BALTIMORE, MARYLAND. Federal, state, and local partnership was in evidence last week in pursuit of ending chronic homelessness, with the convening of the First Annual National Conference of the 41 grantees under the Social Security Administration's $8 million Homeless Outreach Projects & Evaluation (HOPE) investment. Meeting in Baltimore were grantees, representatives of state Disability Determination Services (DDS), and federal partners, including the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, and Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Veterans Affairs. SSA Deputy Commissioner James Lockhart welcomed attendees, and was joined by SSA officials, Deputy Associate Commissioner for the Office of Program Development and Research Mary Ellen Kyle, Office of Program Development Director Paula Foster-Pierce, HOPE Project Officer Ed Beane, and San Francisco Deputy Regional Commissioner Patty Robidart.

Council Executive Director Philip Mangano, invited to keynote the inaugural conference, told the partners, "What's happening across our country as a result of our commitment to ending chronic homelessness is that the most disabled are getting the 'place to live' that they seek - and they are keeping it. Central to their success, in fact, a precipitator of their success is the Social Security benefit. All across the country people who have been on the streets and in encampments for years, are being engaged and part of that engagement is the provision of Social Security." Director Mangano is pictured here.

The SSA initiative supports communities in meeting the Administration's goal of ending chronic homelessness by increasing access to a key mainstream benefit for persons experiencing chronic homelessness with severe and persistent mental illness, HIV, cognitive impairments, and co-occurring disorders. SSA estimates that the awardees will assist thousands of homeless people over the next three years, providing supports to ensure that Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) applications are completed faster and with higher success rates, allowing persons experiencing chronic homelessness to leave the streets, have a source of income, obtain health care coverage, and obtain employment.

Core objectives for the HOPE initiative include identifying homeless individuals who are potentially eligible for benefits and providing assistance that results in faster claim decisions and higher benefit approval rates for those who are eligible for disability benefits. Other SSA objectives includes conducting outreach activities to locate homeless individuals with disabling impairments, providing direct assistance to homeless individuals in the application process, assisting with finding necessary documentation, including proof of identity, financial records, and medical records, and assisting with needed examinations.

Awardees are expected to maintain contact with claimants throughout the determination process and help individuals respond to requests for further information. SSA expects awardees to collaborate with and make referrals to other organizations to ensure favorable outcomes for persons being assisted, including working with agencies that provide supportive housing; mental health, substance abuse, and community-based health care; employment rehabilitation and job placement services; veteran's health benefits; and services to parolees and those in work-release programs.

Grantees also heard from Boston Health Care for the Homeless President Dr. James O'Connell, co-author of a recently released publication, Documenting Disability: Simple Strategies for Medical Providers, funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration.

WASHINGTON, DC. The United States Department of Labor, which currently has four funding competitions underway for $27 million in workforce investments for the reentry and veterans populations and faith-based and community organizations, has announced upcoming conference for applicants for the $20 million Prisoner Reentry Initiative. Eligible applicants are faith-based or community-based organizations. Applications are due July 13, 2005. Department of Labor Secretary and United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Vice-chair Elaine Chao is pictured here.

Prisoner Reentry Initiative Informational Conferences are scheduled for: May 12 in Los Angeles, California at The Westin Los Angeles Airport; May 19 in Dallas, Texas at Sheraton Grand Hotel at Dallas/Fort Worth; and May 26 in Washington, D.C. at the Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel. Each conference will start promptly at 8:30 am and will last until 5 p.m., with registration from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. According to the Department of Labor, each individual's travel expense to the informational conferences is not a reimbursable activity, the Federal government will not assume costs associated with travel to these conferences.

For registration and logistical information on the informational conferences, please visit http://www.pri-conference.com or call 301-589-2547. Online registration is also available , and FAXes are accepted 301-589-2546. To register, please include the following information: Full Name, Title, Organization, Address, Phone, Fax, Email, and which conference you will be attending. If you cannot attend any of the PRI 2005 conferences, a webcast will be available online at the Department of Labor Employment Training Administration website (www.doleta.gov) following the conferences.

The President's Prisoner Reentry Initiative seeks to strengthen urban communities characterized by large numbers of returning prisoners through an employment-centered program that incorporates mentoring, job training, and other comprehensive transitional services. This program, which involves several federal agencies, is designed to reduce recidivism by helping inmates find work when they return to their communities, as part of an effort to build a life in the community for everyone. The Department of Labor (DOL) will be awarding grants under this competition to faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) to be the agencies carrying out this demonstration.

