DALLAS, TEXAS. In its 3rd year of 10-Year Plan implementation, Dallas, the nation's 9th largest city, is able to report further significant reductions in chronic homelessness. Results of the January 2007 Point-in-Time Count, conducted by the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance in conjunction with the City of Dallas, reveal a 23% reduction in chronic homelessness in the last year, and a 9% reduction in homelessness overall. This brings the reported decrease in chronic homelessness over two years to 43%, from 997 individuals in 2005 to 568 this year.

"It's very exciting because you see the correlation between more permanent supportive housing and a drop in chronic homeless and total homeless. This is not a victory. This is hope," said businessman Mike Rawlings, appointed by Mayor Laura Miller as "czar" of the Dallas 10-Year Plan implementation who now chairs the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance. "Under the leadership of Mayor Miller, who signed on early to the concept of jurisdictionally-based 10-Year Plans and has influenced other mayors to do so, and her two appointed "homeless czars," Mike Rawlings and his predecessor Tom Dunning who brought their business acumen to the effort, it's not surprising that Dallas is securing results and outcomes," said United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) Executive Director Philip Mangano. Last month, Mr. Rawlings was recognized with the 2007 Community Champion A Home for Every American Award at USICH's The Pursuit of Solutions: Second Annual National Summit on Innovation for Jurisdictional Leaders.

When Mayor Miller unveiled the Dallas 10-Year Plan in June 2004, the number of persons experiencing chronic homelessness in the Dallas metro area had been increasing at an average rate of 9% for four years. Implementing its 10-Year Plan, Dallas has focused on creating permanent supportive housing and in February, more than 100 elected officials, business and civic leaders gathered in downtown Dallas for the groundbreaking for a new $21 million one-stop Homeless Assistance Center scheduled to open in 2008. Pictured top, left to right, are Mr. Rawlings, Mayor Miller, and Director Mangano.

Dallas joins a growing list of 10-Year Plan jurisdictions reporting Point-in-Time results showing decreases in street and chronic homelessness including Portland, OR 70%; St Louis, MO 34%; Quincy, MA 55%; Nashua, NH 57%; Norfolk, VA 17%; San Francisco, 38%; and Atlanta, GA 8%.

VENTURA, CALIFORNIA. The "Killer Bs" -- baselines, benchmarks, best practices, and budget -- are business principles that are key to developing the action plans that make jurisdictionally- based 10- Year Plans to End Homelessness successful. During a visit to Ventura County, California last week, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano took note of the progress the community has made in assessing the needs of homeless citizens and gaps in housing and services in its draft 10-Year Plan, Ending Homelessness in Ventura: Everyone Has A Place, and urged that the final document be an "Action Plan" that answers the question: How?

How will the recommendations be implemented?
How will you secure investment?
How will you measure your progress?

A day-long series of events engaged stakeholders from mayors and county executives to the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition and service providers, to the public in a dialogue about the direction of the community's 10-Year Plan. Participants at a luncheon meeting of elected and appointed officials from the county and cities and key 10-Year leaders included the Mayor and Mayors Pro Tem from Ojai, Oaks, Simi, and Port Huenemee; City Council members from Ventura and Moorpark; several elected County Supervisors; the Ventura Chief of Police; a number of city and assistant city managers and department heads; the United Way of Ventura County President/CEO and VP of Community Impact; a HUD regional office representative; and the Executive Director and Assistant Director of RAIN, the transitional housing program at which the luncheon was held, among others. The luncheon was followed by a stakeholders meeting of more than 50 city and county staff and front line providers, and an evening public meeting. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator Ed Cabrera joined Director Mangano for the meetings. Pictured here, top, is Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennet presenting a copy of the draft plan to Director Mangano. Bottom, City of Ventura Mayor Carl Morehouse (center) with Director Mangano and Laurie Flack.

In his remarks at these events, Director Mangano discussed how the new mindset of ending, rather than managing homelessness, is achieving results and highlighted the elements that take 10-Year planning efforts from "good to better to great" in securing results. "The best plans take a business approach that is data and research driven, innovation - informed and focus on results". He urged a focus on achievable results that demonstrate incremental progress over time. "Don't worry about the inevitable voices of pessimism and skepticism that will tell you that the goal is unachievable. Those voices have been around for a long time. They've criticized the abolitionists, the suffragists, the civil rights activists. Said they were naïve and would never succeed. They were wrong back then and they're wrong now," he said.

