IN UTAH. The Mountainland Association of Governments Executive Council, comprised of elected county officials and the Mayors of 34 cities in three Utah counties - Summit, Wasatch, and Utah - approved a 10-Year Plan to end chronic homelessness in the region last week. The Plan approved by the Executive Council calls for making additional housing available, including a 44-unit transitional housing complex in Provo, and additional funding and training for service providers. With a 2005 point in time homeless survey identifying 140 unsheltered homeless individuals in the Mountainland region, and estimates that there are around 460 people homeless altogether including those sheltered and unsheltered, Utah County Commissioner Larry Ellertson noted that "we don't have as much of an issue as some do, but we do have an issue. It's not going to get better if we ignore it." He added, " The plan will remain a work in progress."

The three counties comprising the Mountainland Association of Governments join Salt Lake City/County and the State of Utah in having developed a 10-Year Plan. Earlier this year, Salt Lake City Mayor Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson announced that as a further step in the implementation of the Salt Lake City/County 10-Year Plan, the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency was committing $700,000 toward the construction of Sunrise Apartments, a 100-unit housing development for chronically homeless people and that the project had received over a million dollars in private donations.

DULUTH, MINNESOTA. Groundbreaking was held earlier this month for the New San Marco Apartments, a 70-unit permanent housing project serving persons who are homeless in downtown Duluth. The project will provide 30 permanent supportive Single Room Occupancy housing units for chemically dependent individuals and 40 units of supportive efficiency apartments for persons with a history of homelessness, including 36 targeted for persons experiencing chronic homelessness. The project is being developed by Center City Housing Corporation, a community based 501c3, on an urban infill redevelopment site donated by the city. Financing sources for the nearly $9 million project include the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency Ending Long Term Homelessness Investment Fund, State and City HOME funds, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, and a grant from HUD's Supportive Housing Program.

Pictured here is USICH Director Mangano with Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson (second from right) and 10-Year Plan Citizen Action Committee co-chairs St. Louis County Commissioner Steve O'Neil (far right) and retired University of Minnesota Professor Joyce Kramer, Ph.D.(left) in 2005.

The New San Marco Apartments will provide supportive services through the collaborative efforts of three local nonprofits: the Center for Alcohol and Drug Treatment (CADT); the Human Development Center (HDC) which will assist residents receive mental health services including case management, psychiatric nursing services, and medication management; and the Damiano Center which will contract with Center City Housing Corporation to use the on-site full kitchen facilities as a training program and to provide meals to the residents.

The City of Duluth is currently developing a 10-Year Plan to end chronic homelessness. The State of Minnesota has developed a Business Plan to End Long Term Homelessness by 2010. Implementation of the state business plan is being led by the Commissioners of Human Services, Corrections, and the Housing Finance Agency. $40 million in State resources have been committed to fund the Plan thus far, which calls for the creation of 4,000 supportive housing opportunities by 2010.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. New state initiatives of the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Services (DTA) have boosted food stamp enrollment by 100,000 people and are linking homeless individuals eligible to receive food stamps with employment training programs leading to sustained employment and economic independence. DTA is the state agency responsible for administering public assistance programs in Massachusetts. Recognizing that access to food stamps can help insure better health outcomes for low income individuals and families, DTA has undertaken initiatives over the past couple of years to improve outreach efforts and streamline the application process, resulting in the enrollment of nearly 100,000 more eligible individuals and families in the program.

Last August, DTA began a new initiative called Project T.E.A.M - Training and Employment as a Means to end homelessness - to identify homeless persons eligible for food stamps and facilitate their ability to both enroll in the food stamp program and successfully access employment and training services. To accomplish this mission, the DTA collaborated with the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (EDIC), the designated Workforce Development Service Delivery Agency (SDA) for the City of Boston, which selected two of its vendors, IMPACT Employment Services of the Friends of the Shattuck Shelter and Community Work Service, to deliver the services.

The vendors, who have extensive experience working with both homeless service providers and One Stop Career Centers, employers, and community-based training programs, enroll eligible homeless individuals in the food stamp program, screen them for job readiness, and make appropriate referrals to training and/or employment opportunities. Employment outcome data for Project T.E.A.M reveals the average length of time between enrollment and job placement has been 4 weeks with an average hourly rate earned of $9.78 80% of Project T.E.A.M clients have retained their employment for at least 30 days.

