From a cathedral in Rhode Island to a gymnasium in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, elected officials, federal, state, and local government agencies, providers, and volunteers in 38 communities across the country will be opening the door of hospitality and extending immediate services to their homeless neighbors during next week's National Project Homeless Connect Week being facilitated by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. "National Project Homeless Connect Week's intent is to move our most vulnerable neighbors measurably closer to the end of their homelessness," said Council Executive Director Philip Mangano. A list of communities participating in National Project Homeless Connect Week can be found here.

Participating communities will extend a range of on- site resources -- housing, jobs, mainstream benefits - - to help persons experiencing homelessness onto the road to self-sufficiency. Veterans' benefits assistance, supportive housing, elder care, youth and family resources, as well as on-site clinical care with doctors, nurses, optometrists and orthopedic professionals, and mental health and substance abuse counseling will be available. At some locations, individuals may also receive meals, haircuts, massages, foot care, on-site vision care with same-day prescriptions for those needing glasses, wheel chair repair, and pet care.

Last week elected officials from communities throughout Morris County, New Jersey declared December 8, 2006 Project Homeless Connect Day in their county. The Proclamation issued by the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders (pictured here) cites the opportunity presented by Project Homeless Connect "to bring the Morris County community together to respectfully deliver hospitality, real services, and information to those experiencing homelessness to move more people more quickly toward housing and stability." The Proclamation urges "Morris County citizens to work together to help create and promote tangible solutions that remedy the homelessness of their neighbors." The Morris County Connect event will be held at the Community Soup Kitchen at the Redeemer Episcopal Church in Morristown from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Morris County is the only community in New Jersey that has scheduled a Connect event during National Project Homeless Connect Week December 4 - 8, but a statewide Project Homeless Connect involving multiple counties and locations is being planned for January 25, 2007, to coincide with the Point-in-Time count.

Project Homeless Connect, begun by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004, is one of the innovative ideas that the Council has sought to rapidly disseminate to communities engaged in 10-year planning to end chronic homelessness. By March 2007, 71 cities will have launched events.

Early results from next week's events across the country will be posted in e-news editions and on the Council's website. More information about National Project Homeless Connect Week can be found on the Council's PHC webpage.

PORTLAND, OREGON. Portland and Multnomah County, Oregon continue to break new ground with their Project Homeless Connect events. The community's first Connect event in January of this year marked the one year anniversary of the Portland-Multnomah County 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, and brought together a larger than expected gathering of close to 900 people experiencing homelessness and over 400 volunteers. Portland's second event in July was the first Project Homeless Connect in the country held for homeless families. This month Portland/Multnomah Homeless Connect organizers teamed up with the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association and Portland Arena Management (PAM) for a third Connect event. 6000 homeless and at risk individuals and families were invited to be the guests at the Trail Blazers annual Harvest Dinner held at the Rose Garden on November 18. In addition to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, the guests received medical services; access to educational, legal and housing resources; job counseling; haircuts; and pet care.

"We are honored to be partnering with both the City of Portland and Multnomah County to implement an aggressive and pioneering effort to eradicate homelessness in Portland," said Trail Blazers President and CEO Steve Patterson, who added, "We hope to help make homelessness a top priority for all businesses in the Portland area." Portland City Commissioner Erik Sten who helped develop the community's 10-year plan to end homelessness and strongly supports the PHC effort, thanked the Trail Blazers and PAM for their involvement, noting "it's a proven fact that when government, community, and corporations come together, we will make a difference in people's lives and be on our way to solving critical issues in our community."

Portland/Multnomah County officials reported a 20% reduction in downtown street homelessness in the first 18 months of the community's Home Again 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness implementation. Click on the Read more link below to learn more about the Portland/Multnomah 10-Year Plan and implementation progress.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. Approval of Mayor Richard Daley's $5.7 billion FY 2007 budget by the Chicago City Council this month continues the good news for implementation of the city's 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness endorsed by Mayor Daley in January 2003. The plan called for "sweeping" changes in how homeless services are delivered in Chicago to move from a shelter-based response to a permanent housing-based response.