In addition to Director Mangano's remarks, the nearly 100 citizens who gathered for the evening public meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura also heard from 10-Year Plan Consultant Joe Colletti, Ph.D, Founder and CEO of the Institute for Urban Research and Development; Ventura Planning Commission Member Carolyn Briggs; Past President of the Ventura Chamber of Commerce and County Bar Association, Bart Bleuehl, Esq.; and the Reverends Jan Christian of the Unitarian Universalist Church and Rick Pearson of the First United Methodist Church. Retired Judge Melinda Johnson spoke eloquently of her feelings during a temporary period of homelessness between semesters at college. Judge Johnson noted that the difference between her experience and that of so many others is that she "had hope because she knew she would soon have a roof over her head," and she urged understanding that being homeless "is not a character flaw." City Councilman Neal Andrews impassioned "Call to Action" is highlighted in the Words of the Week in this issue.

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA. A popular song in the 1960s asked "Do you know the way to San Jose? " Today, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and County Supervisor Chair Don Gage are striving to help their community know the way to end homelessness.

In a meeting last week with United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, a city councilman elected mayor in November, reaffirmed his commitment to working with County Supervisor Chair Don Gage to move forward to end homelessness in this community, which is the 10th largest city in the nation and lies at the heart of Silicon Valley.

At the State of the County address in January, Board Supervisor Chair Gage announced the formation of a Blue Ribbon Commission which he and Mayor Reed will co-chair, to more quickly implement goals set forth in the City's 5-Year Homeless Strategy and "Keys to Housing: A 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in Santa Clara County" unveiled in 2005 and to address affordable housing needs. An initial meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on March 22nd (pictured here) was attended by Council Regional Coordinator Ed Cabrera.

In his meeting with Mayor Reed last week, Director Mangano noted that the most successful 10-Year Plan efforts are using a business framework, focused on achieving early results from implementing evidence based practices. Staying focused on targeted goals and being able to show results will build momentum and garner new resources. As Good to Great author Jim Collins points out, "results are infectious," noted Director Mangano. Director Mangano also recommended "doing cost benefit analysis as broadly as you can in systems impacted by homeless people--primary and behavioral health, law enforcement, courts, jail"--to identify the true community cost of chronic homelessness and to provide a basis for budgeting in a more wholistic way that shows realized savings in community systems of care from implementing initiatives to end chronic homelessness. Joining Mayor Reed and Director Mangano for the meeting were the Mayor's Chief of Staff Pete Furman and Senior Policy Advisor Jeff Janssen, and Council Regional Coordinator Ed Cabrera.

On May 17th, San Jose and Santa Clara County will collaborate on their 4th Project Homeless Connect. The Project Homeless Connect events are generating important homeless consumer feedback about housing and service needs and are increasing awareness and support in the business sector and throughout the community for the effort to end chronic homelessness. New partners for the upcoming PHC include the Red Cross of Silicon Valley and the Tzu Chi Foundation, both of which are helping to recruit volunteers to provide logistical and medical assistance to homeless consumers at the event. Additionally, the California Department of Motor Vehicles will participate for the first time, assisting homeless clients obtain personal identification cards, the cost of which will be supported in part by Charities Housing Corporation.

The Joint Lifeline Transportation Committee, comprised of county representatives and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, recently recommended approval of a $75,000 City proposal for an Emergency Auto Repair Assistance Program for homeless and at risk individuals and families. If funded, the money will be matched by city Housing Trust Fund dollars to provide one time emergency assistance for auto repair costs to up to 150 homeless and at risk individuals and families "with a proven long term transportation need for employment, job training, medical treatment or other supportive services."

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA. In California last week for meetings with San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Ventura County officials to discuss 10-Year Plan efforts in those jurisdictions, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) Executive Director Philip Mangano was invited to join community leaders at a lecture and discussion with noted Tipping Point and Blink author Malcolm Gladwell on "Million-Dollar Murray: the Costs of Homelessness in America," the subject of a February 2006 New Yorker piece by Mr. Gladwell. Mr. Gladwell was giving the UCLA 21st annual Bollens-Ries- Hoffenberg Lecture, dedicated to "bringing together the worlds of academic exploration and practical politics to illuminate discussion of the broader principles and ideas of representative government." Community costs of chronic homelessness, exemplified by the case of "Million Dollar Murray" was a particularly relevant topic for Santa Monica officials who are engaged in developing housing and service innovations to reduce and end homelessness, as noted below.