The Department of Justice will subsequently award competitive grants to State agencies to provide pre- release services to prisoners who will be returning to the communities served by the DOL grants. The Department of Housing and Urban Development may in future years provide funds under this initiative for housing services and the Department of Health and Human Services is also assisting in the design and implementation of the initiative regarding substance abuse and mental health treatment. We hope to serve 6,250 released prisoners during the first year of this initiative with projects operating in 30 communities across the country.

Each lead local agency awarded a DOL grant may choose to directly provide services to released prisoners; provide sub-grants to other FBCOs to provide these services; or use a mixed approach of providing some direct services themselves while using other FBCOs to also provide services.

RENO, NEVADA. Just one week after Reno Police Department officers briefed representatives of nine Western states at the Western States Colloquy on Ending Chronic Homelessness on the cost benefit analysis that has helped their department realign its work with homeless people, Reno Mayor Bob Cashell and the Reno City Council unanimously endorsed the formation of a working group and directed city staff to participate in the community planning process to develop a regional plan to end chronic homelessness. Joining the United Way leadership example of over twenty other planning processes, the new regional effort will be led by Anne Cory, President and Chief Professional Officer of the United Way of Northern Nevada. Partnership resolutions are expected from the Sparks City Council and the Washoe County Commission, which would result in a 10-Year Plan covering the three jurisdictions.

State Colloquy attendees on April 8 heard from Reno Police Department Officer Patrick O'Bryan on the key issue, with Officer O'Bryan citing his own city's costs of $2000 for a detox, $6,500 whenever a medical exam is also required, and $65,000 each for each homeless person arrested, using ER, jail and detox combined. Officer O'Bryan cited a case where $1 million was spent on one homeless person whose issues were unusually complicated, "with no result for that man, when just a little bit of caring and housing could produce a turnaround in a man's life."

PLANO, TEXAS. Focusing on data was the first step in the development of the recently adopted Plano/Collin County, Texas Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. The City of Plano, which took the lead in the planning process, worked with city and county partners, including the Collin County Mental Commitment Court, to determine that about 200 people are chronically homeless in the County each year. A point-in- time survey of the Mental Commitment Court docket found that one-third of the cases were recidivating to the mental health system, leading planners to the conclusion that the Wichita Falls State Mental Health Hospital is the only stable residential setting many have available.

With the support of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, which was a partner to the process, planners reviewed the United Way's Community Assessment for Collin County and found many points of agreement regarding the need for health and human services infrastructure in the county, and long-term behavioural health treatment options. Plan implementation now will consist of aligning future funding to plan goals, allocating new investments geographically based on homeless census results, and creating a jail diversion program for persons with mental illness.

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. Calculating that Santa Barbara County jails and hospitals are spending up to $13 million annually in costs associated with homelessness, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors last week committed to the development of a plan to end chronic homelessness with an emphasis on cost savings. The Supervisors authorized the Housing and Community Development Department to develop a plan over the next six months and to hire a contracted employee to coordinate an intergovernmental committee, including representatives from the Cities of Santa Maria, Lompoc and Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum, a signatory to the Mayors' Covenant of Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness, has already expressed official support for the plan. The Supervisors' briefing memo credits the efforts of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness in shaping the national emphasis that has given direction to local jurisdictions to develop plans to end chronic homelessness.

Santa Barbara County estimated current costs associated with homelessness in the county using census and program data. Estimates by housing and law enforcement officials include: $1,863,000 annually for homeless individuals using the County's Psychiatric Health Facility; $7,212,400 annually for homeless persons staying at Cottage Hospital; $3-5 million annually for homeless persons in the County Jail; $950,000 annually for three homeless shelters; $180,000 annually for the North County Detox Center; and $82 per day for a homeless person staying in jail.

NORMAN, OKLAHOMA. The Norman City Council has officially adopted ECHO 2015 - End Chronic Homelessness by 2015, the City of Norman and Cleveland County plan developed by the Mayor's Committee on Chronic Homelessness. The Plan's data analysis found that 12 percent of the homeless population are persons experiencing chronic homelessness. As in the Plano, Texas Plan finalized in the same week (see e-news article this week), Norman planners found that the presence of the Griffin Memorial Hospital, a state mental health facility, was closely tied to the numbers of homeless mentally ill persons in the community. Norman's Plan points to the Housing First model as one component of what it proposes as a set of tiered housing solutions coupled with aggressive outreach and intervention.

The Mayor's Committee represented a local, state, and federal planning partnership, including representatives of the Norman City Council, as well as Norman hospitals, drug treatment facilities, police, and housing developers, Cleveland County transportation authority, workforce department, and sheriff, and state Departments of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Drug Court and Human Services,. The Social Security Administration also took part. A new oversight entity will be charged with implementation of the plan.