Three core tenets were outlined in the plan: Prevention through one time or short term targeted financial assistance to help individuals and families maintain their housing; Housing First/rapid rehousing efforts with a 120 day time goal; and Wraparound Services to "maintain housing stability, and promote community integration once in permanent housing." Included in the FY 2007 budget is funding for a Foreclosure Prevention Call Center to help people who are having difficulty paying their rent or mortgage; $640,000 to expand the city's winter heating assistance program; over $2.6 million to provide employment and training services to ex-offenders; $40 million in new resources to develop additional rental units and expand rental assistance; a doubling of the number of rental subsidies made available through the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund for very low income renters to 4000; and $600,000 for supportive services to help individuals and families remain in permanent housing.

The Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund now in its 17th year has been providing rental subsidies to 2000 renters. The rental subsidy program provides annual subsidies to landlords citywide to reduce rents for a specified number of units in a building for tenants whose household incomes do not exceed 30% of the area median income ($22,600 for a family of four this year). In June the City Council approved an ordinance giving authority to the City to receive state funds from the new Statewide Rental Housing Support Program, enacted by the Illinois General Assembly last year with strong support from Mayor Daley. The City will use the approximately $13 million expected to be received from the state program to expand the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund to double the number of renters assisted to 4000. Half of the housing subsidized through the expansion will be targeted to homeless individuals or families making the transition from shelters to permanent housing.

Mayor Daley committed $10 million over 5 years in funds from the Chicago Skyway privatization revenue for implementation of Chicago's Plan to End Homelessness and an additional $5 million in Skyway revenues over 5 years to the Low Income Housing Trust Fund. The funds are being used to support a variety of programs including the Homeless Prevention Fund, a Street to Home Initiative (based on the successful New York initiative of that name operated by the Common Ground Community), and a Housing Locator program (see related story). $2.4 million of the committed Skyway revenue is included in the FY 2007 budget. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano has applauded Mayor Daley's leadership, saying "Mayor Daley defines the commitment of political will and resources necessary to implement a 10-Year Plan that creates results on the streets, in shelters, and in the lives of homeless people." This month the mayor also proposed a new ordinance to increase the number of affordable housing developments by broadening the definition of "city assistance" used in the city's Affordable Requirements Ordinance to include all types of city land, any zoning change that increases project density, and all planned developments. The ordinance would require that at least 10% of the units must be affordable in residential developments with 10 or more units that receive any of these forms of assistance.

Earlier this month, Mayor Daley awarded the City's first Ruby Slipper award in recognition of exemplary commitment to the Plan's motto "There's No Place Like Home" to La Casa Norte Executive Director Sol Flores at the official opening of Solid Ground, permanent housing for 16 homeless young men between the ages of 16 and 21 that will be operated by La Casa Norte. In his remarks at the opening ceremony, Mayor Daley reported that the City has already phased out 1900 emergency shelter beds and replaced them with more than 1500 permanent housing units and more than 1400 interim housing units. He also noted that since implementation of the city's Street to Home Initiative that targets permanent housing opportunities to homeless persons living on the streets began in January, services have been provided to 122 unsheltered homeless and 62 have been moved into permanent housing. "This disproves the public perception that people on the street want to be homeless," Daley said. He also cited the successful use of public and private funds to provide prevention assistance to more than 5700 at risk households. "We're making great progress with our Plan to End Homelessness - thanks to organizations like La Casa Norte, which think outside the box and refuse to accept the notion that homelessness is here to stay."

PHOENIX, ARIZONA. The receipt of a $1 million grant from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust helped mark the first year anniversary of the Maricopa County Human Services Campus this month which also recently received $450,000 from the Arizona Housing Trust Fund for continued development. The 10-acre campus, being developed just west of downtown Phoenix, is a collaborative effort of Maricopa County, the City of Phoenix, local businesses, philanthropy, and non profits including Central Arizona Shelter Services, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Joseph the Worker, and NOVA Safe Haven to provide coordinated delivery of shelter; housing referrals; medical care; education; employment assistance; behavioral health counseling, and other services to homeless individuals. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is currently exploring with officials of the Maricopa County and Phoenix Industrial Development Authorities, the Arizona Department of Housing, and others opportunities to pull together multiple funding streams to kickstart creation of a $3 to $4 million Housing Resource Trust Fund to support creation of permanent supportive housing to meet the long term housing needs of those being served by the campus.