The invitation to Director Mangano to participate in the UCLA event was extended by Ed Edelman (pictured here), the retired Los Angeles County Supervisor now tasked as the City of Santa Monica's Special Representative for Homeless Initiatives, to stimulate a regional response to homelessness. Increasing political and civic will to end chronic homelessness by incorporating economic as well as humane considerations has been a key theme of USICH Director Mangano. Mr. Gladwell, who interviewed Director Mangano for the New Yorker article, was a featured presenter at a meeting of 10-Year Plan jurisdictional leaders from around the country convened last year by USICH, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Common Ground.

Last month, a statewide conference on community courts proposed by Mr. Edelman came to fruition. "Addressing Homelessness: Innovations through Community Court Partnerships was the theme of the conference held in Santa Monica March 29 that brought together 150 elected and appointed officials, judicial officers, researchers, service providers, and representatives of model court programs in California and New York to provide insight into civic engagement, system partnerships, and other building blocks that underlie the most successful homeless community courts. The community courts are one model of so-called "problem solving" courts that recognize the judicial process as a resource and partner in community efforts to create pathways to appropriate treatment systems. The goal of the homeless community court is to use the criminal justice system to increase the probability of successfully linking homeless persons to community services designed to move them off the streets and reduce the likelihood they will be rearrested. Pictured here on the dais at the conference are, left to right, Acting Justice of New York Supreme Court David Meyer; California Assembly Member Mike Feuer, Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom, California State Senator Gilbert Cedillo, Santa Monica Councilmember Bobby Shriver, and California State Senator Darrell Steinberg.

Last July, county and city officials including Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, now Mayor Richard Bloom, Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Schriver, then Superior Court Supervising Judge Linda Lefkowitz and others unveiled plans for a pilot homeless community court. The homeless community court was seen as an opportunity to create another pathway to linking persons living long term on the street to services and also lessening the impact on the court system and cost to the community of the "revolving door" of chronically homeless persons cited for "quality of life" violations. With a one year commitment of of city and county funds, a community court pilot program that pairs the judicial process with community stabilization and treatment services got underway in February of this year. As a half day monthly pilot, the court costs are minimal with most of the funding being used to build capacity within the community's service delivery system including rapid access to psychiatric and mental health services, additional substance abuse treatment beds, and stabilization beds. Among the expected outcomes for the one year pilot: up to 40 persons being permanently housed;12-25 persons entering residential treatment for substance abuse services; and 50-80 persons accessing psychiatric services.

The conference held at the RAND Corporation and cosponsored by the City, the California Endowment, and Public Counsel was seen as an opportunity to give city officials "a yardstick by which to measure progress and tweak features of the city's fledgling community court and inspire wider regional interest in community courts." Participants were welcomed to the conference by California Chief Justice Ronald George. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) Regional Coordinator Ed Cabrera was among the presenters at the conference, discussing the work and organization of the Council that includes 20 federal agency partners including the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Council's efforts to identify and rapidly disseminate for replication innovations that are proving to end homelessness. Resource information on the Department of Justice Community-Based Problem Solving Community Justice Initiative and other programs can be found on the DOJ Office of Justice programs website.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinators Paul Carlson and Eddie Woodhouse participated in statewide conferences held last week in Oregon and North Carolina, two states with growing numbers of jurisdictional 10-Year Plan commitments.

In Oregon, USICH Regional Coordinator Carlson was the closing plenary keynote speaker for the 20th anniversary Oregon Housing and Homelessness Coalition Conference, attended by more than 250 persons. To date, 7 Oregon counties - Clakamas, Coos, Lane, Jackson, Lincoln, Multnomah, and Yamhill - have committed to the 10-Year Plan process, some inspired to do so by last year's Oregon Leadership Summit on Ending Chronic Homelessness, sponsored by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and held in Salem. In his remarks, Coordinator Carlson identified each 10- Year Plan county by name, asking representatives of the county to stand whereupon he identified the local elected and community leaders leading the effort and the status of the plan. He reports that participants from counties not named, called out, " What about our county?"and when he replied, " Do you want to get a plan going there?, there were resounding shouts of "Yes!" Pictured here from right to left at the Oregon conference is Regional Coordinator Carlson; Victor Merced, Director of Oregon Housing and Community Services and chair of the Oregon Governor's Ending Homelessness Advisory Council; and John Chylek and Nancy Glines, chair and treasurer of the Oregon Housing and Homelessness Coalition.

