ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI." The new Horizon Club Safe Haven, which creates a path off the street for the most vulnerable and disabled is good for homeless people, good for hospitals, good for police, and is also good for the taxpayers," stated United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, as he participated at the invitation of St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay at the ribbon cutting ceremony of the first of four Safe Havens to be developed under the City's 10-Year Plan. "In creating its 10-Year Plan, St. Louis recognized that doing business as usual on homelessness was not getting the job done, not for the community, not for your streets or hospitals, not for homeless people."

Present for the City's celebration of its 10-Year Plan milestone were other local champions Director Mangano recognized for their partnership and commitment to the city's goals: Bill Siedhoff of Mayor Slay's office, former Congresswoman Joan Kelly Horn for whom the site was named, Alderwoman Kacie Star Triplett, Dianna Brannan of Horizon Development, and Sergeant Willie Prothro of the Police Department. Director Mangano also noted the key champions at the federal and local level of Senator Christopher Bond and St. Patrick Center CEO Dan Buck. Margaret Barnhart, Senator Bond's Community Liaison, took part in both the ribbon cutting and the tour of the site.

Said Mayor Slay to the attendees and partners: "I would like to thank all of the people who made this Safe Haven possible. Some people say the City has been too tough on homeless people. Some people say we haven't been tough enough. To both sides, I say this. We have a plan. Our plan is to connect the chronically homeless with permanent housing and services that meet their medical, mental health and other needs . . . It is a win-win. We can succeed. We are already enjoying success. Based on our latest head count, homelessness in our City is down more than 25%."

Horizon Club is open 24/7 and provides showers, bathrooms, laundry, lounge, beverages, snacks, lockers, computers, and movies. It offers an opportunity for people to get off the streets and to receive basic services previously not available in the downtown area. This facility will be operated by MR/DD Resources.

HUD St. Louis Field Office Director James M. Heard, with whom Director Mangano also met, is pictured above at left, with (left to right): Alderwoman Kacie Star Triplett, Sgt. Willie Prothro, chair, St. Louis Office for Developmental Disability Resources, St. Louis Comptroller Darlene Green, Mayor Slay, and Director Mangano.

Following the Safe Haven ribbon cutting event, Director Mangano and Council Regional Coordinator Team Leader Michael German visited the drop-in center at Centenary United Methodist Church in St. Louis. The Church, under the leadership of Pastor Kathleen Wilder, welcomes about 200 people to lunch, which the visitors shared. As Director Mangano does wherever he visits across the country, they spent time with consumers and learned directly from people who are homeless about their concerns and preferences.

JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI. While in Missouri, Director Mangano met with Missouri Governor Matt Blunt in Jefferson City. Governor Blunt, inaugurated in January 2005, was previously Missouri's Secretary of State when former Governor Bob Holden signed a 2003 Executive Order to create Missouri's Interagency Council. Key themes addressed by Director Mangano in the meeting were the successful transitions of other state governments - whether through change of party or across administrations - that have sustained and deepened state government commitments on the issue of homelessness through partnership and investment by Governors.

Director Mangano encouraged the Governor to continue to support the revitalization of the Council and discussed with the Governor the successful results-oriented business model at work in other state 10-Year Plans, as well as the importance of cost benefit analysis to ending homelessness. The Governor's Director of Policy, Bill Anderson, and Council Regional Coordinator Team Leader Michael German also participated.

Pictured here are (left to right): Governor Blunt, Director Mangano, and Bill Siedhoff of St. Louis Mayor Slay's office.

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LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS. Newly inaugurated Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, who soon after his January 2007 swearing-in moved forward with the adoption of several innovations for the implementation of the Central Arkansas 10-Year Plan, this week welcomed United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano to City Hall to discuss new opportunities as the plan moves ahead. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Little Rock Field Office Director Bessie Jackson, with whom the Council worked closely in the field for the visit, also participated. Pictured here are Mayor Stodola (left) and Director Mangano (right).

"Mayor Stodola has an appetite for a business plan and the adoption of innovations to meet its goals in ending chronic homelessness," indicated Director Mangano. "With a new point person, new Implementation Council, and a Day Center for triage being developed, the recommendations of the original planning process are being implemented." Director Mangano encouraged the Mayor to upgrade the 10-Year Plan and add the business community as planning partners in the development of an action implementation plan.

