SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, ORLANDO - National League of Cities Mayors and jurisdictional officials on the frontlines of communities from across the nation on Saturday gave unanimous support to two policy resolutions that highlight the importance to the nation's elected officials of the issue of homelessness and their more than five-year partnership for results with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness to reduce and end homelessness in their communities through jurisdictional planning. Meeting in plenary session on Saturday, November 15, NLC members officially and unanimously endorsed resolutions supporting the bipartisan partnership with the Council and calling for expansion of the HUD-VASH permanent supportive housing program for homeless veterans. Director Mangano is shown here with NLC Director Don Borut.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, who addressed the officials in both plenary and Human Development and Community and Economic Development Committee sessions during the Congress, commended the NLC action, noting the strong spirit of partnership between the cities, counties, and towns and the federal government on the issue of ending homelessness. The 2008 Policy Resolutions represent both affirmation of the partnership, goal, and results, and expansion of the policy position of NLC on the issue of homelessness. See additional coverage for the entirety of the resolutions.

"The partnership of the National League of Cities is a vital initiative in the future ending of homelessness in our nation," indicated Director Mangano. "More than 650 jurisdictional officials are now partnered in more than 350 Ten Year Plans across our country, plans that are shaped by business thinking, targeted to our most vulnerable and disabled neighbors, and achieving unprecedented results."

In addition to endorsing and encouraging 10 Year Plans and calling for new HUD-VASH resources, the NLC resolution affirms the adoption of field-tested, evidence based innovations including Housing First, Project Homeless Connect, and Community Champions; supports the targeting of federal resources to Housing First/Rapid Rehousing and other innovations; and urges expansion of targeted HUD homeless resources to support housing development and Section 8. Further, the resolution supports expansion of HHS resources to support needed services in housing, and expansion of housing and service resources for aging out foster care youth. Director Mangano is shown here at the Economic Development Committee meeting.

In 2003 in Nashville, NLC's Congress officially adopted a resolution supporting the Bush Administration goal of ending chronic homelessness in the United States and pledging to " help advance" efforts to create 10 Year Plans in cities around the country. NLC is one of three major associations of local elected officials partnered through policy resolutions to the goal of ending chronic homelessness. With the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties, NLC has articulated its strong support of the goal of ending chronic homelessness through results-oriented partnership and planning.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, invited to address both plenary and Human Development and Community and Economic Development Committee sessions at the NLC Congress, commended NLC leadership, especially Executive Director Donald Borut and Director of Federal Relations Carolyn Coleman, for their important role in strengthening municipal leadership at the community level and in the media, emphasizing the centrality of local government on the front lines of all community issues and for strategies focused on best practice. Director Mangano is shown here.

On Saturday, in a plenary session focused on the mortgage and foreclosure crisis, Director Mangano, with former NLC President Jim Hunt, Councilmember, Clarkesville, West Virginia and Stan Gilmont, Director of the HUD Office of Block Grant Assistance which is managing the $3.92 billion in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) resources, emphasized the important new opportunity of NSP for jurisdictions to join 10 Year Plan housing goals to the availability of NSP's new housing resources targeted to people below 50% of AMI. Director Mangano praised HUD Secretary Steve Preston for emphasizing themes of flexibility and expedited resources in the NSP initiative. The presenters are shown here.

Earlier in the week, NLC's Human Development Committee, chaired by Councilmember Paul Gresham of Centerville, Ohio welcomed Director Mangano to update the Committee on the investments, innovations, and results of 10 Year Plans. Director Mangano addressed members of the NLC Community and Economic Development Committee chaired by Alderman Joe Davis, of Milwaukee. He noted the important partnership of Michael Wallace, NLC Senior Legislative Counsel for Federal Relations and former staffer to the late Rep. Julia Carson of Indiana, and James Brooks, NLC Manager for International Programs, Policy & Research and briefed Committee members on the National Partnership constellated by the Council and its unprecedented results. Director Mangano urged committee members to utilize NSP resources for families at risk of homelessness from foreclosure and the mortgage crisis and those who have already fallen into homelessness from the mortgage/foreclosure and job loss crisis.

In Orlando, 28 jurisdictional officials became new signatories to the America's Road Home Statement of Principles and Actions, an unprecedented 12-point agreement signed by over 435 city and county jurisdictional officials in just one year and partnering elected officials, foundations, and the federal United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. The America's Road Home Statement of Principles and Actions originated one year ago at the November 2007 Summit convened by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, and Melville Charitable Trust President Robert Hohler.

"These 28 Mayors and jurisdictional officials have stepped forward to add their names to the historic America's Road Home agreement," indicated Council Director Mangano. "The commitment of these officials will sustain and enhance our abolitionist commitment and continue to build the momentum to end the homelessness of the most vulnerable and disabled citizens of our country."

Signing at the Congress were: Mayor Kyra Watson, Berkeley, MO; Mayor Ronald Jones, Garland, TX; Mayor Pro Tem Samuel Ings, Orange County, FL; Mayor Pro Tem Willie T. Head, Jr., Valdosta, GA; Council President Monica Conyers, Detroit, MI; Council Chair Myron Lowery, Memphis, TN; Councilor Sandra Moore, Nashville, TN; Councilor Wengay Newton, St. Petersburg, FL; Councilor Levon Simms, Fort Myers, FL; Councilor Daun Hester, Norfolk, VA; Commissioner James Johnson, Pinellas County, FL; Alderman Joe Davis, Sr., Milwaukee, WI; Councilor Cheryl Gaines, Normal, IL; Councilor Terance L. Irvin, Gonzales, LA; Councilor Lyndia Thomas, Forest Hill, TX; Councilor Peter A. Beck, Mason, OH; Vice Mayor Gary Campbell, Fort Smith, AR; Dr. Robert Len Jones, FL; Commissioner Harold Bouler, Winter Park, FL; Deputy City Manager Jerri Barnett-Moore, Kalamazoo, MI; Councilman Kenneth Roberts, Highland Hills, OH; Councilor Janie Young, Kokomo, IN; Councilor Jesse F. Palmer, Sr., Meridian, MS; Councilman Lonnie Hughes, East Orange, NJ; Councilor Reveral L. Yeargin, Seat Pleasant, MD; Alderman Terry Brooks, Rock Island, IL; Councilor Joy Jordan, East Cleveland, OH; and Councilor Alesia Parson-McBean, Hagerstown, MD.