In North Carolina, where 12 jurisdictional 10-year planning processes are underway, the North Carolina Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs sponsored the state's 10th anniversary conference, Walking Home Together: Steps to a Practical Approach. Over 500 people attended the conference which included participation by North Carolina Department of Corrections Secretary Theodis Beck on re-entry programs, Department of Public Instruction Superintendent June Atkinson on meeting the needs of homeless children, and an awards luncheon presentation by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary and state ICH Chair Carmen Hooker Odum. A number of presentations focused on programs such San Diego's Serial Inebriate Initiative, Father Bill's Place in Quincy, Massachusetts, and Common Ground Community in New York City, which have been identified by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness as national best practice models.

Some of the state initiatives discussed during the conference included Going Home (creating pre-release, community transition and reentry infrastructure); and the Keys and 400 Initiatives (creating supportive housing opportunities for persons with disabilities and homeless populations ). Conference participants were urged to be "advocates for public policy change to end homelessness." United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator Eddie Woodhouse moderated a workshop on Faith Based Partnerships that highlighted how the White House Faith Based and Community Initiatives effort relates to the work of local groups and also included presentations from Carol Jones of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Jane Motsinger of Echo Ministry in Surry County, and Ken Maness of the Triangle United Way.

BOISE, IDAHO. 14 homeless families including 35 children housed in just over 4 months. That's the report from Boise on the initial success of Mayor David Bieter's pilot faith based initiative for homeless families, Project CATCH (charitable assistance to community's homeless). Pursuing a "housing first" approach, local congregations were invited to sponsor the rental housing costs for one or more homeless families for the term of a lease, generally 6 to 12 months. The effort is a partnership with the city which provides a social worker to act as a case manager, linking the families as necessary with community support services including mental health and substance addiction treatment and workforce training.

The response from the community was immediate, with a number of local businesses asking how they, too, could become involved. Recently, the United Way of Treasure Valley became the latest partner to the CATCH effort, donating $15,000 and recommending approval of an additional grant up to $7500 as a dollar for dollar match to fund another part time social worker.

In November United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano was the keynote speaker at Mayor Bieter's Neighbors in Need Summit, held to formally launch the development of a 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in the community. That plan is expected to be completed this fall.

At the recent North Carolina homeless conference, Walking Home Together: Steps to a Practical Approach, Ken Maness of the Triangle United Way participated in a faith based workshop moderated by United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator Eddie Woodhouse. Mr. Maness described the Faith Support Circles program organized in the wake of Hurricane Katrina through which 40 area churches formed a support network of 76 circles of 6-10 persons each offering shelter support and other services to nearly 200 evacuees. The support circles program is being expanded to assist other homeless individuals and families "move into housing and regain stability in their lives," as part of the Raleigh/Wake County 10-Year Plan to End and Prevent Homelessness.

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS. Engaging an expansive and inclusive group of stakeholders is one of the essential building blocks for successful jurisdictionally-based 10-Year Plans to End Chronic Homelessness. Through both on-site technical assistance and toolkits, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has encouraged jurisdictional leaders leading 10-Year Plan efforts to include on their planning committees such stakeholders as the United Way, Chambers of Commerce, downtown business associations and other business leaders, housing developers and housing authorities, hospitals/regional health care systems/behavioral health care providers, transportation agencies, workforce programs, courts and law enforcement, librarians, veterans organizations, faith based organizations and other community non profits, and consumers.