Lessons learned from Project T.E.A.M include the value of making monthly and even weekly outreach visits to emergency shelters, transitional programs, treatment facilities, and day programs; providing daily "walk in " hours to enroll self-referred clients since about 30% of the clients have been referred to the program by other program participants, and utilizing a rapid engagement approach which entails responding quickly to client's expressed interest. Pictured here in a 2004 photo are left to right, Department of Transitional Services Commissioner John Wagner and MA Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, who chairs the MA Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness, receiving a food stamp performance bonus award from U.S. Department of Agriculture' Food and Nutrition Service Director Roberto Salazar.

Commented Commissioner Wagner, "In our efforts to address more comprehensively the challenges faced by homeless individuals and families, we included access to the Food Stamp Program as a priority. Not only does it provide the obvious benefit of food, it can also leverage resources through the Food Stamp Employment and Training program, connecting the homeless to jobs."

On June 2-6, over two hundred of the nation's mayors will meet in Las Vegas for the 74th Annual Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM). Over the past 4 years, a partnership has been developed between the U. S Conference of Mayors and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness in the national effort to end chronic homelessness and reduce the incidence of all homelessness through a greater emphasis on prevention and permanent housing solutions.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of the nation's cities with populations of 30,000 or more. As the jurisdictional leaders of their communities and often in partnership with county officials, mayors are bringing together community stakeholders including department heads, service providers, business leaders, faith based and philanthropic organizations, the medical community, and corrections to develop and implement results oriented 10-Year Plans. Currently, over 216 jurisdictions have committed to the 10-Year planning effort.

Beginning with acceptance of United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Mangano's challenge issued at USCM's 2003 winter meeting to create 10-Year Plans, followed by support of the Administration's Samaritan Initiative proposal for increased targeted resources to end chronic homelessness, to the execution at the 2005 meeting of a Covenant of Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness through collaborating in the exchange of data and sharing best practices, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has played a key role in the growing National Partnership to end chronic homelessness.

Mayors will continue their focus on homelessness at the upcoming Annual Meeting. Council Director Mangano has been invited to speak at the meeting of the Hunger and Homelessness Task Force chaired by San Francisco Mayor Newsom, where examples of best practices in 10-Year Plans will be discussed by presenters including Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum, and Gastonia, NC Mayor Jennifer Stultz. Director Mangano will also speak at a meeting of the Task Force on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, chaired by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and report to the Community Development and Housing Standing Committee meeting.

Pictured above at the December 2005 USCM Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness announcement are, from left to right, Rod Bond, President of Sodexho, Inc. School Services Division, former Cedar Rapids Mayor Paul Pate, Long Beach Mayor and current USCM President Beverly O'Neill, current Task Force Chair San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Director Mangano, and USCM Executive Director Tom Cochran.

Also on the 2006 USCM Conference agenda is a meeting of the Faith Based and Community Initiatives Task Force to discuss Successful Re-entry: The Mayor's Role in Reintegrating Returning Offenders Back into the Community. Discharge planning from correctional institutions is an important element of state and local 10-Year planning efforts. The Administration has recognized the importance of successful offender re-entry with a multi-agency Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs (OJP) and involving the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Labor . The Prisoner Re- entry Initiative provides funding to develop, implement, enhance, and evaluate reentry strategies intended to prepare juvenile and adult serious offenders to successfully return to their communities. Working in partnership with state efforts, faith based and community organizations, the Reentry Initiative is intended to develop model reentry programs that begin in correctional institutions and continue throughout an offender's transition to and stabilization in the community.

Following the re-entry discussion, there will be a presentation on Designing Cutting Edge Housing Plans for Affordable Housing: HUD's Unlocking Doors Initiative. The Task Force session will conclude by highlighting cities leading the way on housing-- Miami, Columbus, OH, and Nashville.

