ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA. " My friends, the State of our City is great. But, let me be clear. A great City without a great heart is one that has yet to achieve its destiny. Saint Paul can never move ahead if we leave any behind." So stated St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly in April as he made ending chronic homelessness the focus of his State of the City address, stressing new initiatives to intervene in young adult homelessness in the city and urging St. Paul citizens to join with him "in dedication to the worthy goal of eliminating chronic homelessness in St. Paul." United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director joined Mayor Kelly as he became the 30th Mayor of a state capital to commit to a 10- Year Plan. Mayor Kelly is pictured here at left with Archbishop Harry Flynn, Director Mangano, and Governor Tim Pawlenty, who joined him for the event

This week, Mayor Kelly, St. Paul City Council Member Pat Harris, County Commissioner Toni Carter and members of a joint city-county Homeless Advisory Board unveiled St. Paul's new 5-year, $131 million plan to end chronic homelessness which points to cost benefit analysis as a key element in creating its focus on housing and ending reliance on emergency services. Stated the Mayor as he announced the City's new initiatives, "We are in fact our brother's keepers, and we have a responsibility to all human beings."

The Plan sets an overall goal of 920 supportive housing units over five years. Proposed new construction will include several housing options, such as drug- and alcohol-free units and housing for families and youths. More than $33 million will be spent on new construction and $30.8 million on buying and rehabilitating existing homes. About $36 million is set aside for rental assistance, and nearly $31 million will be spent on support services, including counseling. St. Paul has already reached an agreement with Catholic Charities to build a 120-bed single occupancy facility next year, financed in part by a state award of $10.6 million. A second phase of the plan will address those considered transitionally homeless and is expected to be announced next spring.

WASHINGTON, DC. Federal partners and State teams convened this week "Improving Access to Mainstream Services for Families with Children Experiencing Homelessness," the ninth Federal Policy Academy, which convened in Anaheim, California. Federal partners present were the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Departments of Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, and Veterans Affairs. State Teams attended from California, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Rhode Island, and Utah, all states which also recently welcomed hurricane evacuees.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, invited to address the state leaders, identified the importance of the event: "This Policy Academy - through peers, experts, and researchers - will give us new ideas and tools to further our collective mission of ending the homelessness of our poorest neighbors. We recognize that there is a gap between what we know and what we practice. Our mission is to close the gap with results-oriented, evidence based innovation, informed by research and data, and impact oriented." Director Mangano is pictured here meeting with Rhode Island's team.

State teams were joined by researchers and innovators who presented data and evidence-based practices for families experiencing homelessness, including Dr. Marybeth Shinn, New York University Department of Psychology. Implementation, Integration, and Systems Change was addressed by Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance Commissioner John Wagner, Arizona Department of Economic Security Program Administrator for Community Services Charlene Flaherty, and Montana Council on Homelessness Coordinator Sherrie Downing.

State partners heard from HHS' Barbara Broman of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and Josephine Robinson, Director of HHS' Office of Community Services. Joining the federal representatives to work directly with state teams were Interagency Council Coordinators John O'Brien (Region I) and Eduardo Cabrera (Region IX).

Breakout sessions for state teams included programs on housing, assisting homeless families with employment skills; Medicaid; supporting homeless families and at-risk families through creative use of TANF funds; youth aging out of foster care; addressing the health/behavioral health needs of homeless families; helping homeless families meet the educational needs of their school-aged and preschool-aged children; reentry and its realities for prisoners, families, and communities; and federal nutrition programs.

The intended objectives for the Policy Academy process include assisting state and local policymakers to develop an Action Plan intended to improve access to mainstream health and human services and employment opportunities that are coordinated with housing for persons who are experiencing homelessness; creating and/or reinforcing relationships among the Governor's office, State Legislators, key program administrators, and stakeholders from the public and private sectors; providing an environment conducive to the process of strategic decision-making; assisting State and local policymakers in identifying issues or areas of concern that may result in a formal request for technical assistance.

While in California, Director Mangano also toured Skid Row and, with Califronia Department of Mental Health Director Dr. Steven Mayberg, participated in a meeting with Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca, where partners discussed the impact of California's new investment in ending chronc homelessness with law enforcement and state partners.

WASHINGTON, DC. The National Institute of Justice of the U.S. Department of Justice, Fannie Mae Foundation's KnowledgePlex, and Harvard University's Government Innovators Network will convene a national audio conference next week to address the challenges that former prisoners face in reintegrating into society and finding adequate housing upon release from prison. Key leaders in reentry research and program development will share their knowledge and experience, highlighting housing programs designed to assist returning prisoners and discussing the resulting policy challenges for lawmakers.

The call will convene on November 9 at 2 pm Eastern. The panelists for the event are: Terry Donahue, associate director of the Community Capacity Development Office, U.S. Department of Justice; Jeremy Travis, President of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry; and Georgia Lerner, associate executive director for Program Operations at the Women's Prison Association.

