LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY. Last week United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano returned to Lexington, Kentucky to join Mayor Teresa Ann Isaac (shown here) and state officials including Kentucky Housing Corporation Executive Director Ben Cook at a press conference reaffirming the community's intention to move forward in completing a 10-year plan by next spring. Director Mangano had met with Mayor Isaac in September while in Lexington to address the Kentucky Affordable Housing Conference. The Kentucky Housing Corporation is supporting local 10-year plan efforts with planning grants and other technical assistance.

Next steps for Lexington's 10-year planning effort were outlined during last week's press conference. David Christiansen, an instructor at the University of Kentucky who is director of the Central Kentucky Housing and Homeless Initiative, a member of the Kentucky Interagency Council on Homelessness, and was appointed by Mayor Isaac to lead the plan effort, reported that with much of the initial data gathering completed, a series of stakeholder focus groups, supplemented by surveys, will be held beginning in November. The identified stakeholders include the Mayor, City Commissioners and Division Directors, business and civic leaders, housing developers, service providers, hospital administrators, faith-based organizations, police, fire, and community corrections officials, the Housing Authority, landlords, and homeless and formerly homeless individuals. The final plan will include identifying the gaps and barriers, strategies to overcome identified needs, an implementation strategy, and methodology to measure progress. Once drafted, the plan will be reviewed by the Commission on Housing and Support Services and public hearings held before being presented to the City Council for final approval.

Mayoral leadership is moving forward 10-Year Plan efforts to end chronic homelessness in the capital cities of Columbia, South Carolina and Boise, Idaho.

WASHINGTON, DC. This week Columbia South Carolina Mayor Bob Coble accompanied by Councilmember E.W. Cromartie, ll, and consultant Barbara McCall met in Washington with United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano and Council Regional Coordinator Michael German to discuss Columbia's 10-year planning efforts including ways to incorporate more Housing First efforts to reduce the need for shelter expansion. Although the city joined with Lexington and Richland counties last year in a 10-year planning effort, more recent discussions among stakeholders indicates an interest in re-examining whether the current plan is fully reflective of innovations and best practices that have evolved from planning efforts in communities around the country over the last couple years.

Mayor Coble and Councilman Cromartie recently traveled to St. Louis to learn more about that city's St. Patrick's Center and Director Mangano suggested that they might also want to visit Atlanta to learn more about the 24/7 Gateway Center project, and efforts in Nashville and Raleigh. Director Mangano noted the "living document" nature of the 10-year planning process, which promotes adoption of new technologies and innovations. A follow-up meeting is being planned in Columbia to include business and other community leaders including the United Way. Also discussed was a potential regional meeting of mayors in South Carolina engaged in developing and implementing 10-year plans. Shown here, l-r, Mayor Coble, Councilmember Cromartie, Coordinator German, and Director Mangano.

BOISE, IDAHO. Also this week. Director Mangano was invited to join Boise Mayor David Bieter (shown here right) at a day long summit being hosted by the mayor to give more focus to the community's 10-year planning process. More information about the Boise summit and a meeting between Director Mangano and Idaho Governor Ed Risch to discuss state level planning efforts will be available in next week's e-news. To read about Boise's innovative Project CATCH initiative for homeless families described in the September 28, 2006 e-news, click on the Read More link below.

Columbia and Boise are among 33 state capitals to have committed to the 10-year planning effort to end chronic homelessness.

COLUMBUS, OHIO. The revolving door between homelessness and the criminal justice system for persons with mental illness was a focus of attention at last week's Supreme Court of Ohio Specialized Dockets Practitioner Network Annual Conference.

Invited to speak at the conference by Ohio Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano described how the National Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness being constellated by the Council complements and supports the efforts by specialized mental health and drug courts to divert non violent offenders from incarceration to appropriate community treatment programs. Director Mangano encouraged participation by the mental health courts in community 10-year planning efforts to end chronic homelessness. While at the conference, Director Mangano met with Justice Stratton and Ohio Department of Mental Health Director Mike Hogan, who chaired the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. The Commission report recommended adoption of adult and juvenile diversion and reentry strategies to avoid unnecessary criminalization and extended incarceration of non-violent adult and juvenile offenders with mental illness, and supported housing for persons with mental illness and the initiative to end chronic homelessness. Picture here, l-r, Corporation for Supportive Housing Ohio Director Sally Luken, OH Department of Development Assistant Deputy Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel, OH Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, Director Mangano, Ohio Housing Finance Agency Executive Director Douglas Garver, and Ohio Department of Mental Health Housing Manager Jeannette Welsh.

Ohio has established itself as a national leader in the implementation of specialized docket courts (often referred to as "problem solving courts") with over 67 drug courts and 27 mental health court programs in operation throughout the state. The Ohio Specialized Docket Practitioner Network was created by the Supreme Court of Ohio, the Ohio Department of Mental Health, and the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services as a forum to provide peer support and training among professionals that staff these courts.

Justice Stratton has played a lead role in developing partnerships between the courts and the mental health system in Ohio. Five years ago, she founded and chairs the Ohio Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Mentally Ill in the Courts. This Advisory Committee is comprised of representatives from the Ohio Departments of Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, Rehabilitation and Corrections, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Office of Criminal Justice Services, Judges, law enforcement, mediation experts, housing and treatment providers, and consumer advocacy groups. The Advisory Committee encourages the development of similar task forces at the county level and the establishment of county mental health specialty dockets. More recently, Justice Stratton formed a Kitchen Kabinet of six state agency directors who meet with her every other month to consider state policy initiatives such as suspending, rather than ending, Medicaid eligibility when a person enters prison.

Information and technical assistance support for justices interested in mentally ill diversion efforts are available through the Judges Criminal Justice/Mental Health Leadership Institute (JLI), created with support from GAINS/TAPA Center for Jail Diversion and the Council of State Governments Criminal Justice and Mental Health Consensus Project. Nationally, state Supreme Court Chief Justices meet twice a year and at their January meeting, the Conference of Chief Justices unanimously adopted a resolution supporting the efforts of the JLI and encouraged chief justices to take a lead role in addressing the issue of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system. Justice Stratton co-chairs the JLI Board with Miami/Dade County Circuit Court Judge Steven Leifman. With an 18 month grant from the Conrad Hilton and JEHT Foundations, the JLI is preparing a request for proposals to fund five or six state Supreme Court-led task forces to spearhead the expansion of mental health and criminal justice collaborations throughout more states. Letters will be sent to state Supreme Court Chief Justices from the Council of State Governments Consensus Project notifying them of the opportunity to apply.

In testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in 2003 in support of the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Criminal Reduction Act legislation, which was later enacted by Congress, Justice Stratton described the reason behind her initiatives,

"A revolving door problem has developed in this country. Jails and prisons have become the de facto mental health system of our day. We must reverse the trend. Over the past few years, innovative diversion programs and other pioneering efforts across the nation have been successful in attacking this crisis . . . If not for altruistic reasons, this change is crucial in terms of the cost savings to taxpayers . . . the question becomes would we rather spend these dollars to keep mentally ill citizens homeless, revolving in and out of our criminal justice system, or would we rather spend these dollars to help them to become stable, productive citizens?"

On October 10, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance released the FY 2007 Competitive Grant announcement for the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program that was created by the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Criminal Reduction Act to support state, local and tribal government programs. Click here for more information about this grant opportunity.

WASHINGTON, DC. Four years ago in the Indian Treaty Room at the White House, 18 federal agencies represented by their Cabinet Secretaries and Directors gathered for the first time in six years as the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. During that meeting of the revitalized Council, a modest investment of $35 million was pledged by three Cabinet Secretaries on behalf of their agencies- the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs - in an unprecedented federal interagency collaboration to affirm the intention set forth in President Bush's FY 2003 budget to invest in ending the homelessness of those who are the most vulnerable and most disabled, those who were living on the streets, in encampments, and long term in shelters, those whom researchers described as experiencing chronic homelessness. The Department of Health and Human Service, with participation by both the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), would later contribute an additional $20 million, making the "Collaborative Initiative" as it came to be known, a $55 million federal investment.

This unprecedented effort to combine funding streams from four different agencies into a single application was coordinated by the Interagency Council. The months long process was revealing of the statutory, regulatory, and cultural barriers that exist between agencies and programs that need to be overcome to support joint initiatives. Pictured here is the October 2003 Council meeting at which then U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi announced the Collaborative Initiative award grants:

• Housing and Health Options Provide Empowerment HHOPE
  Broward County, Florida
• Chattanooga Collaborative Initiative
  Chattanooga, Tennessee
• ACT Resources for Chronically Homeless (ARCH)
  Chicago, Illinois
• Rebuilding Lives PACT Team Initiative
  Columbus, Ohio
• Project Coming Home
  Contra Costa County, California
• Denver Housing Collaborative
  Denver, Colorado
• Skid Row Collaborative
  Los Angeles, California
• In Homes Now
  New York, New York
• Home First
  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Community Engagement Program
  Portland, Oregon
• Direct Access to Housing
  San Francisco, California

Last week a final grantee meeting was held for the 11 sites selected for funding in October 2003 from a pool of 106 applicants to discuss the results of this modest 3 year federal investment. A "by the numbers" outcome report would show 618 chronically homeless persons housed, ending more than 5200 years of homelessness, with a housing retention rate of 80%. For each one of these individuals, whose average length of homelessness had been 8.5 years, the initiative was life changing and in many cases probably life saving. But a strictly numbers report would fail to show the extent of this initiative's impact. As Director Mangano noted in his remarks to the assembled federal agencies and grantees, this initiative served notice that "political will was available to end chronic homelessness" and that "the Council would offer an activist agenda that would be experienced in the field across the nation." The Initiative also provided the opportunity, heretofore unavailable through single agency service specific funding, to provide technical assistance, monitor outcomes, and identify best practices from an initiative that offered an interrelated array of housing, mental health and addiction services, and veterans special needs assistance.

Director Mangano thanked the grantees for their work which "fashioned local partnerships that ensured the federal investment would leverage added resources and tangible results; reaffirmed that permanent supportive housing works; and demonstrated that rapid rehousing initiatives are an innovation that can be replicated."

In addition to reporting results from the 3 year initiative, discussion at the final grantee meeting focused on continued progress toward eliminating chronic homelessness by developing and sharing "lessons learned" with emphasis on three crosscutting themes: sustaining core program components, effective service models, and collaborations across systems and services. Participants received a cross site evaluation report, including a system integration measures update, from Dr. Robert Rosenheck, Director of the VA Northeast Program Evaluation Center and Yale University Professor of Psychiatry, Epidemiology, and Public Health. Dr. Rosenheck reported the evaluation continues to show excellent housing results, moderate improvements in clinical domains, increased coordination and treatment planning between agencies and increased trust and respect between agencies.

Participants were welcomed to the SAMHSA-funded conference by Dr. Charlene LeFauve, of SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and Dr. Larry Rickards from SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services. SAMHSA's Acting Executive Officer and Homeless Programs Coordinator Elaine Parry gave the closing address. Each site was presented with a certificate of appreciation and recognition by Council Deputy Director Mary Ellen Hombs.

Last week's e-news reported on the exciting 10-year planning development in Michigan led by Governor Jennifer Granholm and Michigan State Housing Development Authority Director Michael DeVos, whereby sixty 10-Year planning efforts were created covering every square mile of the state and unveiled at a two day Michigan Homeless Summit. During the summit, U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Housing and Community Facilities Administrator Russell Davis (shown here) participated in a technical assistance breakout session on rural homelessness. USDA's Rural Development Administration works with rural communities of less than 20,000, and because many rural counties have been losing population, some of USDA's housing resources are currently underutilized.

In his presentation Mr. Davis outlined a number of resources available through USDA's Rural Development Housing and Community Facilities Program including new housing voucher resources. The new voucher resources consist of $16 million made available by Congress for a demonstration program to assist eligible families living in Section 515 loan financed projects impacted by an owner's decision to prepay the loan and convert the property to market rate housing after September 30, 2005. One year tenant based vouchers are being made available under this demonstration which will be administered by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under an interagency agreement with USDA. More information is available in a Notice published in the Federal Register on March 20, 2006. Mr. Davis also noted that legislation is currently pending in Congress, HR 5039, which would provide USDA with broader voucher authority in non prepayment and non disaster situations.

Examples of USDA resources being used for homeless programs include guaranteed and direct loans and grants for homeless and domestic violence shelters through USDA's Community Facilities program; single family housing real estate-owned (REO) properties being leased to non profit organizations or public bodies for transitional housing; priority for disaster displaced families to obtain REO housing; and the dual use of farm labor housing resources for homeless persons. There are over 17,000 USDA funded multifamily housing properties located in rural areas across the nation, of which approximately 70% benefit from some form of rental assistance. By statute, those with very low incomes have priority over those at low to moderate income levels. Approximately 12-15% of USDA's Section 515 multifamily property residents have zero income. In response to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, occupancy rules were significantly modified to allow quick access to the approximately 30,000 vacant units in these multifamily properties. Almost 20,000 eligible displaced individuals were assisted.

Mr. Davis encouraged communities engaged in rural 10-year plan efforts to consult with the USDA through USDA's State Directors. USDA has flexibility through its demonstration authority to work with communities in developing innovative programs. A wealth of information can be accessed for each state on the USDA website.

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS. The Cambridge Housing Assistance Fund raises money to provide "gap" funding to help homeless families and individuals secure rental housing and assist at-risk families maintain their housing. Prodded by the Cambridge-based non profit organization CASCAP, CHAF was created by the Cambridge Community of Realtors in 1999 and has grown into a public-private partnership with the Cambridge banking community, HomeStart, the Cambridge Multi-Service Center for the Homeless, the Cambridge Housing Authority, CASCAP, and Harvard University.

CHAF Funds are used to help with costs associated with moving into a home or retaining housing including security deposits, first and last months rent, realtor fees, moving costs, storage, and utility bills. As CHAF's director David Pap explains, rental startup costs can exceed over $4000 in the Cambridge area so by helping with these costs, "we give people a financial boost over that last obstacle to get out of the shelter, or off the street and into a home." Similarly, "it costs CHAF on average $670 to prevent a family or individual from falling into homelessness. Once homeless, it costs $37,000 to keep them in the shelter system for a year." Over its eight year history, CHAF has raised nearly $1 million which has been used to help 900 households. CHAF reports that 95% of the households are still housed one year after receiving assistance.

