DALLAS, TEXAS. In just one year, Dallas' new homeless initiative called The Bridge has surpassed its goals to engage and support individuals in moving out of chronic homelessness to housing and employment. City of Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, Councilmember Pauline Medrano, John Crawford, DownTown Dallas President and CEO, and Mike Rawlings, Dallas' Homeless Czar welcomed partners for the celebration last week. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness National Team Leader Michael German represented the Council.

Dallas partners reported the results of the new center: permanent residences for 414 people, exceeding the goal of 300, and jobs for 780 individuals. More results can be seen outside the center, as downtown crime rates have dropped, along with hospitalizations, jail bookings and arrests. $2.7 million savings to Dallas County has been totaled through 800 fewer jail stays, a 25% decrease in crime is reported in the Central Business District, hospital costs have been cut by two- thirds, and a new public/private funding coalition has been created.

Mike Rawlings, a businessman who serves as Dallas' Community Champion for its Ten Year Plan, said the initial results show that the $21 million voter-approved center is paying off. "I think that people have realized spending money in this area gets them a return on their investment," he said. Pictured here are (left to right): John Crawford, President and CEO of DowntownDallas; Mike Rawlings, Chairman of the Board, MDHA; Mr. German; and Tom Leppert, Mayor of Dallas.

Downtown Dallas, the membership organization of business owners invested in the revitalization of downtown, hosted the event to honor local homeless service providers of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance. The celebration honored the one-year anniversary opening of The Bridge.

The Bridge multi-service campus offers emergency and transitional shelter, as well as meals, medical, mental health, housing, job seeker services, and services from 16 co-located agencies. In addition to sheltering 300 people per night, The Bridge provides mental health care, substance abuse treatment, meals and laundry during the day for hundreds more. 24 public, private and nonprofit organizations were honored by Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance for their services in accomplishing the goals over the last year.

"The Bridge has changed the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of people," said Mike Faenza, President and CEO of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, which runs the center. The Bridge aims to place at least 300 more in residences in its second year. The city has a goal of providing 700 more supported housing units in the next five years.

While in Dallas Mr. German also visited one of the sites under development in downtown, 50 apartments for formerly homeless people that the nonprofit Central Dallas Ministries plans to open in August in a mixed-use, mixed-income development.

Mayors of the six largest cities in Texas are awaiting the outcome of the new state budget, which includes an unprecedented $20 million over two years for additional homeless services. The Mayors of Texas' six largest cities met in February in Dallas City Hall hosted by Mayor Tom Leppert, as they signed a letter to Governor Rick Perry and the Texas legislature to seek an additional $25 million for mental health services for people who are homeless and new initiatives to achieve successful prisoner reentry.

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA. "Partnering to End Chronic Homelessness in Guilford County" is the expansive group of community stakeholders now implementing the High Point, Greensboro, and Guilford County 10- Year Plan to end chronic homelessness. The partnership's leadership council is composed of leaders from the cities of High Point and Greensboro, Guilford County, the Homeless Prevention Coalition of Guilford County and both the Greensboro and High Point chapters of the United Way.

In April 2008, the partners gathered to launch their implementation strategy, and now the first results - far exceeding the Plan goals - are being reported. With a goal to house 20 people annually, Greensboro has moved 99 people and 31 families from homelessness. Next steps include creation of a permanent day center with showers, washing machines and social services. A temporary center is operative, and a donated warehouse is expected to become a permanent site this fall.

The partners also reported that they had creating the WE! Initiative, which provided six emergency homeless shelters during the cold winter months; have targeted discharge planning as a priority; are undertaking landlord outreach in the community; and are coordinating job training groups, education programs, employment agencies and homeless services to help individuals find work.

High Point Mayor Becky Smothers, Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson, and Guilford County Commissioner Kay Cashion joined with United Way of Greater Greensboro President Neil Belenky, United Way of Greater High Point President Bobby Smith, and Implementation Chair David Miller for the 2008 press event. Jehan Benton, MSW, of United Way of Greater Greensboro was named as the plan's point person. At the launch, the United Way of Greater Greensboro and the Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation committed a two-year grant worth $270,000 to implementation, and Guilford County also received a $50,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro and a 26-month grant for $644,000 from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services for a pilot project to create Housing Support Teams.