To attend the session, you will need phone and Internet access. For the audio component (conference call), call (888) 455-0031 and use Passcode: 6257887. For the online component, go to: https://www111.livemeeting.com/cc/fanniemaefoundationseminars/join?id=Prisoner+Reentry&role=attend&pw=Attendee Enter your full name, organization, and e-mail address as prompted. Participation is limited, so callers are urged to log on a few minutes early to secure a spot. High-speed Internet access is optimal for accessing the online component. You must use Internet Explorer 6.x or Netscape 7.2. For Macintosh users, Safari 1.2 is required.

WASHINGTON, DC. New research findings released last week by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on discharge planning as a strategy to prevent homelessness add new insights to the research foundation shaping federal policy and the goal of ending chronic homelessness. Past research, including the work of Dr. Dennis Culhane of the University of Pennsylvania who defined the nature and impact of chronic homelessness and the multi-year statewide data and policy initiative of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA), have documented that many people with serious mental illnesses and/or substance abuse histories who experience homelessness move repeatedly through public systems and institutions such as state psychiatric hospitals, public and private hospitals, jails and prisons, homeless shelters, the streets, and drug treatment programs. Emerging cost benefit analysis from 10-Year Plans to End Chronic Homelessness around the country are providing new insights into the patterns of use and public costs of such patterns.

With the prevention of homelessness a key goal of the HHS Action Plan to end chronic homelessness, HHS's Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation sponsored the just released study consistent with the Action Plan's strategy that of identifying and promoting the use of effective, evidence-based homelessness prevention interventions. The study was intended to build knowledge for researchers and policy makers in the field of homelessness regarding the potential to evaluate discharge planning in institutional and custodial settings.

While inadequate discharge planning has been identified and documented as a significant factor contributing to homelessness among persons with mental illnesses and/or substance use disorders, few formal studies have examined the issue. The HHS study looked at four institutional and custodial settings which previous research had indicated were closely linked to the population entering shelters: adult inpatient psychiatric treatment units in state psychiatric, private psychiatric, or general hospitals; residential treatment centers serving children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and/or substance use disorders; residential treatment programs for adults with substance use disorders; and foster care independent living programs.

HHS's research used an Expert Panel process where members discussed key analytic issues and nominated "exemplary" discharge planning programs for use in a documentary analysis and site visits; performed an analysis of discharge-planning-related documents (e.g., discharge planning policies, procedure manuals, job descriptions, forms, and screening instruments) from 19 programs; and made site visits to 8 of the 19 programs. In addition, an Analytic Findings Report synthesized findings from the documentary analysis and site visits in order to address key research questions and determine whether discharge planning is evaluable; and evaluation design options were developed outlining possible research studies on discharge planning and related homeless prevention issues.

Researchers strongly identified some key factors in its work, including the role of adequate community residential placements with services and interagency funding and operational factors. A key question for the four institutional settings was whether the discharge planning process is separable from the broader program in which it operates, and researchers pointed out that, while most programs have some discharge planning procedures and forms, few have a written protocol to ensure uniform application of the protocol or documentation of efforts. None of the 19 programs studied used screening instruments to identify clients at risk of homelessness and in need of intensive discharge planning efforts. The Final Report identified several alternative study designs to evaluate specific issues or activities related to discharge planning and homelessness prevention.

With all competing jurisdictions now completing documentation requirements on discharge planning improvement annually in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Homeless Assistance Grants program, city and state partners can locate material compiled with the support of HHS's Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council from MHSA's initiatives and other sources on the Interagency Council web site. Visit http://www.usich.gov/innovations/1/index.html to see assessment tools, collaboration examples, exemplary policies and practices, and outcome oriented innovations.

WASHINGTON, DC. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released a new treatment resource for substance abuse treatment counselors and administrators who work with clients in the criminal justice system. SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie is pictured here.

Substance Abuse Treatment for Adults in the Criminal Justice System, SAMHSA's Treatment Improvement Protocol 44 (TIP 44), presents clinical guidelines to help substance abuse treatment counselors address issues that arise from their clients' status in the criminal justice system. In addition, it will aid personnel in the criminal justice system in understanding and addressing the challenges of working with offenders with substance use disorders. Key components of the TIP include chapters on: screening and assessment, triage and placement in treatment services, substance abuse treatment planning, major treatment issues and approaches, adapting offender treatment for specific populations, specific treatment needs and strategies for individuals in four particular criminal justice settings: pretrial and diversion settings, jails, prisons, and community supervision settings, and key issues related to program development.