Applications for assistance are reviewed by an approval committee, comprised of staff from HomeStart, Inc., the Cambridge Housing Authority, and the Cambridge Multi-Service Center for the Homeless based on criteria agreed upon by the Cambridge Community of Realtors. These CHAF community partners also ensure that families being assisted have access to counseling and follow-up support services. HomeStart and the Cambridge Multi-Service Center for the Homeless offer housing search assistance and a variety of support and stabilization services including access to telephone, voice mail and transportation resources; assistance negotiating with property owners and managers; and case management services supporting access to healthcare, education. employment programs and other community and home-based services. HomeStart also operates a free furniture bank. The Cambridge Housing Authority is responsible for nearly 10% of the city's rental stock including CHA owned units and leased housing placements. CHA has developed a number of special and innovative housing initiatives including a tenant homeownership program, several elderly congregate programs, several special needs residences, a single room occupancy program, and a tenant services adult and youth program that has received national recognition.

An annual benefit concert is the largest fundraising event for CHAF, traditionally held in Sanders Theatre through the generosity of Harvard University. This year's benefit held on September 29 featured the world premiere of regardisregard, a multimedia presentation for chorus and soloists featuring words and images of and by homeless people. CHAF is also supported by substantial donations from community banks including Citizens Bank which has donated $20,000 a year since 2004, and through contributions from many area realtors who donate part of their earnings from each closing.

"Lessons Learned" was the title of last week's final grantee meeting for the Collaborative Initiative to Help End Chronic Homelessness, a federal multi-agency collaboration providing $55 million in coordinated housing and services resources to 11 community partnerships for persons experiencing chronic homelessness (see related story).

The "lessons learned" were grouped into three categories: Housing/Services, Collaboration, and Sustainability. The following list captures the goals and some identified "lessons learned" in each of these areas:

Housing/Services

Goals: to create additional permanent supportive housing for persons experiencing chronic homelessness; increase effectiveness of integrated systems of care; and replicate evidence based service models.

Lessons Learned: participation by VA staff members found helpful to service teams; tension exists between low demand, client choice and engaging clients in supportive services;difficulty exists in finding sufficient substance abuse treatment services ; staff travel time and client transportation can be a challenge with scattered site housing; strong relationships with landlords/brokers need to be developed; 3rd party payee can free case manager time and remove some tension in client relationship; budget for housing repairs, furnishings and move in costs shouldn't be overlooked.

Collaboration

Goals: create integrated systems of care; develop infrastructure to sustain housing, services, treatments, interorganizational partnerships.

Lessons Learned: establish a decision making structure among partners; reconcile differences in expectations around program goals and client needs; be prepared for staff turnover; ensure that the right partners continue to come to the table; include the Social Security Administration among federal partners; federal housing policies can make it hard to house some clients with criminal records, prior evictions; participation by VA staff very helpful.

Sustainability:

Goals: increase use of mainstream resources including Medicaid,TANF, entitlements, block grants; develop infrastructure to sustain housing, services, treatments, and partnerships beyond the federal initiative.

Lessons Learned: opportunities exist through FQHC and Medicaid billing; city reallocation of resources; state tax allocations such as Prop 63 in California and tobacco tax in Colorado; foundation and local business support; can have difficulty covering case management costs; changing local and state politics and annual funding decisions can make it difficult to tap local funding streams reliably.

OTHER KEY FINDINGS REPORTED AT THE MEETING: Housing First works; ACT-like services are critical; some clients need more structured settings; need for ongoing staff training; allow for longer learning curve; need staff dedicated to collaboration and sustainability efforts; importance of VA participation; need for stiffer benchmarks to motivate and measure progress; after housing and period of stability, some clients sought employment and volunteer opportunities, more interaction with peers, and community connections.

Momentum continues to build for 2006 National Project Homeless Connect Week. This week, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness convened a national conference call with representatives of the 35 cities who've already committed to holding a Connect event during National Week. These conference calls, which include participation by the Council's Regional Coordinators who have all had hands-on experience with prior Connect events, are one way in which the Council is offering technical assistance to these communities as they gear up for their Connect events. This week's call included discussion of a uniform format for reporting event results. The Council's Regional Coordinators are also actively recruiting federal and state agency partners for on- site participation at the many National Week events to assist persons who are homeless with immediate resources. For more information on National Week or to learn more about the Project Homeless Connect innovation, please visit the Council's website at www.usich.gov. More than a dozen additional cities are scheduled to hold Connect events early in 2007.