FRESNO, CALIFORNIA. In her inaugural State of the City address at the Fresno Convention Center last week, Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin promised 900 local partners that housing across the city will be the solution that closes downtown encampments in the next six weeks. The Mayor is shown here at the event.

"The City, the County of Fresno and a host of partner agencies and non-profits have embraced the 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness. Even though there is still a long way to go, there have been important accomplishments in recent months that you should know about," she said, noting her new point person, Greg Barfield, the City's Homeless Prevention and Policy Manager.

"You'll be pleased to know that the City, County and our partners are working diligently on the encampment issue," she continued. "We are now in the H Street homeless encampments and the smaller tent encampments in the area south of Ventura. We have provided assessments and are using those to begin providing case management services to the people living there. In the next 6 weeks, we expect the two encampments on H Street to be closed and those persons moved to housing throughout the City."

"Maybe you didn't hear me," she told her audience, repeating, "I said in the next six weeks we expect the encampments to be cleared out ... and the people to be living in permanent housing across our city. We're doing it the right way."

The Mayor urged her audience to focus on change, noting the strong political will in the region: "I want to leave you with this thought: it's different this time. 'Oh, we've been to State of the City addresses before . . . people always say such triumphant things . . . but nothing ever changes.' No, it's different this time."

" 'We've talked about downtown . . . we've talked about poverty and homelessness before . . . and we still have these problems.' No, it's different this time."

"I challenge you - arrest those thoughts. Apprehend them. Bind them up and kick them out of your minds and your hearts because, I'm telling you that it's different this time."

Soon after taking office, Mayor Swearengin and new County Board of Supervisors Chair Susan Anderson reaffirmed their commitment and partnership in the implementation of Fresno's 10 Year Plan (HOPE: Housing First, Opportunity, Prevention, and Establishing Collaboration) unveiled in September 2008. The new Fresno officials then joined in a press event where they became the latest signatories to the America's Road Home Statement of Principles and Actions, an unprecedented 12-point agreement by elected city and county officials that was been signed by over 450 officials in the first year after its launch.

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. Growing partnership to prevent and end homelessness encouraged by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness is at work in Nebraska. Meeting recently in the State Capitol in Lincoln, Council National Team Leader Michael German briefed Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman on strategies to convene the major cities in Nebraska to create jurisdictional Ten Year Plans. Presently, Omaha is the only Ten Year Plan city in the state. Governor Heineman is also looking at the re- launch of Nebraska's state council - first established in 1994 - to maximize new resources and innovations available. Ed Shada, of Omaha's Bellevue University and Omaha Project Homeless Connect organizer, also joined the meeting to discuss support for future Connect events. Mr. German is shown here at right with the Governor.

The Nebraska Council was originally charged to focus attention on and increase awareness of the needs of homeless families and persons in Nebraska; to encourage the continuity, coordination and cooperation at the state level among state agencies and service providers that deliver services to people who are homeless; to coordinate the development of a statewide comprehensive plan that established a method of periodically counting the number and types of homeless and near-homeless people, the causes of homelessness, and to provide an inventory of agencies and providers of services, as well as establish common terms and definitions for the purposes of data-gathering and program descriptions; and to serve as an advisory body to the Governor on issues of homelessness.

The original commission was composed of approximately 30 members from the Nebraska Crime Commission, the state Departments of Agriculture, Corrections, Economic Development, Education, Health, Labor, Public Institutions, Social Services, and Veterans' Affairs, and additional representatives from homeless shelter providers, homeless assistance service providers, federal, regional, and local agencies, non-profit community-based organizations, organizations advocating on behalf of people who were homeless and near homeless, business and industry, and other interested persons.

In 1998, an Executive Order consolidated the Nebraska Affordable Housing Commission, the Nebraska Interagency Council on the Homeless, and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee in order to provide for efficiencies in the manner in which these issues were addressed in Nebraska. The combined commission was re-named the Nebraska Commission on Housing and Homelessness (NCHH). In 2003, an Ad Hoc Committee was created to develop a state Ten Year Plan on ending chronic homelessness.