The TIP's goals are to provide relevant information that will enable treatment providers to be more effective in their approach to offender and ex- offender populations; help people in community treatment understand the criminal justice system and how it works with their treatment services; and encourage collaboration between the criminal justice and substance abuse treatment communities. TIP 44 also presents multiple perspectives: public safety, public health, substance abuse treatment, and corrections. Differing client needs, issues of culture and society, and characteristics of the local criminal justice system are also discussed.

SAMHSA has also produced TIPs on homelessness issues, including: Integrating Substance Abuse Treatment and Vocational Services (#38); Enhancing Motivation for Change in Substance Abuse Treatment (#35); Substance Use Disorder Treatment for People With Physical and Cognitive Disabilities (#29); Comprehensive Case Management for Substance Abuse Treatment (#27); and Simple Screening Instruments for Outreach for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Infectious Diseases (#11).

The Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series are best-practice guidelines for the treatment of substance abuse. SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) Division of Services Improvement draws on the experience and knowledge of clinical, research, and administrative experts to produce the TIP Series, which are distributed to a growing number of facilities and individuals across the country. To obtain TIP 44, Substance Abuse Treatment for Adults in the Criminal Justice System, contact SAMHSA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at P.O. Box 2345, Rockville, MD 20847-2345. Telephone: 1 (800) 729-6686 (English and Spanish) or 1 (800) 487-4889 (TDD). Ask for NCADI No. BKD526.

. . . that 55 States and Territories have participated in at least one Homeless Policy Academy, and, of these, 49 have submitted draft Action Plans itemizing strategies to increase access to mainstream services.

. . . that HHS's Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) web site houses all materials presented at the Policy Academy sessions and the 2004 National Learning Meeting at www.hrsa.gov/homeless

. . . that the HRSA web site also offers copies of each state's Vision Statement, Action Plan, and contact information for State Team Leaders.

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news continues its series of excerpts from remarks of public officials focused on homelessness. Following are excerpts of remarks by Council Director Philip Mangano at the Federal Policy Academy this week.

. . . Every state here received record funding from the federal government last year for targeted homeless assistance. And every state here welcomed evacuees from the recent hurricanes. Cumulatively your 7 states received $221.6 million in 2000 and $339.9 million last year - a 53% increase in resources. New resources are not enough - new ideas are important.

. . . Among those new ideas is doing a better job accessing mainstream resources and investing in innovative ideas that produce results. We can no longer shuffle homeless clients around. We need to house homeless neighbors in housing initiatives - to end their homelessness.

. . . If we look at the lessons of Katrina, we see newly homeless people, mostly families, victims of a natural disaster scattered through the affected area and the helping states and cities - many to your states and to others. What characterized the response to them was an unprecedented outpouring of political and civic will created results and movement.

. . . Spontaneous and intuitive "one-stops" with every service, every resource, every option, all readily available in the shelters or nearby. We need to appropriate these lessons of Katrina in responding to newly homeless people for our work with historic homeless people.

WASHINGTON, DC. WITH THIS ISSUE, the e- newsletter continues its focus on news about the Title V federal surplus property and opportunities to secure resources for homeless programs under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Title V provides that state and local governments, as well as nonprofit organizations, are eligible to apply for land and buildings that have been determined by the federal government to be "suitable and available" for eligible uses to benefit homeless people. More than two dozen agencies of the federal government are included as "landholding" agencies that may have property.

Properties are made available on an "as is" basis. Properties are leased without charge, although the homeless organization must pay for operating and repair costs. Depending on the availability of the property, and other factors, surplus properties may also be deeded to the organization. HUD collects information from Federal agencies concerning their unutilized, underutilized, excess and surplus properties and determines which are suitable for use to assist homeless persons. The determination is based on information submitted by the agency controlling the property. The Department of Housing and Urban Development publishes a weekly notice every Friday in the Federal Register listing property determinations and availability. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) handles the application portion of the program. Interested providers should notify HHS of their intention to apply for property within 60 days of the Federal Register notice. Applicants have 90 days after an expression of interest is received by HHS to submit an application. Once an application is complete, HHS acts on it within 25 days. The landholding agency enters into a license, permit, or lease agreement for homeless provider's use of unutilized or underutilized property. HHS handles the lease or deed document for surplus properties.

In the September 13 full Council meeting, a key federal housing policy development regarding the Title V program and in support of the Administration's goal of ending chronic homelessness was announced. United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) Dr. Michael O'Grady announced to Council members that the Department, responding both to the Administration's goal and the needs of communities, will in the future consider permanent supportive housing as an eligible use for federal surplus property under the McKinney-Vento Title V program.

The Department will publish a notice for review and comment this fall to operationalize the change. The policy change will reverse the approach in place since the creation of the property program in 1987, under which eligible uses for surplus property have been emergency shelter, transitional programs, and supportive services. According to HHS, this policy change will expand the options available to communities to better meet the needs of disabled individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness.