The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has just announced new deadlines for some SUPERNOFA programs, including the $10 million Housing for People who are Homeless and Addicted to Alcohol competition, developed in consultation with the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. This demonstration program will provide supportive housing assistance to chronically homeless persons who have been living on the streets for at least 365 days over the last five years and have a long term addiction to alcohol.

DENVER, COLORADO. "We'll be able to say, 'Here's your investment; here's what we delivered.' This will end much of the frustrations of just throwing money at the problem without having any results," said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, citing Denver's new planning focus on cost-effective programs with measurable results as he unveiled the Mile High City's Housing First plan which aims to reduce chronic homelessness by 75% in the next five years. Denver's Commission to End Homelessness, composed of 41 representatives including 25 drawn from local government and business and others representing providers, funders, consumers, and neighbohoods, set a goal of over 2,000 housing units for its homeless population, of which over 940 will be supportive housing units for persons experiencing chronic homelessness. Roxane White, manager of the city's Department of Human Services, chaired the Mayor's Commission. Mayor Hickenlooper is pictured here.

Denver's Plan notes several recent developments that have been key to the City's new efforts to identify core issues, recognize housing and prevention gaps, and harness the wider community to reach solutions. Among these are the Bush Administration's initiatives on homelessness including the work of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, Denver's selection as one of 11 sites for the federal HUD-HHS-VA $55 million Collaborative Initiative to Help End Chronic Homelessness, and Mayor Hickenlooper's participation in the Mayoral Covenant of Partnership to End Chronc Homelessness.

The data-driven Denver plan sets seven quantifiable goals, including the Permanent Housing goal described above. Denver Housing Authority has committed 25% of its open units annually to meet the housing goal, representing about 900 units of deeply subsidized housing. Recognizing the needs for solutions for its street population, the Commission also set goals for Public Safety and Outreach with a recommendation to create a 24-hour outreach coordination center. Action steps for Community Awareness and Coordinated Response will seek three additional regional commitments to 10-Year Plans. Finding that demand for shelter outstrips supply by almost 100%, Denver will add Shelter capacity to its system, and set an agenda for Prevention that includes a recognition that will foster coordination with other agencies to improve the discharge policies and procedures of the correctional system, the mental health system, the child welfare system and the public health system to reduce the number of people discharged with no place to go and who consequently end up in the emergency shelter system.

Services and Education, Training and Employment are also addressed, with service goals being set to assist 449 persons who are homeless to qualify for mainstream benefits in order to access treatment services, expand outpatient mental health benefits for 55 persons who are homeless; expand substance abuse treatment for 31 persons who are homeless; and assist 466 people who are homeless to obtain medical care the first year.

The Plan includes a Management component, which states, "The Commission recognizes that the Denver community will not support an effort increasing public and private funding without tangible outcomes demonstrating progress toward the goal of eliminating homelessness. The Denver Commission to End Homelessness will meet once every six months to review progress and make recommendations on the action steps. A series of four subcommittees will meet more frequently to expedite and monitor implementation of the action steps, gather and review data, oversee funding status and formulate progress reports for the public and elected officials."

The Budget Plan, which estimates that over $70 million is currently expended for services and health care for homeless people, states, "A successful action plan necessitates resources." Startup costs are projected at $7.7 million the first year, with an estimated budget of $12.5 million each year after that. Each projected action is assigned a budget and funding source in the plan, with half of the funds provided by governmental sources, and nonprofit groups providing one-fourth and corporations and individuals paying another quarter of the estimated costs. Key to the effort will be the partnerships at work in the community. Richard Scharf, President of the Metro Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau, has agreed to work with potential investors including corporations and individuals, while the Mayor will reach out to the non-profit community.

"When I campaigned for mayor, I heard a great deal of concern about people who were living on the streets, about public safety, and about the effects of homelessness on the business community," the Mayor said. "We formed the Commission in late 2003 to gather input from Denver's best hearts and minds to help us approach these challenges in a manner that honors all of our citizens. I am grateful that, once again, this city has engaged in an inclusive and extensive community input process to gather the best possible solutions to end homelessness."

KEY WEST, FLORIDA. Key West and Monroe County, Florida officials last week unveiled KEYS for Housing the Homeless: 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in Monroe County. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, invited to join Key West Mayor Jimmy Weekley and Monroe County Mayor Dixie Spehar for the unveiling, noted the partnership of the Plan, stating, "We all have to pull together in a single direction, partnered for results. Making investments that yield a return - and the return we're looking for is that people who are on our streets or in our shelters will move beyond homelessness to productive, self-sufficient lives. Visible, measurable, quantifiable change."

