CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE. "As we continue to work toward ending chronic homelessness, there is no better place to devote our energies than to offer a helping hand to those who are the hardest to help," said United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson yesterday as HUD announced that hundreds of persons living for long periods of time on the streets because of their addiction to alcohol will have a new chance at a permanent home because of $10 million in funding announced yesterday in Chattanooga, Tennessee, one of 11 awardee cities in the new demonstration program.

The program, developed in close consultation with the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, will benefit 555 persons living on the streets for at least 365 days over the last five years and who also have a long-term addiction to alcohol. A dozen pilot programs in 11 cities around the country are receiving two-year grants through HUD's new Housing for People Who Are Homeless and Addicted To Alcohol program, a special initiative designed to assist homeless persons who also struggle with chronic alcoholism.

Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield welcomed HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development Pamela Patenaude, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Deputy Director Mary Ellen Hombs, Representative Zach Wamp, City Council Members, and County Mayors from surrounding counties taking part in the Chattanooga initiative for the national announcement of the awards. SouthEast Tennessee Human Resource Agency will be the lead for the initiative. Stated Mayor Littlefield, "We are deeply appreciative that HUD has recognized the concerted efforts of our community to address the issue of chronic homelessness by fully funding this innovative grant proposal. Chattanooga is committed to being a 'City of Compassion' and our work on this vital issue will be crucial to helping us fully reach this important objective." Pictured here are (right to left): Mayor Littlefield, Rep. Wamp, Assistant Secretary Patenaude, SETHRA Executive Director Riley Anderson, and Deputy Director Hombs.

Noted Ms. Hombs, "HUD and the Council are here today as federal partners who have once again worked together to create a new approach to investing for results, to reach outside of existing models so that we can reach inside the population of those most deeply in need of innovative housing solutions, and most deeply in need of our partnership." Also present for the awards were HUD Knoxville CPD Director Mary Wilson and CPD officials Mark Brezina and Jim Walker.

In addition to Chattanooga's award, Assistant Secretary Patenaude announced awards to Chicago, Contra Costa, CA, Denver, Jacksonville, New York City, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, and Washington, DC. Most of the award sites are in communities committed to jurisdictional 10-Year Plans to End Chronic Homelessness, and six of the sites are awardees under the $55 million federal HUD-HHS-VA Collaborative Initiative to End Chronic Homelessness, which has moved over 600 of the longest term homeless people to permanent housing.

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. "Rather than just a handout, chronically homeless men and women need a hand up," stated St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay as he this week unveiled the recently completed St. Louis City and County 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano was invited by the Mayor to join the unveiling. Planners estimated that about 240 persons are chronically homeless in the region and recommended a shift from a shelter-based response to a Housing First model employing Assertive Community treatment (ACT) teams. 700 new units of permanent supportive housing and 8 new ACT teams are called for in the Plan, which also seeks to develop six new Safe Havens.

Noted Director Mangano, "The City and County are at the roots in creating this results-oriented plan with the intent of uprooting the disgrace of chronic homelessness from your streets and shelters. This is good for your city, good for your neighborhoods, good for business and good for the taxpayer." Under the leadership of Human Services Director William Seidhoff, planners estimated that current spending by the City to address homelessness is about $16 million, with $12 million spent for human services, and over $1 million in general revenue.

Executive Director Dan Buck of St. Louis' St. Patrick Center also announced on Wednesday its plans to build a $4 million complex on Grand Boulevard that will provide counseling and housing to persons experiencing chronic homelessness. The Center, as previously reported here, implemented its first ACT Team in January 2004 and saw immediate results in successfully engaging chronically homeless people. The ACT team initiative was made possible by a $1.5 million, 3 year grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health. The grant includes with housing support, psychiatric care, social worker, employment specialist, and Team Leader. Pictured here are Director Mangano, Mayor Slay, and St. Louis County Department of Human Resources Director Marilyn Robinson. Council Regional Coordinator John O'Brien also took part in the events.