Team Leader German and Ed Shada also met with Omaha Mayor-elect Jim Suttle. In October 2008, Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey and Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan and Douglas County Commissioner Mary Ann Borgeson unveiled a new 10 Year Plan to end homelessness in their neighboring cities at a regional event at the University of Nebraska, becoming just the second jurisdictional partners to bridge state lines in their mission. "Homes for All" is the result of a collaborative planning process led by Metro Area Continuum of Care for the Homeless (MACCH) and supported by the Compassion Institute of the Midlands. Rev. John Schlegel, President of Creighton University, will lead plan implementation. Mayor Suttle is shown here (center) with Mr. Shada (left) and Mr. German (right).

"Homes For All" includes seven key goal areas: prevention of homelessness, easier access to services, increased availability of housing, strengthened public and political support, elimination of cultural bias and prejudice, specific options for persons experiencing chronic homelessness, and availability of comprehensive data.

WASHINGTON, DC. A study released this week using screening instruments to identify individuals entering jails with the most serious mental illnesses and the greatest need for comprehensive and continuous treatment found that 14.5% of men and 31% of women - or 16.9% overall - met that criteria. The percentage of women with serious mental illnesses in jail is double that of men. These estimates are three to six times higher than the general population, according to the team of researchers from the nonpartisan Council of State Governments Justice Center and Policy Research Associates. According to the researchers, "These prevalence estimates provide evidence for what jail staff already know to be true: the volume of inmates entering jails with serious mental illnesses is substantial."

The study, published in the journal Psychiatric Services, sought to estimate current prevalence rates of serious mental illness at two jails in Maryland and three jails in New York during two time periods. The individuals thus identified were projected to meet the constitutional requirements for jail mental health services and also be a high priority target for aggressive discharge planning.

The research team included Dr. Henry Steadman, Pamela Robbins, Brian Case, and Dr. Steven Samuels of Policy Research Associates, and Dr. Fred Osher of the Council of State Governments Justice Center. The study was released at a Capitol Hill briefing with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (VT) who last year led efforts to reauthorize the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA) which authorizes federal grants to help state and local governments create or expand mental health courts; offer treatment and training programs to provide needed supports and services and to reduce repeat offending; and teach law enforcement officers and agents to recognize and react to situations involving individuals with mental illness. Judge Steven Leifman, Special Advisor on Criminal Justice and Mental Health for the Supreme Court of Florida, also participated.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA. The Re-Entry Partnership Housing Program of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and Georgia Housing and Finance Authority has provided a housing solution for an at-risk population whose successful reintegration in the community can lead to reduced recidivism and homelessness. The program was awarded the 2008 Special Needs Housing -Combating Homelessness award from the National Council of State Housing Agencies.

Georgia authorities estimated that over 830 convicted felons remained in prison because they could not meet a state mandate to secure stable housing before release. On average, their stay was extended more than 300 days. In addition, those who reentry had failed often were homeless and at risk.

Facing reentry barriers because of a lack of housing and credit history that could be accepted by landlords, lacking financial resources to secure housing, and frequently lacking access to public housing, this target population needed new solutions. The Re-Entry Partnership Housing Program (RPH) was initiated by a collaborative of state agencies to provide a reasonable best chance for felons released on parole and make available a sound fiscal solution to the cost of housing felons beyond their parole date, simply for lack of housing.

RPH provides released felons with stable housing and food, including those with special needs, such as mental health and substance abuse challenges. The program provides short term financial assistance to help stabilize the re-entry process. Participating housing providers are compensated $600 per month for up to three months for the room and board of each individual, with a cap of $1,800.

The parolee receives support in connecting with services to foster community transition. RPH participants are supervised by a parole officer who works in cooperation with housing providers to provide a stable and supportive environment. Program success for each parolee is very simply measured in terms of whether or not the parolee is meeting his/her terms of parole. This simplicity is seen as one of the keys to the program's success. Successful providers are rewarded with new placements based on their success level, their capacity, and the special needs of each parolee (including geography). Unsuccessful providers are terminated from the program.

