WASHINGTON, DC. For the first time in the history of contemporary homelessness in the United States, the federal government this week released national data reported by local communities showing a 12% decline in the number of persons experiencing chronic homelessness in the nation. "We will continue to help the most vulnerable in our society find housing and other services as we work towards the President's goal of eliminating chronic homelessness," said a White House Press Statement released by the White House Press Secretary in conjunction with the announcement of the decrease (see related e-news story).

The unprecedented news garnered national media attention, including a USA Today article. United States Department of Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary and former United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Chair Alphonso Jackson announced at a press conference that the chronically homeless population fell from 175,914 in 2005 to 155,623 in 2006. The data are based on reports from a single day from 3,900 cities and counties, of which more than 1,500 reported a decrease over one year.

"While we have a lot of work ahead of us to eliminate chronic homelessness in America, these numbers show remarkable progress is being made," said Secretary Jackson. "HUD and local communities are increasingly providing permanent housing solutions and breaking a vicious cycle of homelessness for those who have lived on the streets as a way of life."

"These are the numbers we've been waiting to hear for a quarter of a century," stated Council Executive Director Philip Mangano. "This Administration, in partnership with the Congress, has made record resources available through HUD and other federal agencies for six consecutive years. The national partnership created by the Council of mayors, county executives, and governors has used those HUD housing-focused resources along with new local resources to invest in strategies that focus on housing and supports. The result - the first decrease in memory."

"Fewer of our most vulnerable and disabled neighbors are living on the streets or languishing in shelters. Increased resources, innovative initiatives, and a national partnership of every level of government with the private sector are the ingredients of a new strategy that is making an impact across the country," he said. "Mayors and county executives deserve much credit as do agencies who have stepped up to create housing. We are moving beyond managing the crisis to ending the disgrace of homelessness. That's good for the homeless person, good for the quality of life in our communities, and good for the taxpayer."

ASHLAND, KENTUCKY. With crossed fire ladders holding the American flag on Winchester Avenue in downtown Ashland, Kentucky, Mayor Stephen Gilmore last Friday night welcomed United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano to Ashland's unveiling of its 10-Year Plan. Ashland's new plan credits the 2006 Mayors' Summit on Homelessness sponsored by the Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) and keynoted by Director Mangano, as setting the town of 20,000 on the trajectory for its new initiative.

Kentucky Housing's 10-Year Plan initiative, part of the state's own 10-Year business plan, was represented by KHC Chief Officer Rick McQuady. Ashland, which sits on the Ohio River in Northeastern Kentucky at the edge of Appalachia, was one of the recipients of a planning grant from KHC for local jurisdictions to create 10-Year Plans.

The outdoor ceremony was followed by an event hosted at the city's Pendleton Arts Center as part of the "First Friday" art walk event in downtown Ashland. Pictured here at the event are (left to right): Danny Craig, Main Street Director; Rick McQuady, Kentucky Housing Corporation; Greg Rice, Community Development Director; Mayor Gilmore; Reverend Ike Nicholson, Senior Minister, First Ministerial Association and First Christian Church; Kyle Robinson, University of Kentucky Extension Agent, and 10-Year Plan Author Chris Pullem, Economic Development Director.

"Isn't this the way it is should be? " asked Director Mangano. "Every level of government partnered - city, county, state, and national - along with elements of the private sector - all with one goal, one objective, one mission - to bring an end to a moral and spiritual wrong."

The new Plan includes an ownership statement that "reducing homelessness requires a collaborative community effort. Stakeholders include local government and businesses, area service agencies, churches and faith based organizations, community leaders, non-profits, hospitals and health care providers, volunteers, educational institutions, mental health and correctional facilities, housing authorities, emergency systems, homeless shelters, law enforcement, and veteran assistance agencies."

Ashland's plan is structured with four focus areas of housing, education and employment, medical services and basic needs, and policy and case management. The priorities were paired with strategies that can be used to address or solve each issue, and each strategy is explored further by the Logic Model which examines available or needed resources, required tasks and activities, projected outputs, expected outcomes, and an estimated impact. An Annual Action Plan designates the responsible agency, time frame, required action, and projected annual outcome of each strategy selected for implementation.

Mayor Gilmore, a lifelong resident of Ashland, is a former four-term City Commissioner, and former Chairman of Ashland Parks Board. He is a Board Member of United Way of Boyd and Greenup, Trustee of Boyd County Public Library, and Secretary / Treasurer of Ashland Optimist Club. His participation in the Summit and his political will extended in the planning effort ensure that Ashland's plan is moving forward to implementation. Mayor Gilmore and the Director are pictured here.

Interagency Council Team Leader Michael German also participated.

WICHITA, KANSAS. "In late 2002, when I addressed the Kansas Statewide Summit on Ending Homelessness, a young woman approached me and said she was inspired as she had never been and had a new vision for the work that she was doing," said United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, addressing 10-Year Planning partners in Wichita and Sedgwick County last week. "She said 'I feel like there's a train pulling out of the station, and I want to be sure that Wichita is on that train.' Well, it turns out that she was prophetic. There is a train that has pulled out of the station. And now on board that train are new partners in our abolitionist cause to end homelessness."

Director Mangano, joining Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, Vice Mayor Sharon Fearey, City Manager George Kolb, Sedgwick County Manager Bill Buchanan, Sedgwick County Commissioner Tim Norton, Task Force Co- Chairs Jack Focht and Janet Miller, and United Way President Pat Hanrahan last week addressed Wichita's Taskforce to End Chronic Homelessness at the United Way of the Plains (pictured here above). Throughout the visit, commitment to the Plan and hospitality were evidenced by Inter-Faith Ministries Executive Director Sam Muyskens.

Pictured here are (left to right): Mayor Brewer, Janet Miller, Director Mangano, Vice-Mayor Fearey, Sedgwick County Commissioner Norton, and Jack Focht. At Mayor Brewer's office, Director Mangano met with the Mayor and City Manager Kolb to discuss specifics of best practice initiatives that are achieving results across the country. Interagency Council Team Leader Michael German also participated in the visit and meetings.

After the city and county partners' events, Director Mangano met with several members of the Kansas Interagency Council on Ending Homelessness, hosted by Sam Muyskens (pictured here) at Inter- Faith Ministries. State Council members participating were Robin Jackson, Statewide Emergency Shelter Grant coordinator, Valorie Sanders, Statewide Re-entry Program specialist, and Sandy Swank, Inter-Faith Ministries Director of Housing and Homeless.

The day's events ended with the dedication of the Inter- Faith Enrichment Center with Sam Muyskens, the Vice Mayor, and Director Mangano making remarks and commending the continuing work of Inter-Faith in creating housing and hospitality for homeless people. The Center will house two Outreach Case Mangers and Inter-Faith's Director of Housing and Homeless programs. Cost for the renovation of the Enrichment Center was paid for by Cargill, an international agricultural company, which was represented at the event by Ann Zerman, Chair of Cargill Cares Committee. The Enrichment Center is located next to another new construction project called Inter-Faith Villa Courts which will provide 40 new housing units that will include supportive services with a full-time case- manager within the building. Within the new Villa Courts project will be Cessna Learning Center supported by Cessna. Villa Courts is slated for completion next summer, providing 105 housing units with supportive services, a Community Room for 100 guests, the Cargill Enrichment Center, and the Cessna Learning Center.

In this issue of the e-news, the Interagency Council continues its reports on the role of cost benefit analysis in mobilizing political and civic will to end homelessness. Coming soon on the Council's web site (www.usich.gov) you will find a library of local cost analyses emerging from 10-Year Plans.

In this e-news we report on events last week in Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas. Commenting on the events of last week, the Wichita Eagle observed in a Sunday, November 4 editorial, "Homelessness also an economic issue . . . Our city is poised to make real progress on ending chronic homelessness -- especially if Wichitans understand the high economic costs of business as usual . . . But once Wichitans realize the exorbitant price the community pays for letting the homeless wander our streets, the solution might look like a bargain."

Across the nation, from communities large and small, cost analysis of the status quo of managing homelessness continues to emerge and drive political and civic will to the partnerships, innovations, and investments in results evidenced in jurisdictions now reporting reductions in street and chronic homelessness.

In Dallas County, Texas this week, County Commissioners voted to invest $1 million in Dallas's new Homeless Assistance Center, based on data that showed that about 15% of the jail population was homeless, representing about $2.4 million in annual costs. The new investment is the county's single largest on the issue and will continue as long as evaluation shows the investment is having an impact on the jail system.

During the last fiscal year almost 4,000 homeless defendants entered the jail system as a result of more than 10,000 offenses. An average of 653 homeless defendants were in jail on any given day, and, while a majority of those persons were in jail just once during 12 months, more than 250 were jailed more than four times. Trespassing was the most common offense.