A January 2007 charrette sponsored by the American Institute of Architects focused on Little Rock's plan to site a Day Center and included an evening reception held at the University of Arkansas Clinton School for Public Service, after which charrette participants gathered in the First Lady's Ballroom at the Governor's Mansion where they were greeted by Governor Mike Beebe. Also invited was architect Murray Legge, who designed the Austin, TX Day Resource Center.

The charrette was the next step in moving forward the Little Rock 10-Year Plan, a collaborative effort of Little Rock and North Little Rock. The communities jointly hired a full time Homeless Services Coordinator for Central Arkansas, Jimmy Pritchett. In March 2007, Little Rock Mayor Stodola and North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hayes announced their appointment of a 15- member Plan Implementation Commission. The Commission members are: Judge Wayne Gruber of the Pulaski County District Court; Jack Harvey, President of Enterprise Financial Solutions, Inc.; Barry McDaniel, Financial Adviser and Vice President of Morgan Stanley; Clark McGlothin, President of CBM Construction; Estella Morris, Director of Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System; Reginald Robinson, President of Arkansas Cleaning Solution; Jennie Stortroen, community leader; Steve Winchester of Time Plus Payroll Services; Jim Woodell, Executive Director of North Little Rock's River City Ministry; Darlene Bourgeois, Executive Director of Little Rock's Saint Francis House; Sandra Brown, Director of Community Health Strategic Development for Baptist Health; David Carpenter, a broker from Jacksonville; Mark Evans, Senior Pastor of The Church at Rock Creek; and Steve Ficklin, Executive Director of the Argenta Community Development Corp.

Also participating in the visit was Council Regional Coordinator Team Leader Michael German.

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS. Also in Little Rock, the state capital, Director Mangano visited with new Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe, inaugurated January 2007, to confer about the opportunity in state government transition to create a new and revitalized spirit for the state's Interagency Council. As has been true of his fellow Governors, Governor Beebe was interested in other effective Executive Orders for State Councils, as well as examples of 10-Year Plans with business orientation and models of state partnership with 10- Year Plan cities, such as have been established in Utah, North Carolina, and Minnesota. Governor Beebe, in his prior public service roles as State Senator and Attorney General, brings to his office a history of a bipartisan framework in solving problems in the state.

The Governor's Special Assistant for Agency and Legislative Affairs, Sarah Agee, also participated. Pictured here are (top): Director Mangano, HUD Little Rock Field Office Director Bessie Jackson, Governor Beebe, and Council Regional Coordinator Team Leader Michael German; and (below): Director Mangano and Governor Beebe.

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NORFOLK, VIRGINIA. "More than 50 of the region's homeless are now on their way to new lives as a result" of Project Homeless Connect, according to the City. Norfolk's Scope exhibition hall was again the site of a successful Project Homeless Connect event last week, as Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim (pictured here) welcomed homeless guests and partners, while city partners and the local United Way teamed up for the fourth one-day, one-stop engagement in Norfolk which reported a 17% decrease in street homelessness in February 2007.

More than 800 community volunteers welcomed over 600 consumers to the array of over 60 services and resources. Forty people accessed permanent housing on site, and 10 were hired on the spot for new jobs, in addition to over 100 others who applied for positions. In addition, 243 received medical care, 60 sought mental health/substance abuse services, 20 received dental services, 42 received podiatry services, 114 had vision screens including distributing 73 pairs of glasses. 270 received housing counseling, 57 legal cases were processed or reviewed, and 126 were approved for Food Stamps. 123 IDs were issued, 90 people had hair cuts, and 16 participated in the Storytellers project.

Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim's commitment and results under his 10-Year Plan was recognized earlier this year by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness for what Council Executive Director Philip Mangano described as the Mayor's role as "an early adopter" of several innovations including bringing together an expansive and inclusive group of stakeholders to create a 10-Year Plan and working with neighboring communities to implement a regional approach; naming a point person in his administration, Katie Kitchin, with specific responsibility for the 10-Year Plan; and being among the first communities to respond to the Council's efforts to promote the replication of the Project Homeless Connect innovation initiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Point person Katie Kitchin served as expert faculty for the Council's recent Best Practices Institute on Project Homeless Connect.

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TUCSON, ARIZONA. "Our goal in Tucson is to end homelessness . . . The partnerships we create here will go a long way towards meeting the goal," stated Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup last week. The Plan to End Homelessness in Tucson and Pima County was the focus of a one-day conference in Tucson, where United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, invited by Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup to join in the Plan event, keynoted. Pictured here (top) are (left to right): Councilor Uhlich, Director Mangano, and Mayor Walkup.