From 2002 to 2008, RPH placed 516 parolees, including 30% classified as special needs. Over 58% of participants secured employment and almost 16% completed parole. Only 5% had their parole revoked and less than 3% absconded. Nationally, 30% of those released from state prisons will be re-arrested within 6 months of release. In Georgia, 28% of returning offenders are re-convicted within 3 years of release.

RPH cost $686,000 since its inception, while the amount spent to incarcerate the 516 felons past their tentative parole month to max out date is estimated at nearly $25 million. The cost to house convicted felons past their tentative parole month until entry into the RPH was nearly $6 million dollars, yielding a savings to Georgia taxpayers of more than $18 million.

A grant from the Federal Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC)Funding provided initial funding to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is responsible for identifying parolees to participate in the program, to secure housing for parolees, and to report back to CJCC. The Georgia Department of Corrections is a critical lead partner responsible for establishing housing criteria and conducting housing site visits. The State Housing Trust Fund for the Homeless (HTF), through its contract with the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), is the administrative agent charged with compensating housing providers and ensuring that the housing provider meets basic contracting and organizational requirements. Thirty- three (33) approved housing providers throughout Georgia are participating, offering housing, employment search assistance, anger management support, substance abuse counseling, mental health and HIV/AIDS services, health services, and other critical services to participating felons.

WASHINGTON, DC. State and local jurisdictional partners seeking to expand use of mainstream benefits that can prevent and end homelessness for indviduals and families will be interested in a new policy paper focused on increasing automatic enrollment in key programs that has been awarded the Hamilton Project's 2008 Policy Innovation Prize. Robert Nelb, a graduate student at Yale University, is the winner of the graduate-level prize of $12,500 for his proposal, "Effortless Enrollment: Using Existing Information to Automatically Enroll Eligible Families in Medicaid and SCHIP." The Hamilton Project, located at the Brookings Institution, awards it Policy Innovation Prize to encourage the next generation of leaders "to rigorously pursue innovative policy solutions to the pressing economic issues facing our nation."

According to the abstract of Nelb's paper, "Traditional, paper-based enrollment strategies have failed to reach nearly 10 million uninsured Americans who are eligible for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) but are not enrolled. Automatic enrollment, the process of electronically identifying eligible beneficiaries and enrolling them by default, is a promising new strategy that can help close these gaps. The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) authorizes a new state option for automatic enrollment, which, if implemented to the fullest extent, can be the basis for covering nearly all eligible families in an effortless enrollment system that does not require any forms to be submitted by the beneficiary."

Nelb's proposal centers on using information currently available from tax and other data sources to eliminate the need for applications or renewals. " States already use tax data to verify eligibility in public programs, so using this information to determine eligibility promises to be both accurate and feasible. If fully realized, the effortless enrollment policy is expected to cover more than 8 million uninsured children and adults, while saving about $3.2 billion in administrative costs each year."

Medicaid and SCHIP are both means-tested programs with challenging elements but Nelb proposes that leveraging existing information "can reduce unnecessary administrative costs for the government, thus allowing more taxpayer money to be spent on care that people need. Overall, by reducing bureaucracy while increasing access to benefits, effortless enrollment provides a new paradigm for efficient and effective government."

Robert Nelb is the National Health Policy Coordinator for the Roosevelt Institution and the editor-in-chief of Roosevelt Rx, a student journal for health policy. He has been a student in the BA-MPH Select Program in Public Health at Yale, majoring in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, and Health Management. The Roosevelt Institution is a non-profit, non-partisan national network of campus-based student think tanks whose members conduct policy research on a wide range of issues.

The Hamilton Project worked closely with the Roosevelt Institution; papers in the competition were judged on the relevance of the problem and proposed solution; the rigor of evidence used; and the originality of the proposed solution. The Hamilton Project, launched by leaders from business, academia, and the public policy community, to forward innovative policy ideas based on evidence and experiences from leading economic thinkers.