Dallas 10-Year Plan Champion and local business leader Mike Rawlings noted of the new approach, "It's smarter business to approach it that way, and it's good for those people." Data also indicated that the annual cost to the court system is $588,730, with additional costs from Parkland Memorial Hospital's costs for providing medical and mental health care to homeless inmates, who typically need such services more than other inmates.

In Billings, Montana last week, the Mayor's Committee on Homelessness shared a "data workbook" about local homelessness showing initial findings of just over $4 million in costs for emergency rooms, health care, treatment, incarceration, and shelters. Created in 2006 in Billings after the city was chosen as the site for a pilot project by the Montana Council on Homelessness which was established two years earlier, the Mayor's Committee on Homelessness expects to complete work on a 10- Year Plan to end chronic homelessness by next spring. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano addressed the pilot site partners in 2006 as they began their work, stressing the importance of cost benefit analysis.

According to a survey of 283 homeless people conducted last January, the average cost for services came to $15,536 per person in 2006, for a total of just under $4.4 million. During last year's Point in Time count, volunteers asked each of the 283 respondents the average number of days they spent in emergency shelter, jail, transitional shelter, chemical dependency and mental health facilities, prison, hospitals and emergency rooms, and how often they had been picked up by an ambulance.

The most expensive cost was hospitalization, which averaged $5,725 per person, followed by inpatient chemical dependency treatment at $2,768, and inpatient mental-health care, $2,451.Respondents were also asked to identify three key resources that could help them secure housing. The most frequent answers given were: rental assistance, help with a rental deposit and getting a job, transportation, utility deposit, and health care.

In Rhode Island, where the State of Rhode Island and United Way first invested in Housing First in 2005, partners last week unveiled new data for the state's initiative at a press conference in the State House. Providence College Professor Eric Hirsch identified $1.5 million in costs in hospital, mental heath/substance abuse treatment, emergency rooms, incarceration, and shelters for 48 individuals who are now housed but had over 7.5 years of homeless experience each. Since being housed, the cost of housing and services amounts to a savings of about a half-million dollars.

Armeather Gibbs, chief operating officer of the United Way of Rhode Island, gave a vivid example of such costs, citing one individual who was transported daily to the hospital and even twice daily, with costs of $134,877 over four months.

Also participating in the press conference were: Ron Gallo, President and CEO, The Rhode Island Foundation, Richard Godfrey, Executive Director, Rhode Island Housing, Janice Elliott, Regional Director, Corporation for Supportive Housing, and residents of the Housing First Rhode Island program.

WASHINGTON, DC. "Throughout our history, America has been protected by patriots who cherished liberty and made great sacrifices to advance the cause of freedom. The brave members of the United States Armed Forces have answered the call to serve our Nation, ready to give all for their country. On Veterans Day, we honor these extraordinary Americans for their service and sacrifice, and we pay tribute to the legacy of freedom and peace that they have given our great Nation. " With these words, President Bush issued the Presidential Proclamation declaring November 11-17 as National Veterans Awareness Week and called on Americans to observe Veterans Day on November 11.

The Presidential proclamation also stated: "Veterans Day is dedicated to the extraordinary Americans who protected our freedom in years past, and to those who protect it today. They represent the very best of our Nation. Every Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine, and Coast Guardsman has earned the lasting gratitude of the American people, and their service and sacrifice will be remembered forever. In the words of Abraham Lincoln: ' . . . let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle . . . .' On this Veterans Day, I ask all Americans to express their appreciation to our Nation's veterans."

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, who will attend Veterans Day ceremonies at Arlington Cemetery, indicated, "While we would all agree that anyone who has served their country falling into homelessness is a national disgrace, new data indicate that, in the past decade, the numbers of veterans on our streets have fallen and VA resources targeted to those lives have increased."

President Bush last week also nominated Lt. Gen. James B. Peake (Ret.), M.D., to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs. From 2000 to 2004, Dr. Peake served as the 40th Surgeon General of the United States Army. In this position, he commanded 50,000 medical personnel and 187 army medical facilities worldwide with an operating budget of almost $5 billion. Dr. Peake was also commander in several medical posts, and is credited with improving the training and techniques of the Army medical force. Notably, Dr. Peake served as Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Department Center and School - the largest medical training facility in the world, with over 30,000 students. He retired from the Army in 2004.

Dr. Peake now serves as the Chief Medical Director and Chief Operating Officer of QTC Management, Inc. QTC serves veterans and separating soldiers by providing timely medical examination and electronic medical record services to help government agencies manage medical data and information in a cost- effective manner. From 2004 to 2006, Dr. Peake was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Project HOPE, a non-profit international health foundation with offices and programs in more than 30 different countries on five continents. While at Project HOPE, Dr. Peake helped to orchestrate the use of civilian volunteers aboard the Navy Hospital Ship Mercy as it responded to the tsunami in Indonesia and aboard the Hospital Ship Comfort as part of the Hurricane Katrina response.

His distinguished military career began in 1966 with service as an infantry officer in Vietnam, for which he received the Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster for wounds sustained in battle. Dr. Peake was wounded twice in battle and received his acceptance letter to Cornell University Medical College while in the hospital recovering from injury. He attended medical school through an Army scholarship and then returned to the Army for his medical internships and residencies.

NEW RESEARCH RELEASED ON HOMELESS VETERANS. Also in Washington this week, Senators Jack Reed (RI) and Richard Burr (NC) joined Nan Roman, President of the National Alliance to End Homelessness and Stacey Stewart of Fannie Mae for the release of new research focused on meeting the needs of veterans. Vital Mission: Ending Homelessness among Veterans examines local U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs data on the number of homeless veterans and offers insights into the number of at-risk veterans experiencing severe housing cost burden. The report examines the impact of high housing costs on low- income veteran renters, and makes recommendations on how to prevent and end homelessness. In conjunction with the release, Fannie Mae announced Gallup poll findings on housing issues for veterans.

RECOVERY COORDINATORS FEATURE OF NEW INTERAGENCY COLLABORATION. The United States Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Defense (DoD) last week signed an agreement to provide "federal recovery coordinators" to help ensure medical services and other benefits are provided to seriously wounded, injured and ill active duty service members and veterans. The new positions were one of the top recommendations of the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors, co-chaired by former Sen. Robert Dole and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

"This agreement ensures our nation's active duty service members and veterans who have been wounded receive the very best care during their recoveries," said Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Gordon H. Mansfield. "Service members, veterans and their families can be assured they will have an ultimate resource they can rely on whenever help is needed from VA or DoD."

The first federal recovery coordinators will be provided by VA in coordination with DoD and will be located at top military treatment facilities throughout the nation to coordinate services between VA and DOD and, if necessary, private-sector facilities, while serving as the ultimate resource for families with questions or concerns about VA, DoD or other federal benefits.

The first ten federal recovery coordinators are scheduled to be hired by December 1. Plans call for the new employees to be trained and in place at four of the military's major health care facilities during January 2008. The coordinators will ensure appropriate oversight and coordination for care of active duty service members and veterans with major amputations, severe traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, severe sight or hearing impairments and severe multiple injuries. The coordinators will work closely with family members to take care of services and needs.

The coordinators will have a background in health care management and work closely with the clinicians and case management teams to develop and execute another major recommendation from the Dole- Shalala panel, individual federal recovery plans for the wounded. Those plans specify what services are needed from recovery through rehabilitation to reintegration to civilian life. The coordinators will have access to and support from the VA's Under Secretary for Health, VA's Under Secretary for Benefits, DoD's Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, as well as the commanders of facilities where service members and veterans receive treatment.

With this issue, the e-news continues its series of regular profiles that focus on what's working to end homelessness in conjunction with a new report and Veterans Day. In this series, we provide detailed information on an innovation or new technology that is achieving results in ending homelessness. From cities large and small, wherever in the country, whether a simple approach or the evolution of an innovation, we'll offer you key insights into results-oriented strategies. In keeping with this week's national focus on veterans, we look at results being achieved in New York City's initiative to end homelessness among veterans. Veterans are known to be disproportionately represented among the population experiencing chronic homelessness.

Almost one year ago, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and then U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary and United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Chair James Nicholson created Operation Home to develop a strategic plan to end veteran homelessness in New York City. Operation Home was guided by the vision that no one who has served and fought for their country should have to live on the streets. As a tangible first step, the City pledged to house 100 veterans in 100 days - marking its commitment to move veterans out of shelter or off the streets and into the warmth and security of their own home. At the same time, the Operation Home Task Force was charged with developing long-term plans for joint VA-NYC outreach teams, a joint VA-NYC veterans homeless intake center and additional permanent and transitional housing and related services for homeless veterans. The Task Force was co-chaired by Department of Homeless Services (DHS) Commissioner Robert V. Hess and Veterans Integrated Services NY/NJ Network Director James J. Farsetta. Its members consisted of leaders in the government and the non-profit and housing sectors.

