Marianne Udow, and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Field Office Director Louis Berra.

"Here today you are saying that you will no longer maintain an uneasy détente with homelessness," said Director Mangano. "You are saying that as a community you will be tolerant of homeless people, but intolerant of homelessness. Everyone's quality of life will improve - housed and homeless alike."

Private sector partners supported the year-long development process, which was funded by three local foundations: Grand Rapids Community Foundation, Dyer-Ives Foundation, and Steelcase Foundation. Over 700 stakeholders in the community - housing and service providers, people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness, members of the business community, and interested citizens - participated in focus groups, surveys, community forums, and data-gathering. They studied the area housing situation, as well as other high performing communities across the country.

"This is not just a statement. The Vision is really a commitment. What we have done here today is to change our language, change our mindset. Now our behavior will change, our funding will change, and our results will change," said Sr. Maureen Geary, OP, Coordinator of the Grand Rapids Area Housing Continuum of Care which oversaw development of the Vision.

Key areas of focus specified in the Vision include the expansion of the role of Housing First as a local strategy for permanent housing; a "dramatic" decrease in emergency shelter need, use, and bed capacity; more resources for homelessness prevention; and increased coordination of systems and services.

Pictured here are Board Chair Morgan, Director Berra, Director DeVos, Director Udow, Director Mangano, and Mayor Heartwell. U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinators Daryl Hernandez and John O'Brien were also present.

In November 2005, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Director DeVos announced that the Michigan State Housing Development Authority will target $10 million in combined federal and state dollars to assist eight communities in establishing permanent supportive housing programs for persons experiencing chronic homelessness (see prior e-news story).

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news continues its focus on elements of the Title V federal surplus property program and opportunities to secure resources to assist persons experiencing homelessness under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

WASHINGTON, DC. Local governments and community groups will soon be able to use federal surplus property for permanent supportive housing under a policy change now being forwarded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). "This proposed policy change, once finalized, will go a long way in continuing the Administration's compassionate efforts to provide supportive housing for some of our most vulnerable populations," said HHS Deputy Secretary Azar during a January 26th announcement.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act allows the transfer of identified federal surplus real estate to eligible non-federal applicants for purposes of homeless assistance. Applicants for federal surplus property identify how they intend to utilize the property based on the needs of their communities.

To date, the use of federal surplus property has been restricted to homeless shelters, transitional programs, and services. The new policy, which is currently open for public comment until February 28, is expected to take effect this spring.

Suitable and available properties are listed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development each Friday in the Federal Register. Entities interested in obtaining the surplus property have 60 days to submit a letter of intent to HHS.

Land and buildings in the following states are included in the February 10 listing as "suitable and available": Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The Interagency Council's web site includes a link to the latest weekly Federal Register notice regarding federal surplus property available under Title V of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Under "Funding" look for the link to the Title V notice.

WASHINGTON, DC. Time is running out to register for the upcoming federal conference in Washington, DC, on March 16-18 regarding the health issues of returning veterans. The free conference, The Road Home: National Conference on Returning Veterans' and Their Families' Behavioral Health is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Federal, state, public and private sector partners will convene for a science- based session to address issues facing returning veterans and their families, including these approaches that can help veterans and their families build resiliency to prevent and to treat mental health disorders (including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders), substance abuse disorders, suicide, and/or co-occurring disorders.

Representatives of HHS and the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, as well as the National Office of Drug Control Policy and National Institute of Drug Abuse and other partners, including the Interagency Council, will help shape the focus and content for the event.

The conference will take place at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC. Registration forms for the free conference may be submitted via mail, fax or online. SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie is pictured here.

In addition to the $4.157 billion level of a record sixth proposed year of increased federal targeted homelessness resources, the President's proposed budget for FY 07 includes:

. . . an increase of $181 million at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) toward two goals: completing the President's commitment to provide new or expanded health care access points in 1,200 communities, and implementing a new initiative to establish Health Centers in poor counties. In FY 07, an additional 1.2 million individuals will receive health care through more than 300 new or expanded sites in medically underserved communities throughout the nation.

. . . an increase of $36 million to the HHS Compassion Capital Fund, which advances the efforts of community and charitable organizations, including faith-based organizations, to increase their effectiveness and enhance their ability to provide social services where needed.

. . . an increase of $100 million in HHS' Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding for a new state grant program for Family Formation and Healthy Marriage.

. . . a $101 million increase from FY 06 funding for the HHS Foster Care program and new legislative proposals permitting states to use a budget-neutral approach to invoke the option to receive their foster care funding as a flexible grant over five years to support a range of services - including foster care payments, prevention activities, permanency efforts, and case management - to families in crisis and children at risk.

. . . $98 million for Access to Recovery (ATR) vouchers, which enable addicted and recovering individuals to choose from a range of effective treatment and recovery support options. States will be offered incentives through Access to Recovery to distribute voluntarily a portion of their Substance Abuse Block Grant funds through drug treatment vouchers.