WASHINGTON, DC. The House Veterans Affairs Committee this week convened national and local organizations, city and state officials, researchers, and federal agencies to focus on preventing and ending homelessness for veterans. Chair Bob Filner and Ranking Member Steve Buyer both noted the importance of federal initiatives in addressing the problem.

Federal representatives included: Peter H. Dougherty, Director, Homeless Veterans Programs, Veterans Health Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Acting Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness; Paul E. Smits, Associate Chief Consultant, VA Homeless and Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment Programs, Veterans Health Administration; John M. McWilliam, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Veterans' Employment and Training Service, U.S. Department of Labor; and George P. Basher, Chairman, Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

"The President has announced that he has a zero tolerance policy for homelessness among Veterans," noted Mr. Dougherty. "We welcome his leadership and his commitment to this goal." Mr. Dougherty and Mr. McWilliam described the range of programs and services available from their departments, including HUD-Veterans Affairs Supported Housing (HUD- VASH), the new VA research center, health care for homeless veterans, benefit assistance for homeless veterans, Community Homeless Assessment Local Education and Networking Groups (CHALENG) for Veterans, VA involvement in Stand Downs, Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program, Grants for Homeless Veterans with Special Needs, Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment Programs (RRTPs), Multifamily Transitional Housing Loan Guaranty Program, services for Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans, and the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP).

In the FY 2009 appropriations bill passed in March, Congress provided VA and HUD with $10 million to develop a new collaborative dynamic pilot that may fund as many as 10 sites where veterans at-risk of homelessness can be assured safe housing, supportive services, and a dynamic comprehensive treatment team. VA received $5 million to provide a vigorous case management system for veterans under this pilot. This effort is designed to intervene before the veteran's family unit dissolves. These "at- risk of homelessness" pilots are a new and important step to targeting resources to veterans and their families who are at high risk and will prevent more acute problems later. VA and HUD are working on moving this effort forward quickly and hope that 250 - 500 veterans and family members will be aided with a targeted effort to prevent them from ever becoming homeless.

State and local government were represented by Carol L. Adams, Ph.D., Secretary, Illinois Department of Human Services and Robert V, Hess, Commissioner, New York City Department of Homeless Services, New York, NY, who was accompanied by Ronald Marte, Bronx, NY, a veteran successfully assisted by New York programs.

Commissioner Hess noted the success New York has had in reducing veteran homelessness: "From December 2006 to May 2009, we have reduced the number of veterans living in our City's shelters by 60 percent by creating new short-term housing models and other innovative strategies to better serve homeless veterans. However, I would not be able to stand before this committee and tell you of this great success had it not been for the shared commitment of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and then U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary James Nicholson. In December 2006, they created the Operation Home Task Force and charged it with creating the blueprint for a new veterans' service system - a dedicated service system outside the traditional homeless services system - that met the unique needs of homeless veterans and tied them to the rich array of resources already provided by the VA."

He also described the single point of entry center New York organized to meet its goals: "The system we created now includes a multi-service center which serves as a single point of access for homeless veterans and for those at-risk of becoming homeless. The Center, which has been up and running since May 2008, integrates DHS intake services exclusively for homeless veterans with access to medical, mental health and substance abuse treatment available through the VA medical system, as well as housing and other support services."

Other witnesses included John Driscoll, Vice President for Operations and Programs, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans; Dwight A. Radcliff, Sr., President and Chief Executive Officer, United States Veterans Initiative, U.S. VETS; Marsha (Tansey) Four, RN, Chair, Woman Veterans Committee, Vietnam Veterans of America; Chief Warrant Officer James S. Fann, USA (Ret.), Director, Manna House, Johnson City, TN; Phil Landis, Chief Executive Officer, Veterans Village of San Diego, CA.

Researchers Carol L. Caton, Ph.D., Director, Columbia Center for Homelessness Prevention Studies, Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences (in Psychiatry), Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY and Brendan O'Flaherty, Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Executive Committee Member, Columbia Center on Homelessness Prevention Studies, Columbia University, New York, NY also took part.

email: usich@usich.gov

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