VANCOUVER, CANADA. Nearly 10,000 national and local government officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and experts on a variety of urban issues from over 100 countries gathered last week in Vancouver, Canada for the third UN-sponsored World Urban Forum, known as WUF3. Convening under the theme - Sustaining Cities: Turning Ideas into Action - participants met in plenary, dialogue, and roundtable discussions as well as in over 160 networking and training events focused on urban growth and the environment, partnership and finance, and social inclusion with an emphasis on an inclusive approach to public engagement. U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary and Council Chair Alphonso Jackson spoke at the WUF3 Opening Plenary Session and at a second plenary session on social inclusion. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano also participated in WUF3, addressing members of the Sustainable Community Partnership Committee.

While in Vancouver, Director Mangano also continued the series of Tripartite dialogues he initiated three years ago with the directors of the UK and Canadian Homelessness Directorates (see related story) and made a presentation at a World Planners Conference symposium on Combating Homelessness: A Comparative Approach to Action.

At the WUF2 closing ceremony in Barcelona, then Canadian Labour and Housing Minister Joseph Fontana established the spirit and tone for WUF3 when he said,

“Our global village has evolved into an urban world where the actions of one country can affect the lives of each of our country’s men and women. A common thread across all countries is that our citizens are working to build a safe and healthy life for themselves, their families, and their communities. The World Urban Forum brings us together to exchange information, insights, and best practices on the challenges of the millennium. Ultimately it is about the quality of life of our people, helping them and helping each other.”

On a visit to Washington last year, Minister Fontana invited Director Mangano to participate in WUF3. After the election of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in January, a renewed invitation to Director Mangano to attend WUF3 was extended by the Canadian Government Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.

Addressing members of the Sustainable Community Partnership Committee forum at a reception hosted by Coastal Capital Savings, Director Mangano spoke of US efforts to end chronic homelessness through research-driven, results-oriented 10-year planning processes built on business principles of baselines, benchmarks, budgets, best practices, and return on investment. Coastal Capital Savings CEO Lloyd Craig has played an instrumental role in mobilizing business people and resources toward addressing homelessness in Canada. Director Mangano was joined at the reception by Canada’s Assistant Deputy Minister of Housing and Homelessness Branch Bayla Kolk, and Canadian Business for Social Responsibility President Bob Elton. The Sustainable Community Partnership Committee was established in 2003 to attract media attention, garner private sector support, and promote collaborative cross sector housing, income, and support service solutions to homelessness in communities in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory participating in the national government’s National Homelessness Initiative Supporting Communities Program.

Pictured above (l-r) are Coast Capital Savings President and CEO Lloyd Craig, Director Mangano, Canada Assistant Minister for Homelessness and Housing Bayla Kolk, and Canadian Business for Social Responsibility President Bob Elton. After the reception, Director Mangano and Council Regional Coordinator Michael German, joined by Canadian health officials, visited Vancouver’s Downtown East Side to talk with homeless people in the city’s most visible area of homelessness.

At a session organized by the World Planners Conference, Director Mangano joined Deputy Minister Kolk, UK Homelessness and Housing Director Terrie Alafat, NYC Department of Housing, Preservation, and Development Assistant Commissioner Ilene Popkin, and Common Ground Director of Innovation Becky Kanis in a discussion of how homelessness policy approaches are being turned into effective action in New York, London, and Vancouver. Director Mangano provided insights on enhancing national-local government partnerships. City of Vancouver Housing Centre Senior Planner Jill Davidson moderated the session before an audience of government, civic, and community groups from Vancouver and the British Columbia region.

A summary report on WUF3 notes the consensus that emerged among participants on moving forward, in which they agreed:

• “ . . . on the need for all urban players—citizens, local governments, state and provincial governments, national governments, the private sector, and civil society organizations . . . to all do their part, rather than simply transfer responsibility to others.
• . . . that risk taking and the pursuit of innovation must characterize municipal leadership.
• . . . that appropriate engagements, partnerships, and relationships need to be built in an inclusive manner to better understand challenges and develop practical solutions.
• . . . on the importance of transparency and accountability . . . transparency goes hand in hand with accountability, which speeds up the process of enhancing actions that work and curtail those that do not work."