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA. Southern California has its first completed 10-Year Plan, with this week's public release of Pasadena's new strategy. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano joined Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, City of Pasadena Department of Planning and Development's Anne Lansing, Assistant City Manager Brian Williams, and Housing Director Greg Robinson for the event. The leadership of the 10-Year Planning Council is shown here as they gathered to hear Mayor Bogaard at Casa Maria, a local homeless program.

"This plan recommits this city to the original vision we've all shared - ending chronic homelessness," stated United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano. "The emphasis in this 10-Year Plan on permanent supportive housing is well founded and well placed given that the central antidote to ending homelessness is housing. In calling for Annual Action Plans you are keeping the plan alive and accountable. You've done your homework on both discharge planning initiatives and mainstream program efforts. "

Pasadena's Plan also calls for a city homeless coordinator to oversee its efforts, which include a prevention focus on veterans. Prevention is also goal of the proposed "Good Neighbor Program, " which would partner neighbors helping neighbors and identify those at risk through education and existing systems. Pasadena's Community Working Group, formed from over 150 representatives from government agencies, non-profits, faith-based organizations, neighborhood associations, businesses, consumers, foundations, banks, providers, housing developers, and academia, met over the last 15 months to develop the Plan.

While in Pasadena, Director Mangano also toured Navarro House, a permanent supportive housing program and Passageways which serves an entry point to local homeless services. Region IX Coordinator Eduardo Cabrera also took part in the events.

WASHINGTON, DC. City representatives from New York City to Portland, Oregon last week gathered in San Francisco for a site visit organized by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness to Project Homeless Connect, the City's innovative one- day engagement event. Those taking part in the engagement event helped produce the day's outcome of 94 homeless people moving from the streets to shelters, stabilization units, or transitional programs. Part of the City's 10-Year Plan now being implemented, Project Connect hosted the site visit as a means to provide basic orientation and logistics to cities considering a role in the Council's December 8th National Project Homeless Connect Day.

Representatives from Atlanta, Knoxville, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Portland, OR, San Diego, Los Angeles County, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Miami, San Jose, and New York were welcomed by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Deputy Chief of Staff Alex Tourk, who organizes Project Connect. City officials spent time with the group answering questions and conducting a site tour. California State Senator Jackie Speier and her staff also participated. Participants spent the day much the same way as any volunteer: they walked the streets, interviewed consumers, served meals, and helped people find their way to various service stations. Over 1,000 volunteers welcomed 1,133 consumers to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium where services were available ranging from medical, dental and vision care, to housing information and benefits enrollment, to massage, wheel chair repair, library books, free phone calls and cafe service.

USICH Executive Director, Philip Mangano, who visited Project Connect in June, is looking forward to December 8th when cities across the country will join together to conduct the first National Project Homeless Connect Day. "Project Connect is one of those innovative ideas that made an immediate difference on our streets. Every city should 'steal' this idea and implement the fusion of political and social will." San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has taken an active role in each engagement day, is shown here addressing the city representatives' orientation.

Cities and counties are being encouraged to adapt Project Connect according to local needs, which vary in terms of scope and service delivery. Widespread community involvement, especially from business sponsors, is a vital expression of civic will. Another is positioning Project Connect as a portal to housing and services, both critical to ending chronic homelessness. USICH, through Special Advisor Janna Jahn, is providing technical support to cities interested in participating in the National Day.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA. Virginia's Coalition for the Homeless last week convened its 18th Annual Conference and Annual Meeting in Charlottesville. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, invited to keynote the gathering of over 200 service providers, advocates, and persons experiencing homelessness from across the state, joined Coalition President David Rubenstein and Vice President Thaler McCormick in welcoming attendees. Displaying the broad partnership of the conference were Mayor David Brown, Vice-Mayor Kevin Lynch, Thomas Jefferson Planning District Executive Director Harrison Rue and HMIS Director Evan Scully, Albemarle County Housing Director Ron White, and United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Richmond Office Director William Miles. Council Regional Coordinator Michael German also attended the event.