WASHINGTON, DC. In this issue of enews following the Memorial Day holiday, we continue a special focus on homeless veterans with a progress report on the variety of services provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs including a listing of upcoming Stand Downs. The data was provided by the VA. Best practice for jurisdictions involved in 10-Year planning processes includes incorporating specific strategies for preventing and ending homelessness among veterans. Pictured here is former Council Chair and VA Secretary James Nicholson presiding at the September 13, 2005 Council meeting. The Council is currently chaired by HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson.

• Through its Homeless Grant and Per Diem Program, the VA is increasing housing with supportive services options for homeless veterans in communities around the nation. Between 2000 and 2006, the VA increased the number of transitional housing beds under the Grant and Per Diem program from 4891 to nearly 10,000 authorized. A current Notice of Funding Availability is expected to add 650 or more additional beds.
• The VA is also increasing its internal residential capacity -the domiciliary care program. New funding will allow the VA to create 11 new or expanded domiciliaries increasing the existing bed capacity from 1800 to more than 2300.
• Through case management and enhanced mental health and substance use treatment services, the VA is addressing the supportive service needs of chronically homeless veterans leading to greater self sufficiency. The VA is currently providing case management services to more than 3000 veterans who are in long term housing at more than 50 locations around the country. The VA's FY 2007 budget requests $3.2 billion dollars for mental health services for veterans, an increase of $725 million since FY 2005, and over $370 million for substance use treatment, an increase of nearly $30 million since FY 2005.
• An increased emphasis on timely delivery of benefits for veterans allow many to exit homelessness quicker with an income support system that reduces the likelihood that they will return to homelessness. The VA expedites benefit claims for veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Homeless Veteran Outreach Coordinators have been assigned to each Veterans Benefit Administration Regional Office. Over 13,000 homeless veterans have received expedited claims processing during the past two years.
• The VA provides health care services to more than 100,000 homeless veterans each year. Health care performance measures have been implemented designed to insure that homeless veterans are provided prompt initial and follow-up primary and mental health care. The VA has reported that recent estimates show the number of homeless adult male veterans has declined by over 20%, from 250,000 on any given night to less than 195,000.
• Veteran Stand Downs are scheduled in 29 communities over the next four months. Stand Downs are typically one to three day community-based events targeted to homeless veterans, designed to offer a welcoming atmosphere, a safe gathering place, and access to a broad range of services such as food, clothing, health screenings, VA and Social Security benefits counseling, and referrals to housing, employment, mental health care, and substance abuse treatment. Stand Downs are derived from the military practice of 'standing down" from customary activity or the front line.

While community discussions of homelessness almost always include mention of permanent housing, the need for mental health and substance abuse treatment services, and even employment, less frequently recognized and discussed are the physical health needs of homeless people. Like many low-income individuals, people who are homeless, and especially those experiencing chronic homelessness, have difficulty accessing primary health care services. The reasons are many including lack of income or insurance to pay for care, absence of transportation to medical facilities, and difficulty in navigating health and social service systems. In turn, deteriorating health reduces opportunities for employment and makes their continued homelessness more probable.

Over a quarter century ago, Congress enacted legislation creating a community health centers program under the Public Health Services Act to improve access to primary health care services for low-income uninsured and underserved populations. Today, the Consolidated Health Centers program includes Community Health Centers, Migrant Health Centers, Health Care for the Homeless, and Primary Care Public Housing Health Centers. In his FY 2002 budget, President George W. Bush announced a multi-year federal initiative to significantly improve health care access around the nation by creating additional new health centers ("access points") and expanding services at existing centers in 1200 communities under the Consolidated Health Centers program. By the end of FY 2005, this initiative had successfully expanded primary care access to an additional 3.65 million people through 428 new access points and 349 grants to expand capacity at existing centers.

For FY 2007, the President has proposed a nearly $2 billion budget for the Consolidated Health Centers program that would provide for an additional 182 new access points, and the expansion of 120 existing centers. This would allow an additional 1.2 million people to be served for a total of 15.8 million nationally. New in the FY 2007 budget proposal is an emphasis on high poverty counties, with 80 of the proposed new access points targeted to those counties.

The Health Care for the Homeless Program

In 1987 the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act created a specific Health Care for the Homeless Program (HCH) to increase access for homeless people to community based primary health care. The HCH program was modeled after a successful demonstration program that had been conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust in 19 cities. That demonstration program had combined aggressive street outreach with integrated systems of primary care, and mental health and substance abuse treatment services utilizing case management and client advocacy. Coordination with other community health providers and social service agencies was a key element of the effort. Today, the Health Care for the Homeless program is administered as one of the programs under the Consolidated Health Centers umbrella.

There are currently 181 Health Care for the Homeless program sites providing:

• Primary health care and substance abuse treatment services at locations accessible to persons who are homeless
• Emergency care with referrals to hospitals for in-patient care services
• Outreach services to assist difficult to reach homeless persons access care, and provide assistance in establishing eligibility for entitlement programs and housing

Jurisdictions undertaking 10-Year planning should include hospital administrators and other representatives of the medical community, including community health centers and Health Care for the Homeless programs, as stakeholders in the planning process. A focus on improving the health status of homeless people, particularly those experiencing chronic homelessness, will improve plan outcomes.

Helpful resources:

• The Consolidated Health Centers Program is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Bureau of Primary Health Care. The Secretary of HHS is one of the 20 members of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.
• The annual National Health Care of Homeless Persons Conference is being held June 8-10 in Portland, Oregon.
• As noted in the May 25 enews, Dr. Jim O'Connell, President of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless program who received one of the Council's inaugural "A Home for Every American" Award, has played a primary role in developing two publications which are available for reading or download, Documenting Disability: Simple Strategies for Medical Providers and The Health Care of Homeless Persons.

. . . that researchers estimate that up to 7.5 percent of youth will experience homelessness.

. . . that each year, federally funded runaway and homeless youth programs provide street outreach, emergency shelter, and transitional living services to an estimated 600,000 youth.

. . . that state and jurisdictional 10-Year planning processes should include discharge planning protocols for juvenile correction and foster care systems.

. . . that the Corporation for National and Community Service is one of the twenty federal agencies comprising the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

. . . that research shows that mentoring helps promote positive outcomes for youth including reductions in incidences of delinquency and substance use, both of which can be contributing factors to young people becoming homeless.

. . . that the Corporation for National and Community Service is leading a national effort to provide mentoring services to 3 million additional disadvantaged youth by 2010 including 200,000 children of prisoners.

. . . that the Corporation for National and Community Service has established a new Federal Mentoring Council that includes representatives from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Justice; and a Mentoring Working Group for mentoring experts to share ideas and best practices.

. . . that more information on mentoring opportunities and developing mentoring programs in your community can be found at www.nationalservice.gov.

. . . that the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Points of Light Foundation are convening a National Conference on Volunteering and Service in Seattle June 18-20 with a day long preconference program on June 16 on Mentoring That Matters: Helping Programs That Support Struggling Youth.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) has announced publication of an updated guide to finding local substance abuse treatment programs. The National Directory of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Programs 2006 lists both public and private facilities in a state-by-state format, making it a valuable quick reference resource for 10-Year planning processes. The Directory identifies the location of specific facilities and the nature of the programs and services provided, including level of care offered and areas of service specialization. A free copy of the Directory may be obtained from SAMHSA's Clearinghouse by calling (800) 729-6686.

The National Directory of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Programs 2006 complements SAMHSA's online Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator Service.

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news presents information on the Title V federal surplus property program as an opportunity to secure resources to assist persons experiencing homelessness under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

WASHINGTON, DC. Under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, federal surplus real estate - land and buildings - can be transferred to eligible non-federal applicants for purposes of homeless assistance. Properties identified as "suitable and available" are listed each Friday in the Federal Register and are available exclusively to applicants for homeless use for a period of 60 days from the date of the notice. Where property is described as for "off-site use only'', recipients of the property would be required to relocate the building to another site at their own expense. Applicants for these federal surplus properties must identify how they intend to utilize the property to meet the needs of homeless persons in their communities.

The May 19th and May 26th Federal Register listings of Federal buildings and other real property determined to be "suitable and available" include buildings in Nevada, North Dakota, Washington, and New York. A direct link to the May 19th and May 26th Federal Register notices can be found on the Council's website by clicking on the Funding tab.