The next World Urban Forum is scheduled for 2008 in Nanjing, China.

Last week’s Tripartite meeting of US, England, Scotland, and Canadian homelessness officials hosted by Canada’s Assistant Minister for Homelessness and Housing Bayla Kolk during the World Urban Forum (see related story) was the latest of a series of multi-national meetings held over the past three years to share research findings, innovations, and outcomes from national government initiatives on homelessness. Local jurisdictionally-based planning efforts are central in each nation’s effort. At this most recent meeting, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano spoke of the progress of the National Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness, including the reductions in homelessness being reported by mayors across the nation as a result of the 10-year planning process.

The head of England’s Homelessness and Housing Directorate Terrie Alafat reported a similar trend in homelessness reductions from her government’s results-oriented approach, as did Scotland’s Head of Housing and Regeneration Mike Neilson. The Scottish government has set a goal of ending “rough sleeping” by 2012. England met its original goal of reducing rough sleeping by two-thirds by 2002 and is continuing to see further reductions, while also setting a new goal to halve the number of households living in temporary accommodation by 2010. Ms. Alafat noted that the most recent data show that the number of people becoming homeless in England between January and March 2006 was 23 percent lower than in the same period the previous year; the number of households living in temporary accommodation has also continued to fall, with a 5 percent reduction since the same time last year; and the number of people sleeping rough on the street has fallen by 75% since 1998.

Canada is in the second phase of a six-year National Homelessness Initiative (NHI), in which 61 communities are engaged in developing homelessness plans. During this second phase of the NHI, a stronger emphasis has been placed on supporting the coordinated delivery of a range of services to prevent and break the cycle of homelessness with a special focus on youth homelessness; establishing sustainable, long-term solutions; and fostering effective partnerships and investments. Through the NHI, the national government is assisting communities in making the shift from emergency shelters to transitional and supportive housing that will help homeless individuals and families achieve and maintain self-sufficiency. A key goal of this second phase of the NHI is to “enhance community capacity to contribute to the reduction of homelessness.”

During the discussion of government definitions of homelessness, it was noted that England, Scotland, and Canada, like the US, do not consider persons living in “doubled up” situations to be homeless, and believe the appropriate focus of efforts in this situation are prevention activities that can help to keep them from falling into shelters or onto the streets.

The Tripartite meetings are a useful exchange of solutions and perspectives on homelessness policy and practice that began in 2003 when Director Mangano extended an invitation to four senior government officials from Britain's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to meet with senior policy officials from the Council’s member agencies to discuss prevention and intervention strategies to end chronic homelessness. Led by Gordon Campbell, acting head of the UK Homelessness Directorate, and Louise Casey, former head of the "Rough Sleepers Unit", the British delegation described their successful effort to reduce the number of homeless persons “sleeping rough" on the streets by two-thirds.

That initial exchange of best practices information was followed by an invitation from Director Mangano to the heads of the UK Homelessness Directorate and Canada Ministry on Homelessness and Housing to attend a three-day Tripartite meeting in Washington in March 2004 for a comprehensive exchange of information on innovations and best practices related to housing, health services, and employment for homeless individuals and families. Although Canada was unable to participate in that first Tripartite because of a pending national election, the effort benefited from the availability of a representative from the South African government who was in Washington and attended the meeting, providing insights into his nation’s homelessness efforts.

In 2005, Canada’s first-ever National Research Conference on Homelessness became the impetus for a third tripartite meeting. Meeting with Canada Assistant Minister for Homelessness and Housing Bayla Kolk and senior Canadian career staff, and UK Homelessness Director Terrie Alafat in advance of the research conference, Director Mangano was joined by Department of Housing and Urban Development Homeless Programs Director and now Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Needs Housing 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. The dialogue included "white paper" roundtable discussions on discharge planning, housing and shelter investments, and employment.