One hundred days later, Operation Home had placed 135 veterans into permanent housing, exceeding its goals, and the Task Force developed an innovative plan. Six Workgroups and the Steering Committee met to design a new homeless veterans' service system with more than 45 government and community service providers giving their time and expertise to the effort. In addition, conversations with homeless veterans provided the Task Force with invaluable insights.

Guiding Principles. Several guiding principles shaped the plan: ensuring access for all homeless veterans; achieving full integration of all veterans back into the community with the supports necessary to maintain self-sufficiency; collaboration by the City, the VA and non-profit partners to ensure veterans obtain this ambitious goal; and joint investment by the City, the VA and non-profit partners for the new system .

Workgroups. Five standing Workgroups were created by the Task Force to develop the strategic plan: Intake/Assessment; Safe Haven; Short-term Housing; Housing Placement; and Evaluation. After a few meetings, the Steering Committee determined that a workgroup was needed to focus on Legal, Policy and Funding issues to address complex policy and legal questions in the design of the new system. The result was the development of protocols and standards for new joint outreach teams and the new joint homeless intake center for the exclusive use of veterans. Highlights include the following: outreach teams that include VA staff who can assist with the issues unique to veterans; health care, mental health treatment and substance abuse treatment provided by the VA for eligible veterans in short-term and permanent housing; and DHS-managed placements into permanent housing, some created specifically for veterans, using redirected shelter funds.

Multi-Service Center. Key to the new system is a Multi-Service Center dedicated to homeless veterans that links to VA resources, such as medical and mental health services, job training and VA benefits, where appropriate; short-term stay beds for veterans who have identified housing but are waiting to move in; short-term stay beds where veterans await housing to be identified; a single point of access for permanent housing applications by homeless veterans; and rental subsidies and housing support services.

The Multi-Service Center is designed to provide comprehensive housing and social service needs assessment, and to link veterans to appropriate services and placed in permanent housing or short-term housing facilities within thirty days. The Task Force proposed that the Multi-Service Center be located at the VA's Project TORCH facility in Brooklyn, provide comprehensive assessment of housing and social service needs, and facilitate ease of access to the new system with after hours and weekend placements to short-term housing beds. Permanent housing placement staff are proposed to work on site and work toward the goal of 30-day maximum time to re-integrate veterans back into the community. The site will provide medical, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and ensure access to job and benefits counseling.

Veterans Safe Haven. Another key element of Operation Home is a veteran- specific Safe Haven as a point of entry for veterans living on the streets, since some homeless individuals, many of whom are veterans, do not avail themselves of traditional shelter, short-term housing or permanent housing. The New York City Safe Haven model will provide a low threshold and easily accessible, immediate housing alternative for chronic street homeless clients. Safe Haven program elements will include: acceptance of referrals from joint VA-NYC Outreach Teams 24/7, focus on chronic street homeless veterans (9 of last 24 months on the street), low demand and low engagement approach, on-site social services and other program supports through the VA and non-profit partners, with staff working toward a goal of 90-day maximum time to placement, and access to Multi-Service Center for benefits counselors and other VA resources.

Planning to End Homelessness among Veterans. The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness recognizes that the needs of homeless veterans must be given special attention and consideration in the development and implementation of jurisdictional plans and has undertaken long-term support to its partners at every level of government and in the private sector to ensure the rapid dissemination of innovations in planning and programs for veterans. The New York City innovation will be added to the inventory of veteran-specific strategies available on the Council's web site to support jurisdictions in developing 10-Year Plans responsive to the needs of veterans.

With this issue, the e-news offers a continuing update on innovations, best practices and new ideas that emerged from the 24 Project Homeless Connect events implemented during the month of October and a preview of the more than 20 communities currently planning events for this year's National Project Homeless Connect Week, December 3-7 where immediacy of access to resources, community hospitality, and results will be key to best practice events.

"Welcome. A continental breakfast and lunch are on us. Please be sure to stop by the clothes closet and library, and pick up your free gifts. Showers, hair cuts, health screens, and dental are on site." With these words of welcome, homeless neighbors in Oakland County, Michigan were welcomed to the community's second Project Homeless Connect event.

Federal, state, and county partners, along with local resource programs, were on site. Partners combined their efforts to address basic quality of life needs, with Legal Aid & Defender's Society donating pens, and Oakland County donating notebooks for guests. Along with health and treatment screening, haircuts, showers, and benefits support, Advance Pharmacy and Oakland County Mental Health Association made cash contributions to support resources, and The Friends of Ferndale Library and the Friends of Brandon Library donated books to distribute.