. . . $60 million for the federal collaborative interagency initiative of the Departments of Labor, Justice, and Housing and Urban Development in the Prisoner Reentry Initiative to help individuals leaving prison make a successful transition to community life and long term employment. The Reentry Initiative teams Federal agencies with faith-based and community organizations to help recently released prisoners make a successful transition back to society and long-term employment. The President and First Lady are pictured here at a service program.

WASHINGTON, DC.The Secretary's Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans convened December 8-10 in Washington, DC, where United States Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary and former United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Chair R. James Nicholson told Committee members, "The VA has no more important issue, and - I mean this sincerely - than the issue of homeless veterans."

This strong commitment by Secretary Nicholson to homeless veterans came just days after the release of the President's FY07 budget which, for the sixth consecutive year, proposed record resources targeted to homeless people, including a 17% increase for the VA Grant and Per Diem Program, and increases in the Compensated Work Therapy and VA Medical Care programs.

Secretary Nicholson also swore in four new members of the 15-member Committee, which was formed in 2002. The Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans is empowered by its charter to advise the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on a wide variety of issues, including assessing the effectiveness of policies and programs, identifying gaps in programs serving the homeless, highlighting barriers in law and federal policy that hinder programs and improve liaison with other federal, state and local agencies that work on homeless issues. The Committee makes an annual report to the Secretary. Robert Van Keuren, VA's Homeless Veterans Program Coordinator in Canandaigua, N.Y., is the chairman of the committee.

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), which reports to each meeting of the Advisory Committee, updated members on the substantial progress that has been made over the least year in its partnership with the Committee on initiatives that include:

• Insuring the needs and interests of homeless veterans receive special recognition in state and city jurisdictional 10-year plans.
• Insuring State Interagency Councils on Homelessness and jurisdictional 10-year planning committees include representatives who can speak to the issues and needs of homeless veterans.
• Insuring the substantial resources of the VA are identified as a key element of 10-year plan strategies.

In addition, Council Regional Coordinator and Committee Liaison John O'Brien reported that the Interagency Council, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Common Ground Community are sponsoring a national meeting of city leaders focused on ending homelessness among veterans and preventing homelessness among returning veterans. Three members of the Advisory Committee will be part of the expert faculty for this important national gathering. VA Secretary and out going Council Chair Nicholson is picture here at left passing the Interagency Council gavel to incoming Council Chair and HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson at the September 2005 full Council meeting at the White House.

Author Malcolm Gladwell, in the current issue of The New Yorker, explores why homelessness may be easier to solve than to manage. Gladwell's article, "Million-Dollar Murray," whose title is derived from the case of one chronically homeless man in Reno, Nevada, examines some of the key examples of cost-benefit analysis that are revealing the public cost of homelessness. Gladwell, whose book The Tipping Point focused on the use of small resource investments to propel larger change, has previously engaged 10-year plan leaders using examples from the business world that frame small steps that are doable and manageable, emphasizing the effectiveness of breaking out elements that make larger challenges seem approachable.

With this issue of the e-news, we continue our coverage of excerpts from statements made by public sector partners ending chronic homelessness.

The following Words of the Week come from Norfolk, Virginia Mayor Paul D Fraim during the recent South Hampton Roads Regional Conference on Ending Homelessness which was co-sponsored by government leaders from five Virginia communities. Pictured here from left are U.S. Interagency Council Executive Director Philip Mangano, Suffolk Mayor Bobby Ralph, Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors Chair Tom Wright, Portsmouth Mayor James Holley, Mayor Fraim, and in the front row, Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf (see prior e-news story).

. . . We can't just stay out of it and leave it to the churches and non-profits as we've done in the past. Our failure to solve this problem costs us millions every year. It is estimated that homelessness costs $32 million dollars each year in Southside Hampton Roads. And that's just the economic cost. The social cost is even more devastating. For each of the 2,000 homeless people in South Hampton Roads, there are families torn apart, dreams of bright futures dashed.

. . . In every office building, every church and synagogue, in every neighborhood across Hampton Roads, there are people who, given the right information and pointed in the right direction, will become part of the solution. That's what this conference today is all about - bringing us together, pointing us all in the right direction.

These Words of the Week come from two Michigan leaders, Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell and Kent County Board of Commissioners Chair Roger Morgan, in a joint letter introducing that community's Vision to End Homelessness, which was unveiled February 8, 2006.

. . . End homelessness? It sounds impossible. Thousands of families and individuals experience homelessness every year in our community. On a given night two-thirds of those who are homeless are women and children. Many individuals and families never recover from the turmoil and loss and are locked into a cycle of chronic poverty and recurring episodes of homelessness, often crossing generations. Yet, like most seemingly intractable problems, the devastation caused by homelessness will yield to thoughtful analysis, a carefully constructed plan and the will of our community to implement solutions in a judicious and fair way.

. . . It is too much to expect that no one will face a housing crisis again. What we can expect is that the crisis will be resolved in most cases without resorting to the disruption of temporary displacement. Homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing will be the rule. Needed services will be provided to prevent housing crises and avoid the need for recovery from crises.

. . . Solving a problem as complex as homelessness requires complex and technical solutions but the over-riding idea is very simple: Permanent housing for all is an essential component for strong families and communities. Ending homelessness makes sense in every way.