"It's a good day here in Tucson and Pima County with Mayor Walkup and the accomplishment of the past year in your 10-Year Plan process," indicated Director Mangano. "The Mayor's support of this 10-Year Planning process shows his understanding of the importance of planning to accomplish a mission."

Prior to the start of the day's event, Director Mangano met with three former consumers who were recognized during the conference for their successful transition out of homelessness. "Meeting you reminds me of that Scripture that says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," said the Director. "All of you inspire our faith because you are the substance of what we hope, the evidence of what we haven't seen enough of. You bear testimony that homelessness can end. Thank you for recharging our faith and remoralizing us to our true mission." Director Mangano is shown here talking with (bottom, left to right): Ameri Jackson, Libby Wright, Director of The Giving Tree, and Ron Austin of Primavera Works. The conference was convened by the Tucson Planning Council for the Homeless, a coalition of more than 40 agencies, faith based organizations, city, town, and county departments and individuals committed to ending homelessness in Pima County.

Present for the event were Britann O'Brien of Senator Jon Kyl's office, Michelle Crow of Congressman Raul Grijalva's office, Linda Leatherman from the Pima County Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, and Robert Wadlow of the Merchants' Council. Council Regional Coordinator Eduardo Cabrera also participated.

The 10-Year Plan, completed in 2006, includes a focus on prevention using funds from the Arizona State Department of Housing for Emergency Rent and Utility Assistance, and increasing the number of affordable housing units for the elderly by 50 new units a year. The plan also includes goals for employment, additional permanent supportive housing, transitional programs, including aftercare programs, treatment for young adults, and increased private sector engagement.

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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. "We all know and have learned the hard way that without the political will of the jurisdictional CEO's - Governors, Mayors, County Executives, Federal Cabinet officials - without their interest and impetus, all of our efforts are subject to, in the metaphor of this Road Trip - Mapping our Journey Conference, bumpy dirt roads and dead ends," observed United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, who keynoted last week's Region V United States Department of Health and Human Services Homeless and Runaway Youth Conference. "Paving a highway that leads somewhere in public policy requires political will."

Joyce A. Thomas, Regional Administrator of HHS' Administration for Children and Families (ACF) for Region V, welcomed attendees from Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. In her role, which includes chairing the regional Federal Interagency Council on Homelessness during this year in which HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt chairs the Full Council, Ms. Thomas partners with state, local, and community based organizations, and tribes within the region to promote economic independence and healthy development of children and families. The Council is working closely with her to forward the Secretary's new emphasis on the needs of families, children, and youth. She ensures coordination and integration of activities among Head Start, child care, foster care and adoption, child support enforcement, youth services and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) programs. Nationally, she serves as the Lead Regional Administrator for the Office of Community Services and the Faith Based and Community Initiatives within ACF. Attendees, who included youth services workers and direct service staff of federally-funded Runaway and Homeless Youth grantee organizations, also heard from HHS's Deputy Associate Commissioner David Siegel of the Family and Youth Services Bureau and Diane Nilan, author of Crossing the Line: Taking Steps to End Homelessness, and co-founder HEAR US (Homeless Education Awareness Raising in the US).

The conference was organized by the Youth Network Council which is funded by HHS to provide training and technical assistance to federally-funded youth grantees. Conference themes included a range of key topics from details of engagement to specifics of housing. YNC is a capacity-building intermediary organization, which provides services, opportunities, and other means of support to young people and their families at the community level. YNC offers training, technical assistance, information dissemination, public education, state, regional, national and international networking, and service brokerage. Director Mangano is pictured here with Youth Network Council Executive Director Denis Murstein and Associate Director Kristen Truffa.

According to HHS, the Runaway and Homeless Youth program provides comprehensive services for youth in at-risk situations and their families. These services include providing positive alternatives for youth, ensuring their safety and maximizing their potential to take advantage of available opportunities to remain in safe and stable families. The program also provides outreach, education and support services to runaway and homeless youth and reunification services when appropriate.

Runaway and homeless youth funds are used in three major capacities: The Basic Center program funds youth shelters that provide emergency shelter, food, clothing, outreach services and crisis intervention for runaway and homeless youth. The shelters also offer services to help reunite youth with their families whenever possible. The Street Outreach program funds local youth service providers to conduct street-based education and outreach and to offer emergency shelter and related services to young people who have been or who are at risk of being sexually abused or exploited. The Transitional Living program provides funds to address the longer term needs of older homeless youth and assists such youth in developing skills and resources to promote independence and prevent future dependency on social services. Housing and a range of services are provided for up to 18 months for youth ages 16-21 who are unable to return to their homes. Interagency Council Regional Coordinators Daryl Hernandez and John O'Brien participated in the event.