Pictured above are front row (l-r) Canada Assistant Minister for Housing and Homelessness Bayla Kolk, Canada Housing and Homelessness Director General Jane Weldon, City of Vancouver Senior City Planner Jill Davidson, NYC Assistant Commissioner for Housing, Preservation, and Development Ilene Popkin, and UK Director of Homelessness and Housing Support Terrie Alafat. Back row (l-r) Scotland Head of Housing and Regeneration Mike Neilson, Council Director Mangano, and Common Ground Director of Innovation Becky Kanis.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA. The recent Council-sponsored National Summit for Jurisdictional Leaders showcased best practices in building 10-Year Plan partnerships and creating effective communications strategies. A recent “TV Town Meeting” in Broward County, Florida serves as an example of a replicable practice for increasing community awareness and support for local planning efforts to end chronic homelessness.

On June 14, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator Michael German was among the nearly two dozen government officials, clients, providers, and members of the media gathered in Fort Lauderdale to participate in a one hour public television channel taping on the Broward County 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness. The public service show, produced by Broward County School System BECON TV and moderated by local NBC 6 news anchor Tony Segretto, explored the demographics and costs of homelessness in Broward County and the elements of the County’s 10-Year Plan, A Way Home. An implementation kick-off ceremony had been held in May, attended by over 100 community leaders and residents, and United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano. The show, which will be broadcast several times in the coming months, is intended to create greater awareness in the community of the efforts being made to end homelessness and encourage civic support and participation.

Eight panelists, including Council Regional Coordinator Michael German, were joined by an audience of nearly a dozen community members including representatives from the Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald Editorial Boards, providers, a representative of the hospital district, a Presbyterian minister, and formerly homeless as well as currently sheltered community members including unaccompanied youth, a single mother, and senior citizens. The panelists also included Broward County 10-Year Plan Implementation Committee Chair Dianne Sepielli, Homelessness Initiative Partnership Director Steve Werthman, Chronic Homelessness Team Leader Kurt Robbins, Broward Partnership for Homelessness Inc. CEO David Freedman, Henderson Mental Health Services Supervisor Debbie Perry, Broward County Outreach Center Director Scott Hall, and Courtney, a formerly homeless man who has started his own non-proft, Task Force Fore (sic) Ending Homelessness and does community outreach in partnership with a Fort Lauderdale police officer. The question and answer format offered opportunities for exploring the various facets of the Broward County 10-Year Plan and Council Regional Coordinator Michael German was able to provide a national perspective, including cost benefit analysis data gleaned from some of the more than 200 10-Year Plans in development or implementation across the country.

Broward County includes Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and 29 other South Florida communities. The County's 10-Year Plan was developed over 15 months with the participation of over 140 individuals who attended workshops, focus groups, and meetings of nine topical committees. The Plan calls for improved data collection, new homeless prevention initiatives, and the creation of 1,200 housing units, two-thirds of which will be targeted to persons experiencing chronic homelessness.

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO. Identifying and addressing the needs of homeless veterans in resource planning processes, including jurisdictional 10-Year Plans to End Homelessness, was the subject of a meeting convened by the Public Advocate for the Veterans Affairs of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico on June 16. The meeting was a follow-up to a February visit to Puerto Rico by United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano and Council Regional Coordinators Michael German and Ed Cabrera, during which Director Mangano spoke at the unveiling of the San Juan 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, and participated in a 10-year planning workshop for municipalities co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and a private foundation, Fundacion Chana & Samual Levis. During his visit, Director Mangano had spoken about the importance of including a specific homeless veterans focus in 10-year planning efforts to end chronic homelessness, noting there are a number of 10-year plans that have best practice elements regarding homeless veterans that can be used by other jurisdictions as they develop or improve their 10-year plans. What sets these plans apart is that they give visibility to homeless veterans through a specific section of the plan that identifies veterans as a critical subpopulation and within that section, identifies the specific strategies that will be undertaken to end homelessness among veterans.