Director Mangano is shown here talking with Community and Economic Development Committee Chair and Alderman Joe Davis of Milwaukee, a new signatory.

Following is the text of Resolution 29 as adopted unanimously by the National League of Cities Congress in Orlando on Saturday. Resolution 28, Ending Homelessness for Veterans by Increasing Investment in HUD-VASH Vouchers, will be profiled in the next e-news.

Resolution 29 supports Ten Year Plans and the adoption of field tested, evidence based innovations, as well as the use of cost benefit analysis. The Resolution attests to the 30% reduction in chronic homelessness achieved in the nation and the value of the Interagency Council's initiatives and partnerships.

The Resolution supports the innovations of Housing First, Project Homeless Connect, and Community Champions and the targeting of federal resources to Housing First/Rapid Rehousing and other innovations. Resolution language urges expansion of targeted HUD homeless resources to support housing development and Section 8. Further, the resolution supports expansion of HHS resources to support needed services in housing, and expansion of housing and service resources for aging out foster care youth.

WHEREAS, people experiencing chronic homelessness are our most disabled and vulnerable citizens and most likely to die on the streets of our communities; and
WHEREAS, elected officials in partnership with the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness are committed to ending chronic homelessness in our nation's communities; and
WHEREAS, local communities are on the front lines of the response to chronic homelessness; and
WHEREAS, the National League of Cities and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness have partnered to prevent and end homelessness in our nation's communities in a partnership of accountability and results; and

WHEREAS, as a result of the partnership with jurisdictional leaders, the private sector, and all other stakeholders, more than 500 local governments have partnered to create 350 jurisdictionally led, community based, business oriented 10 Year Plans to End Homelessness; and
WHEREAS, 10 Year Plans have identified innovations, such as cost benefit analysis, Housing First/Rapid Rehousing, private sector Community Champions, Project Homeless Connect, and Assertive Community Treatment Teams that have been adopted by communities across the country; and
WHEREAS, private sector leaders bring a business mindset to the role of Community Champion in the development and implementation of 10 Year Plans to End Homelessness, a mindset that recognizes the importance of investing in solutions that are research and data driven, performance based, and results oriented; and
WHEREAS, jurisdictional leaders have adopted the Community Champion model, disseminated as a national innovation by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, in the appointment by jurisdictional elected officials of highly visible and credible private sector leaders not primarily associated with homelessness to lead 10 Year Plans; and

WHEREAS, Community Champions have leveraged significant new resources, including attracting new private sector partners in support of 10 Year Plan implementation, showing direct impact on the results communities are achieving; and
WHEREAS, research has shown that people experiencing chronic homelessness are very expensive in mainstream health, treatment, and law enforcement systems and may cost the community between $35,000 and $150,000 per person per year in their random ricocheting through such systems, versus the cost of providing permanent supportive housing in Housing First/Rapid Re-Housing models which ranges from $13,500 to $25,000 per person per year, offers the central antidote to homelessness in the form of housing, and results in the potential for significant cost savings to community infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, research studies across the country indicate that 85% of people experiencing chronic homelessness who move into Housing First/Rapid Rehousing options stabilize and maintain that housing; and

WHEREAS, in order for persons experiencing chronic homelessness to succeed in their housing, supportive services are necessary to mitigate health, substance abuse, and mental health problems; and
WHEREAS, a number of communities implementing 10 Year Plans and adopting these innovations are reporting reductions in the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness living on their streets and languishing in shelters, the first such reductions communities have seen in over 20 years; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Third Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) released in July 2008 reported a 30% reduction in chronic homelessness, from 175,914 in 2005 to 123,833 in 2007; and
WHEREAS, these reductions in chronic and street homelessness are improving the quality of life for everyone in the community, housed and homeless alike,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the National League of Cities endorses and encourages local communities to develop and implement 10 Year Plans to End Homelessness that include the field-tested, evidence-based national innovations of Housing First/Rapid Rehousing, Community Champions, and other best practices; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National League of Cities endorses the targeting of federal resources to Housing First/Rapid Rehousing strategies and other innovations in 10 Year Plans that have demonstrated results in reducing and ending the homelessness of our poorest neighbors; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National League of Cities, to achieve the goal of ending chronic homelessness in 10 years, urges Congress to appropriate $2 billion in HUD's Homeless Assistance Grants program, which would support communities in developing 15,000 units of permanent supportive housing; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National League of Cities urges Congress to create new permanent funding sources for supportive services for people experiencing homelessness within the Department of Health and Human Services budget; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National League of Cities calls on Congress and the Administration to provide additional proposed Section 8 Vouchers for the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supported Housing (HUD-VASH) program; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National League of Cities endorses and urges Congress to enact legislation that would provide Federal housing assistance and services to youth over the age of 18 aging out of foster care and in need of assistance; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National League of Cities affirms the value of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and commends its initiatives to support jurisdictional leaders as they implement 10 Year Plans.

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