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OTTAWA, ONTARIO. "Local officials have a great appetite to solve problems in their communities by creating the solutions themselves, with community stakeholders, or by discovering the solutions elsewhere and adopting them locally," indicated United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano last week in an invited keynote address to the members of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario who were meeting for their 108th Annual Conference. "No city big or small has a monopoly on the best ideas, and part of our work is to discover what works and rapidly disseminate it." Peter Hume, Ottawa City Councilor, and AMO Executive Board Member introduced Director Mangano.

Representing almost all of Ontario's 445 municipal governments. AMO develops policy positions and reports on issues of general interest to municipal governments; conducts ongoing liaison with provincial government elected and non-elected representatives; informs and educates governments, the media and the public on municipal issues; markets innovative and beneficial services to the municipal sector; and maintains a resource center on issues of municipal interest.

In Ontario, municipalities are responsible for fully funding and delivering about $1 billion in assisted housing programs, and municipalities cost share and deliver homelessness services. They also cost share and deliver income assistance and employment programs for low income families. These arrangements are unique to Ontario in Canada. As a result, Ontario's municipal leaders sought to learn about new ideas and approaches that can result in improved outcomes in these important and interconnected human service areas.

Following the Conference, AMO will be engaged in discussions with the Provincial Government about future funding and service delivery arrangements for human service programs, including affordable housing and homelessness, so AMO leaders saw the opportunity to learn from the U.S. experience about approaches and the importance of appropriate funding, programs and services that are supported by all levels of government.

Director Mangano met again with Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien, with whom he discussed the creation of a 10- Year Plan for Canada's capital city. Recognizing the Mayor's business background, Director Mangano discussed the importance to 10-Year Plans in the United States of the use of business principles and a results-oriented framework.

Director Mangano also met with Provincial officials and partners to discuss innovation and results, including: Doug Reycraft, Mayor of Glencoe and AMO President; Derek Ballentyne, CEO, Toronto Community Housing Corporation; Judith Binder, District Manager, Southwestern Ontario Region, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation; Cliodhna McMullin, Assistant Deputy Minister, Government of Ontario; Karen Maxwell Director, Housing Policy Branch, Housing Division, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Government of Ontario; and Russell Mawby, Director of Housing, City of Ottawa.

While in Ottawa, Director Mangano provided a update on the Administration's initiatives to U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins who had just hosted the President for the North American Leaders' Summit. Ambassador Wilkins since 2005 has represented the U.S. He previously served for 25 years in the South Carolina House of Representatives, including 11 years as Speaker of the House. He was the first Republican elected speaker in the South since Reconstruction and retired as one of the longest-serving speakers in the country.

WASHINGTON, DC. Ten key best practices identified in successful, results-oriented, consumer- centric Project Homeless Family Connect events will be the focus of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness's September 6 national conference call for jurisdictional partners interested in replicating Portland, Oregon's successful family engagement model.

Space is still available for the call, which will focus on mobilizing political and civic will, partnership, event execution, planning teams, site selection, volunteers, resources, consumer engagement, media, and data and results.

Mary Carroll of the Office of Portland, Oregon City Commissioner Erik Sten will provide expert assistance in best practices for engaging families. Portland last year implemented the national innovation of Project Homeless Connect to a successful family model and will shortly convene their second family PHC event. Topics will include special considerations in planning for family participation, site selection, event scheduling, family engagement, partnering with appropriate services and resources, and consumer- centric practices. Other experts from experienced PHC cities will also participate. The format for the call will include short presentations on the ten key issues and a question and answer period.

A limited number of spaces for jurisdictional representatives are still available for this upcoming and informative call. To indicate your interest in taking part and receive further information, send an email to: nphc@usich.gov.

Is your city or county planning a PHC event? Be sure to notify the Council in advance if you want to be considered for review as an official National Project Homeless Connect event with recognized best practices to engage consumers. Send a message to nphc@usich.gov.

The Council's National Project Homeless Connect Week is scheduled this year for December 3-7.