• For example, the San Francisco 10-Year Plan calls for specifically increasing the number of permanent supportive housing units targeted to homeless veterans and for resources from their Permanent Supportive Housing budget for property conversion.
• The Snohomish County, Washington 10-Year Plan specifies developing 200 units of permanent housing for homeless veterans.
• The Maricopa, Arizona Plan calls for, among other strategies, targeting veterans in jails and prisons for pre-release planning to prevent homelessness and recidivism.

Each of these plans recognizes the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as a key resource partner to prevent and end homelessness among veterans.

Council Regional Coordinator German attended the June 16th follow-up meeting, during which a review was conducted of the various sources of government assistance for veterans, including the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs, and resources from the Puerto Rico Department of Family Funds, Department of Housing of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Public Advocate for the Veterans Affairs of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Additionally, Mr. German met with representatives of the municipalities of Comerio and Arecibo, who are in the process of developing jurisdictional plans to end chronic homelessness.

Facilitating successful community re-entry for incarcerated veterans was the topic of a special presentation by Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs Director John Lee at the Oregon Leadership Summit on Ending Chronic Homelessness sponsored by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness last week. With veterans disproportionately represented among the chronically homeless population, the Council has encouraged states and local governments engaged in the 10-year planning process to focus on the special needs of homeless veterans. To that end, the Council has actively sought to disseminate information about proven specific strategies for preventing and ending homelessness among veterans.

The Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs in collaboration with King County, Washington has developed an exemplary program known as VIP (Veterans Incarceration Project) for identifying incarcerated veterans and working with them to facilitate their re-entry into the community. If the reason for incarceration is related to an addiction, VIP staff will initiate conversations with the Judge to determine whether the veteran is a good candidate for treatment in lieu of continued incarceration. A partnership between the VIP program and the local Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center allows the veteran to receive treatment at the VA facility.

Another partnership with the Salvation Army provides transitional housing while the veteran is waiting to get into a treatment program or before permanent housing placement. Outcome data on this effort show conclusively that the program works. 2005 data show that participants in the VIP program had a 16.7% recidivism rate compared to 57.2% among the King County general jail population, with costs savings of over $700,000 accruing to the County.

In this continuing series of e-news profiles on the recipients of the Council's A Home for Every American Award, we highlight the contribution of Rosanne Haggerty to the National Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness.

As President and Founder of Common Ground Community, H.D.F.C. Inc, Rosanne Haggerty has embraced innovative approaches in providing direction to this New York City non-profit housing development and management organization’s ongoing efforts to create supportive housing for homeless and low income individuals. Common Ground Community is focused on identifying those experiencing chronic homelessness in New York City and linking them to housing, with the goal of creating 1,000 new units of supportive housing by 2007 and an additional 3,000 units of supportive housing by 2014.

Ms. Haggerty conceived of and managed the restoration of New York City’s Times Square Hotel, winner of the 1997 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence, and many subsequent supportive housing projects combining affordable housing with support services to assist formerly homeless tenants in rebuilding their lives and maintaining stable housing. The restoration of the Times Square Hotel and other buildings by Common Ground revived them as community assets and created employment opportunities. Common Ground manages over 1,700 apartments serving formerly homeless and low income adults; and operates street outreach and engagement efforts focused on those who are chronically homeless, intensive transitional housing programs designed to move chronic homeless adults into permanent housing within a six month period, scattered site housing programs targeted to the chronic homeless, and homelessness prevention programs focused on high risk families, recent veterans, and young people leaving foster care.

Ms. Haggerty was selected to receive A Home For Every American Award as a national innovator because of her investment in the lives of persons who have become homeless through her tireless efforts at creating successful housing solutions and sharing that knowledge with other practitioners, jurisdictional leaders, and policymakers. Ms Haggerty has been a driving force behind the ongoing partnership of Common Ground, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, and The Rockefeller Foundation in convening state and city jurisdictional leaders and 10-Year Plan leaders to incubate new approaches, and replicate successful innovations that are yielding results in ending chronic homelessness.