Oakland County, Michigan, whose Commissioner Eric Coleman is the new President of the National Association of Counties, brought resources on site that included the Community Mental Health Authority, Health Department (offering dental and prescription cards, immunizations, STD screening, WIC, hearing and vision test), County Substance Abuse services, Veteran's Services (including Veteran benefits counseling, advocacy and claims assistance, emergency financial relief, and transportation to VA Medical Centers in Detroit and Ann Arbor), Workforce Development, Family Services (including Father's Resource Center offering two free support and education programs for fathers throughout Oakland County), and Oakland Schools Homeless Student Education Project, offering resources and school coordination services for homeless students including assistance to enroll students in school, transportation, student birth certificates, school supplies, free breakfast and lunch, school clothing, sports and activity fees.

State agency resources included Michigan Department of Community Health which is the lead agency for the federal SOAR initiative for SSI enrollment, Michigan Department of Human Services (supporting Medicaid, Food Assistance, Emergency Services, Day Care), and the Michigan Secretary of State, providing information regarding Michigan State ID cards, Driver's licenses, vehicle registration, and voter registration.

Communities already planning for participation in the December National Project Homeless Connect Week include New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Marin County, CA, Bridgeport and Danbury, CT, Nashua, NH, Morristown, NJ, Miami, San Jose, Los Angeles, Columbia, SC, San Mateo, CA, Clarksville, TN, Orlando, FL, and Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda County, CA.

Best practice and innovations from more than 100 prior events across the country are assembled in the Councils' new Project Homeless Connect Toolkit.

In Van Buren County, Michigan, a rural area, an inaugural Project Homeless Connect event showed that aggressive outreach in a rural county can produce an effective event. While planners expected 50 guests, it was 200 who participated last week in Lawrence, the central city in the county of 75,000. Over 15 partners provided resources at the RISD School District Conference Center.

The county's plan is one of 60 covering all of Michigan under the leadership of Governor Granholm and Michael DeVos of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Aggressive outreach in the community included PHC flyers, brochures and and post cards sent in the mail during the week before the event, and all Continuum of Cares posted notices in grocery stores and all public buildings two weeks before. Materials were translated into Spanish to reach rural farm worker camps which were due to close one 1 week after the PHC event, highlighting the Plan's prevention goal. United Way offered their 211 hot line number for information about the event and to provide a direct connection to public transportation and the ability for consumers to "reserve a ride" to the PHC event. record number consumers attended event free transportation provided for follow-up appointments.

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news continues to present information on resources to assist partners to end homelessness through opportunities presented by the McKinney- Vento Title V federal surplus property program. 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.

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 October listings of Federal buildings and other real property determined to be "suitable and available " include land or buildings in High Cross, AK; Kiana, AK; Dala, AL; Cochise, AZ; Phoenix, AZ; Yuma, AZ; Monterey, CA; Santa Clara, CA; Pueblo, CO; El Paso, CO; Chatham, GA; Chattachoochee, GA; Hinesville, GA; Liberty, GA; Muscogee, GA; Honolulu, HI; Des Moines, IA; Rock Island, IL; Ft. Polk, LA; Vernon Parish, LA; Anne Arundel, MD; Ft. Meade, MD; Harford, MD; Springfield MA; Pulaski, MO; Helena, MT; Kalispell, MT; Lewis/Clark, MT; Morris, NJ; Dona Ana, NM; Orange, NY; Rockland, NY; Comanche, OK; Lawton, OK; Richland, SC; Bell, TX; Bexar, TX; El Paso, TX; Ft. Eustis, VA; Ft. Story, VA; and Pierce, WA.

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.

This week's unprecedented news of a 12% national decrease in the number of persons experiencing chronic homelessness was accompanied by an unprecedented statement from the White House recognizing and affirming the federal policy direction and record targeted investment that have contributed to the national partnership with every level of government and the private sector to realize the new results. Excerpts from the White House statement follow.

" President Bush strongly believes that we can help to reduce chronic homelessness in America with good policy and sufficient funding. Today, we're learning that his leadership on this issue is paying off . . . Because of the Administration's commitment to providing permanent housing solutions for homeless individuals, there are nearly 20,000 fewer persons living on our streets this year.

" . . . The President has requested $1.6 billion for HUD's homeless programs for the FY 2008 budget, representing a 55 percent increase in funding over 2001 levels. We will continue to help the most vulnerable in our society find housing and other services as we work towards the President's goal of eliminating chronic homelessness.

email: usich@usich.gov

web: http://www.usich.gov