Director Mangano noted the strength of state planning in Virginia and the commitment of Virginia Governor Mark Warner, who has awarded $1 million in state HOME funds over 2 years to programs in Roanoke, Waynesboro, and Martinsville, each of which will implement a local Housing First model for persons experiencing chronic homelessness. Virginia's Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services will contribute $75,000 to the pilot program.

Virginia's state plan, developed by its federal Policy Academy team, proposed to increase housing opportunities available to persons who are chronically homeless by maximizing use of existing funding streams, including HOME, expanding use of Veterans' Administration, HUD and USDA-Rural Development foreclosed properties as a source of new housing units. The Plan also propsed initiating a Rental Assistance program for homeless individuals and families, facilitating a feasibility study of a health-based Housing First model in Richmond through Virginia Commonwealth University/ Medical College of Virginia, and increasing available funding for affordable housing through a State Housing Trust Fund.

In the area of prevention the Plan forwarded goals of implementation of a statewide discharge policy for all at-risk individuals (foster care, adult and juvenile ex- offenders, persons released from medical and mental institutions), supporting Job Corps as an appropriate discharge option for juvenile offenders and juvenile aging out of foster care, and convening a statewide summit on best practices for children aging out of foster care. Further, the Plan seeks to increase the number of prisoners and mental health consumers who have applications pre-filed for Medicaid benefits at release from institutions, expedite veteran benefit claims for homeless veterans, and make new links to workforce resources.

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS. Government, community, and non- profit sector partners gathered last week for the unveiling of the completed Cambridge, Massachusetts, 10-Year Plan. Cambridge Mayor Michael Sullivan, who invited United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director to participate in the event, was joined by City Manager Robert W. Healy and State Representatives Byron Rushing and Alice Wolf, as well as members of the Cambridge planning team. Council Region I Coordinator John O'Brien also took part.

Director Mangano, who served as Director of Homeless Services for the City from 1986-1990, commented, "It's good to be back in Cambridge especially on a day when the community is recommitting itself to our most vulnerable neighbors. Cambridge's plan has the right trajectory to end chronic homelessness and is part of a national partnership including every level of government and every element of the private sector to improve the quality of life for all in our communities."

WASHINGTON, DC. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has released two new publications on the Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) that will assist users in addressing key issues. "Making the Most of HMIS Data: A Guide to Understanding Homelessness and Improving Programs in Your Community" and "Technical Guidelines for Unduplicating and De- identifying HMIS Client Records" are new white papers from HUD.

"Making the Most of HMIS Data: A Guide to Understanding Homelessness and Improving Programs in Your Community" was developed to provide practical guidance on how communities and homeless assistance providers can use the data stored in HMIS to improve homeless assistance programs and better serve homeless persons. The guidebook focuses on how to use the data stored in HMIS to learn about homeless people in the community and develop more effective policies and programs to meet their needs. Based on experiences across the country, the guidebook includes chapters on using HMIS to understand the characteristics and service needs of homeless people, analyze how homeless people use services, and evaluate program effectiveness and outcomes. The guidebook also provides an introduction to the techniques of unduplication and extrapolation for the purposes of analyzing HMIS data.

"Technical Guidelines for Unduplicating and De- identifying HMIS Client Records" specifies a multi- field approach to unduplication that flexibly and accurately accounts for the possibility of missing or inaccurate information. The paper also proposes a method of de- identification that can be applied to de-identified data as well as identifiable data. The guidelines contain both explanatory information of interest to a nontechnical audience as well as technical specifications for software developers and database administrators.

HUD has announced its second National Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Conference on September 13-14 in St. Louis, Missouri. This conference will provide an opportunity for communication and information sharing between HUD, Continuums of Care, HMIS Administrators, HMIS providers, research partners and State Policy Academy Leaders. Attendees will choose from over 30 breakout sessions over two days in four topic areas: HMIS Management, HMIS Participation, Data Analysis & Performance Evaluation, and Final Data & Technical Standards. Plenary sessions include: a multimedia presentation on Consumer Involvement in HMIS; the latest research in innovative programming to end chronic homelessness; and a federal agency representative plenary on data collection and reporting with the United States Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, and the Office of Management.