The new regional plan is one of several emerging from resort areas in the nation, where planning partnerships have brought together leaders from the business, hospitality, civic, and services sectors to seek solutions. The Key West plan joins plans from Cape Cod, Asheveille, North Carolina, and other cities on both coasts. Mayor Weekley in January became one of the original signatory mayors to the Mayoral Covenant of Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington, where 35 mayors - and now 62 - pledged to work together in a deeper commitment of partnership to end chronic homelessness. Mayor Weekley is pictured here.

The new plan identifies four steps to achieve its goals, including a county-wide Housing First initiative that will house ten chronically homeless individuals, ten individuals with HIV/AIDS, and five families annually. In addition, the plan projects better coordination of federal assistance and creation of additional housing will help achieve prevention goals, along with development of zero tolerance policies. The County will also seek federal funding for a health care for the homeless program and full HMIS implementation during 2005. Finally, the Plan's Housing Plus strategy will create the necessary services structure for housing retention, using a new dedicated revenue stream.

The County, which estimates it has a 1,000 person point-in-time homeless population, will look to the Southernmost Homeless Assistance League, under the leadership of Reverend Steve Braddock, for plan implementation, including identification of funding sources.

NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE. Delaware, which in March established a State Interagency Council on Homelessness when Governor Ruth Ann Minner signed an Executive Order, this week convened its inaugural Council meeting. The Delaware Interagency Council on Homelessness is co-chaired by Delaware State Housing Authority Director Saundra Johnson and Catherine McKay of Connections, a provider agency. Director Johnson convened the meeting, bringing greetings from Governor Minner, who stated, "Chronic homelessness is a challenging issue, which requires new and creative strategies to address. The creation of the Council will focus our resources in a concentrated effort to eliminate chronic homelessness." Director Johnson told the assembled government partners that they are the "interlocking ingredient" in ensuring that "homelessness should not exist" in Delaware. Chair Johnson and Director Mangano are pictured here.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, invited to keynote the meeting, told the Council members that their mandate to devlop a state plan will allow them to seek the best ideas from other plans. "Innovative ideas and initiatives that have produced the intended results elsewhere are welcome here. They can be homegrown or stolen. Finding best practices elsewhere and replicating them is just 'legitimate larceny.' "

Delaware Interagency Council membership include Secretaries of the Departments of Health and Social Services, Services for Children, Youth, and their Families, Labor, Education; Delaware State Housing Authority; Commissioner of the Department of Correction; Chairs of the Senate Community/County Affairs Committee and the House of Representatives Housing and Community Affairs Committee; Mayors of the Cities of Wilmington and Dover, County Executive of New Castle County; a person who is homeless or formerly homeless; three representatives from emergency housing and/or service providers, and the Delaware Apartment Association.

The Council has as its first duty to adopt and oversee the implementation of a state plan to reduce homelessness and end chronic homelessness, as well as to review data, activities and programs in the State of Delaware that provide housing services to homeless people. In addition, the Council will seek to effectively coordinate and maximize resources of existing programs and activities to prevent homelessness and to ensure positive results and accountability of existing and new efforts and programs by shifting from funding programs to investing in solutions.

WASHINGTON, DC. The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission last week released a schedule of upcoming public hearings across the country, the next step in its work in evaluating the Defense Department's recommendations for changes. After evaluating DoD's recommendations, the independent BRAC Commission will submit its own list to the President for review and approval, then to Congress, which must accept or reject the list in its entirety. Chairman Principi is pictured here.

The hearing locations were selected by the Commission based on the type and number of closure and realignment recommendations. The hearings are scheduled as follows: June 7: Salt Lake City and St. Louis; June 15: Fairbanks; June 17: Portland, Oregon; June 21: Rapid City, South Dakota; June 22: Dallas; June 23: Grand Forks, North Dakota; June 24: Clovis, New Mexico; June 27: Buffalo; June 28: Charlotte, North Carolina; June 30: Atlanta; July 6: Boston; July 8: Baltimore; July 11: San Antonio; July 12: New Orleans; and July 14: Los Angeles.