As this year's 150th anniversary celebration of the American Institute of Architects reminds us, local community architects are an often untapped resource who can help build consensus and help address design concerns that often underlie neighborhood challenges to the siting of housing solutions. Blueprint for America is the flagship effort of the AIA's 150th anniversary celebration. Through this initiative launched last May, AIA state and local chapters ("components") are collaborating with mayors and other local government officials and citizens on local projects addressing accessibility, affordable housing, homelessness, sprawl, disaster preparedness, and renewal of infrastructure, among others. The Arkansas AIA chapter chose homelessness as their theme and last week, a charrette organized by local AIA architects George Wittenberg and Bill Wiedower was held to create conceptual designs for a homeless day resource center. While the creation of such a center is prioritized in the Little Rock Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, representatives of a number of other Arkansas communities considering creating such centers were also present.

Following an evening reception held at the University of Arkansas Clinton School for Public Service, charrette participants gathered the next day in the First Lady's Ballroom at the Governor's Mansion where they were greeted by Governor Mike Beebe. Also invited was architect Murray Legge, who designed the Austin, TX Day Resource Center. Several different teams of architects and social service providers worked throughout the day to create designs for a center that were then presented at the end of the day for comment and discussion. The designs are now being digitized with accompanying fact sheets.

The charrette was the most recent step in moving forward the Little Rock 10-Year Plan, a collaborative effort of Little Rock and North Little Rock. In December, the communities jointly hired a full time Homeless Services Coordinator for Central Arkansas, Jimmy Pritchett. On March 22nd, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola and North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hayes announced their appointment of a 15- member Plan Implementation Commission. The Commission members are: Judge Wayne Gruber of the Pulaski County District Court; Jack Harvey, President of Enterprise Financial Solutions, Inc.; Barry McDaniel, Financial Adviser and Vice President of Morgan Stanley; Clark McGlothin, President of CBM Construction; Estella Morris, Director of Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System; Reginald Robinson, President of Arkansas Cleaning Solution; Jennie Stortroen, community leader; Steve Winchester of Time Plus Payroll Services; Jim Woodell, Executive Director of North Little Rock's River City Ministry; Darlene Bourgeois, Executive Director of Little Rock's Saint Francis House; Sandra Brown, Director of Community Health Strategic Development for Baptist Health; David Carpenter, a broker from Jacksonville; Mark Evans, Senior Pastor of The Church at Rock Creek; and Steve Ficklin, Executive Director of the Argenta Community Development Corp.

Last month, the AIA announced that two of its nineteen 2007 National Housing Awards, selected from a record 236 entrees, were for the Plaza Apartments, a permanent supportive housing project with onsite services for chronically homeless men and women in San Francisco, and the PATH Regional Homeless Center in Hollywood that includes 98 housing units for homeless men, women, and families and space for social service agencies. The AIA National Housing Awards recognize "the best in housing design and promote the importance of good housing as a necessity of life, a sanctuary for the human spirit, and a valuable national resource."

With this issue, the e-news highlights excerpts of a Call to Action by Ventura City Councilman Neal Andrews at a public forum to discuss the draft Ventura County 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness: Everyone Has A Place. See related story this issue.

. . . About seven years ago I had the privilege of speaking to a similar group of several hundred people committed to a morally correct cause and sounding with them a call to action. That group had come together to ponder the problems of services to assist the mentally ill.

. . . They rose to the call. They accepted responsibility. And they acted. They marched when we asked them to. They wrote letters when we needed them to. They signed ballot petitions to bring basic fairness to our governmental responses and programs. They voted for the propositions we supported and they told their elected representatives how much they were concerned.

. . . We passed Prop 63 providing more dedicated funding than has ever been available to support treatment programs for the mentally ill. . . In our local community we established programs within the law enforcement establishment that reduced deaths among the mentally ill by law enforcement action to near nonexistence. . . And the world of the mentally ill is far better today as a result.

. . . Now we must bring that same resolve and that same energy and effort to the problems we face with homelessness. Many of the homeless, of course, are the mentally ill, but it would be a grave mistake to assume that the mentally afflicted are the most significant part of the problem. Indeed they are only a minority among those who, for a myriad of reasons, desperately need shelter and basic assistance to cope with the challenges and adversities so many encounter in today's world.

. . . To bring to this effort the energy and resources it will take, each of you must become a champion of our cause. Each of you must make a commitment to the battle. You must be true believers. You must bring to your neighborhoods a confident faith that we can reach this goal and end homelessness within our community once and for all. You must be the knights who battle doubt and distrust, selfishness, and ignorance. You must be the sages who teach, encourage, enlighten, and persuade. You must be the leaders!