Rosanne Haggerty received her B.A. from Amherst College, where she is now a Life Trustee. She won the 1998 Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation and is a recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship for her work on the problem of homelessness in the United States. Prior to founding Common Ground in 1990, Ms. Haggerty was the coordinator of housing development at Brooklyn Catholic Charities. She is a director of the Times Square Business Improvement District and of the Dwelling Place Women's Shelter, and is a board member of both New York City's Citizens Housing and Planning Council and the Centre for Urban Community Services.

One of the resources available for practitioners and policymakers interested in reducing the incidence of youth and family homelessness is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Clearinghouse on Families and Youth. This free information service, reachable at 301-608-8098 or on the web at their recently revamped website, www.ncfy.com, is a service of HHS’s Family and Youth Services Bureau.

A Youth Initiative Update is a monthly feature of the Clearinghouse, providing a one-stop compilation of information on youth-related initiatives and resources culled from more than 100 federal agencies, philanthropic, and national organizations. The monthly Youth Initiative Update lists federal and philanthropic grant opportunities, recent federal funding awards, as well as providing a literature review. Recent examples of information available in the Youth Initiative Update are a description of resources from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to address the problem of juvenile runaways, a new website for the national runaway switchboard, and a grant availability announcement for programs serving at-risk youth from the Louis R. Cappelli Foundation. Also available is a March 2006 report, Transitional Living Programs Move Homeless Youth Closer to Independence, providing a best practices look at managing, funding, and evaluating successful transitional living programs for older homeless youth. The federal Transitional Living Program for Older Homeless Youth currently funds community programs providing housing, life skills training, education, and employment support for more than 5000 runaway and homeless youth each year.

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news highlights the important role of the business community in the National Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness with an excerpt from a recent speech by HRH The Prince of Wales on the 5th anniversary of the Business Action on Homelessness Campaign's "Ready for Work" Program. For three years the Council has participated in Tripartite meetings with our colleagues in Canada and the UK to exchange information on innovative solutions to homelessness, most recently last week during the World Urban Forum in Vancouver, Canada.

“The Business Action on Homelessness Campaign and particularly the “Ready for Work” Programme has shown, once again, the really extraordinary power that business has to make a real impact in solving some of the seemingly intractable social problems that we face. And all I can say is that they seem a great deal more in touch then before this programme. Now having seen just how much can be achieved, it is possible that there is a little bit more tractability.

Now thanks to 200 companies, many of them represented here this evening, in 22 cities, the vicious cycle of homelessness has been broken for more than 1700 people. They have been offered work placements, job coaching – a very important part of the whole exercise, the preparation of going to work - and employment opportunities. That is 1700 lives which have been transformed, and I suspect in some cases, saved. And it doesn’t take much imagination to realize the impact this will have had on their families and the communities in which they live, let alone the wider economy.

And as a result of this I am really not sure how to thank adequately all those companies who have been the pioneers of this programme. Their willingness to become involved in this way has been crucial and has shown a wonderful example of generosity of spirit. For instance, Marks and Spencer has offered more than 700 work placements, and to each homeless person they have allocated an employee “buddy”, which has made obviously the whole difference. Meanwhile, Cadbury’s has developed and tested how to involve employees as job coaches. And Barclays, KPMG and Marsh have overseen the two-day starter programme “Ready to Go”, which has proved vital in building confidence and helping to prepare for the often rather daunting world of work . . . As a result of our work last year, it is possible for "Ready to Work" clients to extend their work placement from two weeks to four without it affecting their benefit. That is the greatest secret I think. This has made the whole difference to retention rates as more time in training allows for greater confidence and success in the job which hopefully follows.

If businesses, the voluntary sector, and Government coordinated their efforts even more, many more homeless people could have the opportunity to return to work. The stories we just saw on that video a moment ago are proof of the difference which, working together, business, Government and the voluntary sector can make. They are also proof that homelessness has no respect for background or situation, and that each and every person affected is an individual. Much has been achieved over the last five years but there is so much more to do and what we need is more companies prepared to offer work placements.

Perhaps now many of you will see that it is not as difficult as you might have thought. Each and every one of you can make a huge difference but I do hope that tonight might have encouraged you to think if you might be able to do just a little bit more."