BRAC Commission Chairman Anthony Principi stated, "The site visits are the main forum by which our Commissioners and our staff learn the details of what military activities are really happening at the base, how the Department of Defense recommendations would affect the installation, and whether base closure criteria were a aplied correctly by the Pentagon while putting its list together. They are an invaluable resource to us, and we look forward to the upcoming visits. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, and not a lot of time to do it. Each site visit will be packed with detailed briefings, discussions with base personnel, and tours of the key facilities at the installation," added Chairman Principi."The Commissioners and the staff will be working hard to ensure that the Commission's final set of recommendations focuses on military value and is both objective and fair."

Under the proposed list, 33 major base closures, 29 major base realignments, and 775 minor base closures and realignments will be reviewed. Major Closures are installations recommended for closure with plant replacement value exceeding $100 million, and Major Realignments are installations losing over 400 net total military and civilian personnel. The Commission members have pledged to visit all based proposed for major closure or realignment.

According to the Department of Defense, redevelopment of former installations requires the coordination of numerous Federal agencies, ranging from technical assistance to discounted conveyances of property for public purposes. Coordination among agencies ensures that assistance provided meets the needs of individual communities. OEA has provided $280 Million of financial assistance over the previous four rounds of BRAC activity. Often, OEA funding is used to prepare a local economic recovery strategy that serves as a blueprint for other Federal funding. The leading Federal agency partners, including the Federal Aviation Administration ($760 Million), the Economic Development Administration ($611 Million), and Department of Labor ($223 Million) provided $1.6 Billion in coordinated grant assistance during the last four rounds of the Department's base realignment and closure (BRAC) activities.

Interagency coordination has also facilitated the civilian reuse of former military installations to benefit the public through transfers from the Department of Defense to other Federal agencies, known as Fed-to- Fed transfers; and Federal agency-sponsored public benefit conveyances; community adjustment to the reduction of school impact aid; review of reuse plans for protection of the interests of homeless- assistance providers; environmental regulatory approvals; Federal agency leaseback procedures; surplus property screening; property transfers to other Federal entities; historic property and natural resource agreements; joint-use agreements; and alternative property disposal guidance.

TORONTO, CANADA. The largest and most recent of an ongoing series of multi-lateral meetings on homelessness convened in Toronto last week, with representatives of the governments of the United States, England, Scotland, and Canada gathering as peers to share ideas, best practices, and outcomes from their national government initiatives on homelessness. This third government dialogue included "white paper" roundtable discussions on discharge planning, housing and shelter investments, and employment.

Joining Canadian hosts Bayla Kolk and Jeff Bullard and their staff of career government officials were United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano and Department of Housing and Urban development Homeless programs Director Mark Johnston and Social Security Administration HOPE Program Officer Ed Beane, along with innovators from state government in South Carolina and Massachusetts, and the City of Philadelphia. While in Canada, Director Mangano reciprocated a visit made to him by Labor and Housing Minister Joseph Fontana, who heads Canada's homeless initiatives.

Following the international discussions, Canada convened "Stories to Solutions," its first ever national research conference at York University in Toronto, drawing 800 attendees for a three-day national, cross sectoral and interdisciplinary gathering focused on research and key policy issues. Jane Weldon, acting director general for the National Secretariat on Homelessness addressed the role of research in policy development, and United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano addressed a plenary session on U.S. government initiatives. Concurrent sessions on mental health, service barriers for immigrants, criminalization, health, and services were held in a comprehensive workshop overview of issues related to homelessness.

. . . that cost-benefit analysis, which attaches a "price" to the utilization history and frequent contacts individuals experiencing chronic homelessness have with public systems is a key tool to understanding the public cost of chronic homelessness.

. . . that cost-benefit analysis goes beyond the simple pricing of an average shelter bed in the community. Instead a cohort of persons experiencing chronic homelessness is identified through a street or shelter registry and resulting data merged with Medicaid, hospital, or law enforcement records to determine service contacts and costs over time. The resulting analysis demonstrates existing and often invisible costs to the public purse. Data chosen from one system - such as the top 5% of Medicaid users documented as homeless - can be cross-walked with the data of other systems for similar analysis, benefiting the array of partners at the planning table.

. . . that Key West's new 10-Year Plan analysed local law enforcement costs and found that 418 homeless individuals were arrested in 2004, including one who was arrested 36 times in 12 months. The total number of bookings and their average costs were estimated at $2.2 million in jail costs for Key West over one year or about $5360 per person. Cost analysis has emerged as a key tool in local 10-Year Plans in San Diego, Seattle, and Asheville, North Carolina.

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 May 20 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 Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, and South Dakota.

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.