. . . that there are presently 186 city and county CEO's with 10-Year Plans to End Chronic Homelessness underway or in implementation. Of the five mayors named last week by TIME as the nation's best mayors, four of them have 10-Year Plans (Mayors Richard Daley of Chicago, Shirley Franklin of Atlanta, Michael Bloomberg of New York City, and John Hickenlooper of Denver), as does the mayor who received honorable mention, Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco.

. . . that the TIME profiles of Mayors Franklin and Newsom specifically mention the accomplishment of tackling of homelessness in their cities.

. . . that Key West, Florida, is the latest city to join the national partnership to end chronic homelessness with the signing of an April 18 Proclamation by Mayor Jimmy Weekley, who is also a signer to the Mayors' Covenant of Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness executed at the U.S. Conference of Mayor Winter Meeting in January. The Key West proclamation calls for partnership with Monroe County, and the neighboring cities of Marathon, Layton, Key Colony Beach, and Islamorada, as well as the business, faith, and social service community.

THIS WEEK'S e-news focuses on excerpts from the remarks of Deputy Social Security Commissioner James Lockhart s(pictured here) peaking to the 41 grantees under the Social Security Administration's $8 million Homeless Outreach Projects & Evaluation (HOPE) in their First National Conference this week in Baltimore, Maryland.

"In the five month period since you received our HOPE program orientation, you've enrolled 1,464 homeless individuals in the HOPE project. Eleven of you exceeded the annual goal of 50 enrollments. This is extremely impressive."

"Even more compelling than the number of enrollments are the number of favorable decisions you've received to date: You've recorded 286 favorable decisions for HOPE enrollees representing $165,000 in monthly SSI payments. These monthly payments afford homeless individuals with the financial ability to secure food, clothing, shelter and personal needs items as well as provide for Medicaid eligibility necessary for the treatment of their conditions."

"Our project officers have shared many successful stories about your projects. One success story, of which there are many, includes this from: The Partnership for the Homeless, New York, NY: 'One of our earliest enrollees had been homeless for over 1 year. She had been reluctant to apply for SSI, but once our program was offered to her, she changed her mind. She had tried to work on a part-time basis but found that her mental and physical condition, did not allow her to continue to do so. She was approved for SSI in just under four months and has since been accepted to supportive housing. Since she began receiving SSI, her Medicaid coverage has allowed her to have more stable medical and psychiatric treatment.' "

"There are many other success stories involving homeless individuals, too numerous to mention. Please know that your efforts do not go un-noticed and that they are very much appreciated. We applaud your successes. We also acknowledge and appreciate the support and cooperation of field office, regional office and disability determination services staff for their constant support and guidance shown to our grantees on a daily basis. Your continued cooperation is necessary and critical to the success of this program."

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news continues its focus on innovative initiatives and partnerships that are achieving results in ending chronic homelessness. This week, the e-news focuses on the web-based evaluation tool being used by the Social Security Administration's $8 million Homeless Outreach Projects & Evaluation (HOPE) (see e-news article). HOPE grantees are required to make their data available for the evaluation of outcomes, impacts, and benefits of the program, being managed by Westat. HOIPE seeks to demonstrate efficient, replicable, and sustainable approaches for identifying eligible homeless individuals for SSA benefits and proving direct assistance in the application process.

HOPE evaluation will seek to identify whether use of the program orientation materials and technical assistance improve the quality of applications and if the intervention reduces SSA administrative costs. Evaluation data will be collected from HOPE proposals, HOPE staff, SSA records, SSA staff, and quarterly reports. The web site has been developed for HOPE staff to input client and program data. All data collected will be used to evaluate changes in individuals living situation over 12 months, any reduction in time needed to develop medical evidence for disability, and effectiveness of training on making presumptive disability decisions, addressing application issues, and identifying rep payee issues. Web site data collection will begin in May 2005 and continue for two years.

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-newsletter continues its focus on elements of the Title V federal surplus property and opportunities to secure resources for homeless programs under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Following are properties listed in the most recent Federal Register notice of suitable and available land and buildings.

The April 15 listing of suitable and available property contains a listing of Federal buildings and other real property determined to be suitable and available for use. Buildings are available in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Tennessee. Land is available in Iowa and Kentucky.

Title V provides that state and local governments, as well as nonprofit organizations, are eligible to apply for land and buildings that have been determined by the federal government to be "suitable and available" for eligible uses to benefit homeless people. More than two dozen agencies of the federal government are included as "landholding" agencies that may have property.