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WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news presents information on resources to assist partners to end homelessness through opportunities presented by the McKinney- Vento Title V federal surplus property program and the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. The Title V program operates through the collaborative efforts of four Federal agencies: General Services Administration, which makes determinations as to excess and available properties, Department of Housing and Urban Development, which collects information from Federal agencies concerning their unutilized, underutilized, excess and surplus properties and determines which are suitable for use to assist homeless persons and publishes the list each week in the Federal Register, Department of Health and Human Services, which provides Title V information to the public, reviews and approves applications, provides technical assistance in preparing Title V applications, coordinates the disposal of surplus Federal real property to qualified applicants, reports on the progress of the Title V program and its achievements, and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, which works with the Federal partners and regularly reports on properties and related resources.

Title V. Under the Title V program of 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. Properties listed as suitable/available will be available exclusively for potential 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 their own site at their own expense.

The August 17 and 24, 2007 listings of Federal buildings and other real property determined to be "suitable and available " include land or buildings in Macon, Alabama; Cordova, Alaska; Tucson, Arizona; San Francisco, California; Grand Junction, Colorado; Forsyth, Georgia; Bellows AFS, Hawaii; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Marion County, Indiana; Lee, Iowa; Marion, Iowa; Butler, Kentucky; Rockville, Maryland; Worcester, Massachusetts; Flint, Michigan; Stoddard, Missouri; Silverbow, Montana; Berlin, New Hampshire; Oneida, New York; Washington, Ohio; Custer, Oklahoma; McCurtin, Oklahoma; Armstrong, Pennsylvania; N. Charleston, South Carolina; Cheatham, Tennessee; Stewart, Tennessee; Bell, Texas; Neuces, Texas; Yakima, Washington; and Monroe, Wisconsin.

Title V of the Stewart B. McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (Title V) was enacted in 1987 to make suitable Federal surplus real property available to assist persons who are homeless. Title V authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to transfer declared suitable and available Federal surplus properties, to States, political subdivisions of the State, and private non-profit tax exempt organizations for homeless assistance purposes. HHS transfers property to approved applicants as no- cost public benefit conveyances.

In order to fulfill the Title V mandate, HHS provides Title V information to the public, reviews and approves applications for suitable and available surplus real property listed in the Federal Register, and recommends assignment of those properties from Federal disposal agencies to approved Title V applicants, ,provides technical assistance in preparing Title V applications, and advises applicants and potential applicants on the Title V disposal process, ,coordinates the disposal of surplus Federal real property to qualified applicants for homeless assistance purposes, implements an oversight and compliance program to ensure that Title V grantees fulfill the terms and conditions of transfer, and reports on the progress of the Title V program and its achievements.

Application information is available on-line from HHS. All applicants are reviewed on the basis of the following elements: services offered, need, implementation time, experience, and financial ability.

Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). Local homeless planning partners in all sectors will be interested in the opportunities presented by the closure and reuse process. The Base Closure Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act (1994 Base Closure Act) addresses the use of military base property as surplus federal property on military bases. The Act requires consideration of the needs of persons experiencing homelessness during the redevelopment process.

The initial work of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) led by former United States Department of Veterans Affairs and United States Interagency Council Chair Anthony Principi resulted in the identification of properties across the country that will be affected by the process. A complete list of actions in the fifty states and other resources are available at: http://www.hqda.army.mil/acsimweb/brac/braco.htm

DOD maintains a web site of [http://www.defenselink.mil/brac/ ] resources that can assist a variety of community partners in understanding and participating in the upcoming process, including accommodations to the needs of homeless people in the community. DOD's Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) is the primary source for assisting communities that are adversely impacted by such changes, including base closures or realignments, base expansions, and contract or program cancellations. To assist affected communities, OEA manages and directs the Defense Economic Adjustment Program, and coordinates the involvement of other Federal agencies. Under the 1994 Base Closure Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act, DOD, in a joint process with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), also plays a role in the community's base reuse planning process and future homeless assistance.

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP) has recently produced a toolkit to assist local non-profit organizations in the BRAC process. " Utilizing the Base Closure Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act" is available on-line at www.nlchp.org According to the Center, the toolkit includes an overview of the law (including eligible uses), the application process, and timing. It also discusses how to find available property, make a successful application, address Not- In-My-Back-Yard (NIMBY) issues and effective negotiations.

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USICH Mission	USICH Council Members
National Project Homeless Connect	Good . . .to Better . . . to Great: Innovations in 10-Year Plans
Jurisdictional Partnerships in States and Cities	Innovative Initiatives