WASHINGTON, DC. United States Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake was elected Chair of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness at its 11th Full Council meeting of this Administration today in Washington. Secretary Peake accepted the gavel from United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, the Council Chair since March 2007. Pictured here at today's Full Council meeting are (left to right): VA Secretary Peake, HHS Secretary Leavitt, and Council Director Mangano.

New Chair commits to continue results-oriented strategies. Secretary Peake committed himself to continue the Council's leadership commitment on the issue of homelessness and a focus on "goals and measured results," noting that the Council had "done much and had much to be proud of." The Secretary further observed that he will use the year ahead which he believes offers the best opportunity to end chronic homelessness through the collective efforts and talents of the Council's member agencies. Secretary Peake reported that the VA has documented another decrease in homelessness among veterans, reporting a 20% decline. Further details on this meeting will be featured in the weekly e-news.

HHS Secretary Leavitt reports on Council initiatives. In comments before passing the gavel to Secretary Peake, Secretary Leavitt noted the "moral duty to help" those experiencing homelessness and identified progress during the last year in key areas of the Council's work which he identified when he took the Chair in 2007, including an increased focus on families and youth, as well as veterans. The Secretary released a new Council inventory of federal programs with capacity to serve families, an initiative undertaken in conjunction with new research on families emerging from inside and outside of government. The inventory shows key information on 73 programs across eleven federal agencies, including budget, eligible activities and recipients, and impediments to participation by homeless families. The Council will use the inventory to advance next steps in this increased focus on the family population.

Secretary Leavitt presented a new research paper on family homelessness by Dr. Debra Rog of Westat. The research recommendations described in this report, Characteristics and Dynamics of Homeless Families with Children, find that the two top goals for a typology of families should focus on prevention and resource allocation - how to match the resources that exist with the needs of the families who are homeless. The report lays the foundation for future data collection efforts affecting policy and programmatic decisions for this particular population, as well as what additional steps might be needed in developing each typology.

HHS, on behalf of all the federal partners, released the first of several evaluation reports on the unprecedented $55 million collaborative initiative on chronic homelessness of the Council, HUD, HHS, and VA, first announced at the Council's inaugural meeting in 2002 under the chairmanship of then HUD Secretary Mel Martinez.

Under Secretary Leavitt's chairmanship and through the work of Secretary's Counselor Philo Hall and Deputy Assistant Secretary Melissa Pardue, the Council's regional Federal Interagency Councils, each chaired by the federal counterpart of the Chair of the Full Council, were reinvigorated with important results. Meeting regularly to focus on the priorities of the Chair, regional councils have begun development of federal resource inventories, as well as encouraging and supporting Project Homeless Connect as federal partners.

HUD Deputy Secretary Bernardi reports on investments and results. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Roy Bernardi reported to Council members on HUD's recent announcement of a documented 12% national decline in chronic homelessness from 2005 to 2006, and its expected release of 2007 data. Deputy Secretary Bernardi also noted HUD's partnership with other federal agencies, as well as state and local government and community organizations. HUD recently awarded $330 million for housing and services for persons who are chronically homeless and expects to award a record sum in 2008, including in the new $25 million family rapid rehousing demonstration initiative focused on families in shelter. HUD has awarded over $500,000,000 in its most recent competition to serve homeless families with children, and identifies that over half of all the persons assisted by HUD homeless programs are in families. To learn more about effective interventions for families, HUD will support a national evaluation on this topic.

HUD anticipates issuing about 10,000 Section 8 vouchers under the upcoming HUD-VASH program funded for FY 2008, and the Administration has requested an additional $75 million for FY 2009 to provide an equal number of new subsidies, bringing the potential assistance over 2008-2009 to 20,000 vouchers. These resources are in addition to over $31 million in targeted veterans supportive housing initiatives HUD recently awarded; HUD has awarded resources in over 3,700 grants totaling $909 million to initiatives that serve veterans and other populations.

Department of Labor sees employment results for chronic population. DOL Assistant Secretary Charles Ciccolella reported to the Council on the employment results of the Homeless Veterans Reintegration program which has reached 17,000 veterans, of whom 10,000 have become employed. DOL's joint multi-year initiative with HUD, combining housing and employment for more than 400 persons in the chronically homeless population, achieved a 54% rate of earned income for participants. Further, DOL's joint initiative with VA to reach incarcerated veterans achieved a 54% rate of employment and just 18% recidivism. The Assistant Secretary noted that the Job Corps-foster care recruitment initiative encouraged by the Council had grown from an initial 240 entrants in 2001 to about 2,000 homeless, runaway, and foster care youth in 2006.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency of the Department of Homeland Security reported on its recent award of $153 million under the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, now marking its 25th anniversary. The Social Security Administration, whose 3-year Homeless Outreach Projects and Evaluation (HOPE) initiative operates at 41 sites, reported that more than 9,000 individuals had been enrolled under the initiative with almost 3,000 receiving determinations providing access to Medicaid and other resources.

Norfolk Mayor Fraim reports on jurisdictional partnership and results. Following the tradition of special guest presentations from jurisdictional leaders achieving results in ending chronic homelessness, Council Executive Director Philip Mangano introduced Norfolk, Virginia Mayor Paul Fraim and Norfolk Office to End Homelessness Director Katie Kitchin. Mayor Fraim noted that his city's Blueprint to End Chronic Homelessness, now in its second year of implementation, focuses on regional solutions and includes the innovations of rapid re-housing, Housing First, and Project Homeless Connect, and permanent housing for ex- offenders. Norfolk, and now its neighbors in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, and Portsmouth, have leveraged new investments and partnerships with public and private sector leaders in achieving results of a 25% reduction in overall homelessness and a 40% reduction in street homelessness, as well as projecting to double local permanent supportive housing capacity this year. Mayor Fraim described the city's new central intake for families and rapid housing strategies, as well as access to benefits and prevention resources.

Executive Director's Report focuses on the new "3 R's." In his report, Director Mangano thanked Secretary Leavitt "for creating the momentum to sustain the continuing commitment of the important and valued contributions of HHS to our common efforts on behalf of our poorest neighbors." Director Mangano welcomed Secretary Peake to the Chair, noting, "I had the opportunity to sit with the Secretary and learn of his vision on behalf of all veterans and, especially homeless veterans and those at risk of homelessness." The Director noted in his report at the Council's sixth year of activity forwarding the Administration's goal to end chronic homelessness that, " If we were running a campaign, and it is that season, our bumper sticker would be simple: Resources Up - Street Homeless Down. That's the legacy we are creating through our common efforts focused on research, resources, and results."

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