The $1 million Piper Charitable Trust grant will support an endowment campaign to provide operating funds for the Campus' Day Resource Center. Calling the Human Services Campus a "national model" Piper Trust President and CEO Judy Jolley Mohraz said the campus "illustrates how nonprofit and governmental organizations can work collaboratively to provide state-of-the-art support for the homeless." She added, "As Maricopa County's population explodes, it is essential that nonprofits, government, and philanthropy forge strategic solutions to the major challenges our community faces." The Day Resource Center is a central component of the Campus which also houses a 400 bed shelter and dental clinic operated by Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), the Maricopa Health Care for the Homeless program which provides primary care services, and St. Vincent De Paul which provides breakfast and lunch meal services. A NOVA Safe Haven project to provide shelter and day center services for the severely mentally ill is under construction. Eleven agencies and organizations currently provide onsite services at the Day Resource Center.

Interim DRC Director Jessica Berg notes that the Day Resource Center also acts as a drop-in center for homeless people "who are used to being hidden in society. It's a safe place they can come to and feel accepted until they're ready to engage more." Berg notes that on any given day more than 200 homeless people come to the DRC including 10-20 new clients each day.

The $24 million raised to date for the Campus has come from government, business, philanthropy and private donations through a capital campaign co-chaired by Pinnacle West Capital Corporation Vice President Martin Schultz, Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, and Maricopa County Manager David R. Smith. Mr. Shultz has noted that the development of the campus "is a big deal for the business community. There's never been an effort like this to deal with this population in such a comprehensive way to help them improve their life situations." A preliminary first year report on the Human Services Campus reveals:

• 300 men and women acquired permanent housing and 50 more transitional housing through the DRC
• More than 600 individuals found employment
• There were 15,000 dental and medical appointments
• Over 400,000 meals were served
• The 400 shelter beds were filled to capacity each night and an additional 300-400 low demand beds added in the summer to prevent heat related deaths were also filled to capacity each night
• Phoenix police from the surrounding area report significant reductions in arrests, 911 calls, and hospital emergency room visits

Pictured above is last year's dedication ceremony.

SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA. The Sioux Falls Blueprint to Eliminate Homelessness released in January 2005 declared, "No person in Sioux Falls needs to be homeless for more than a day." Since then with continuing leadership from Mayor David Munson and the Homeless Advisory Board appointed to oversee the plan's implementation, the community has continued the effort to" "break this social phenomenon into 'chewable' bites and then find workable solutions for each aspect."

Recently, results were reported from an August 2006 Point-in-Time count that found there were about 30% fewer homeless people on the streets of Sioux Falls compared to the January 2005 count. The August count also included survey questions as to the reasons for being homeless and two of the biggest factors identified were alcoholism and having spent time in a jail or prison. At a joint meeting of Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County officials earlier this month, the Homeless Advisory Board presented a report showing that 11 consumers of homeless assistance and community services in Sioux Falls had cost local government and service organizations $338,585 in one year, an average of $30,780 a person. Hugh Grogan, Director of Minnehaha County Department of Health and Human Services, explained that the 11 were chosen for the study after being identified as the most frequent users of jail/detox services. All were homeless or had experienced significant episodes of homelessness. "We have a crisis response right now and it's costing us a ton of money. My hope is people come away with a better idea of the cost they are to the community but also with a better understanding that we can do things in a better way and do a better job of serving this population," he said.

The study showed that 47% of the costs were for in-hospital and ambulance care; 38% were county expenses including jail, detox, and public defender fees; 10% were city expenses such as community health programs; 4% were in non profit programs and 1% in state and federal assistance. Minnehaha County Commissioner Carol Twedt was reported to have noted after the presentation that " we have the opportunity to treat these people like human beings and maybe turn some of these lives around for the same amount of money."

Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County are collaborating with cooperation from more than 55 entities including state and federal agencies, the Sioux Empire United Way, numerous non profits, faith based organizations, advocacy groups and civic organizations to implement the community's 10-year plan. A homelessness forum organized by Mayor Munson in March focused on best practices and included a presentation by United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano. For his leadership in moving forward a 10-year planning process in this predominantly rural state, Mayor Munson has been recognized by the Council with A Home For Every American Award (pictured here). Sioux Falls is participating in 2006 National Project Homeless Connect Week with its first Connect event, organized by the Sioux Falls Homeless Coalition, on December 5 from 8-5 at the Salvation Army.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA. The Arizona state interagency council on homelessness, officially known as the Interagency and Community Council on Homelessness, was created by Executive Order of Governor Janet Napolitano in June 2004 and charged with the responsibility to develop and implement a plan to prevent and end homelessness in the State of Arizona. The Governor's Order appointed the directors of 11 state agencies, the Arizona School Superintendent (or his/her designee) and six members of the public and directed that the "members of the Council shall attend meetings and vote in person." The Council is chaired by the Governor and in her absence, the Directors of the Departments of Economic Security and Housing act as co-chairs. Among the responsibilities assigned the Council was to improve cross system policies and procedures through system integration and to identify and maximize the leveraging of resources to improve the system of services for people who are homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless. A noteworthy example of how the mission to improve cross system policies and maximize the leveraging of resources is being carried out for the benefit of homeless families can be seen in the creation and operation of four multidisciplinary rapid rehousing teams assigned to shelters to work with domestic violence affected families.

These teams are part of an innovative program created by the state known as "Family Connections" in which staff and caseworkers were pulled from a variety of separate agencies into multidisciplinary teams and provided flexible authority with the goal of developing community supports and resources for TANF families to lower the risk of children entering "more expensive and disruptive" systems of care in the child welfare and foster care systems. The multi-disciplinary teams are composed of a team lead, child welfare staff, TANF eligibility staff, employment staff and case aids. There are currently 10 teams operating in Maricopa and Pima Counties serving 400 families. The four teams assigned to shelters include a domestic violence advocate and the focus of these teams is on moving homeless families in shelter who are also victims of domestic violence into permanent housing with wraparound services. Another team is not specifically assigned to a shelter but works closely with the Maricopa Human Services Campus (see related story) and serves numerous homeless families.

Arizona Department of Economic Security officials note that the Family Connections initiative is an example of what can be done utilizing existing mainstream resources in creative ways to address the housing and service needs of homeless and at risk families. Staffing is funded primarily from existing Social Services Block Grant and Title IV-E funds with services funded primarily through TANF and the Social Services Block Grant. State officials also cite the flexibility given to the multidisciplinary teams that has allowed them to be extremely creative in developing community supports and resources for families. One team has created an advisory council of mostly churches through which a diaper bank and respite care planning has been developed. Another team has developed a relationship with a non profit housing developer who'd been experiencing a high turnover of families. The team has been so successful at stabilizing those families that the developer is accepting family referrals from the team for a new housing complex he is developing in Phoenix and has offered the team space in the complex to provide services onsite. A proposal is currently being considered for the Governor's FY 2008 to expand the effort.

Program goals include preventing children from entering the child welfare system, reduced TANF caseload, non recurrence of abuse and neglect, and increased family stability and self sufficiency The ten Family Connection teams participate in an evaluation process that includes use of a self sufficiency matrix that examines areas of significance for the families including income, employment, housing status, education, health care, substance abuse, mental health, food security, safety, parenting skills, family relations and community involvement. Data is being collected at intake, 3 month intervals, and exit. Preliminary data on 568 clients shows that more than half have been or are homeless; more than 20% have a serious criminal record; about a third have moderate to severe mental health problems interfering with daily living; and more than 80% cannot meet basic food needs. Self sufficiency measurement includes economic self sufficiency, and social-emotional self sufficiency. State officials say preliminary results show that the change in individual clients over time has been initially encouraging. A typical client at 3 months improved in social-emotional self sufficiency .28 of a standard deviation. Improvement in economic security was more pronounced at .42 of a standard deviation. At six months, economic self sufficiency had improved almost a full standard deviation (.92). The overall change in self sufficiency at 6 months was more than a full standard deviation at 1.05. The "lowest functioning" clients changed the most with impact greater at 6 months than 3 months.

Another Interagency and Community Council on Homelessness initiative announced in June by Council co-chair and Housing Department Director Dr. Sheila Harris was a 20% increase in the funds awarded from the State Housing Trust Fund for homeless prevention programs. $2.76 million was awarded to 23 local governments, faith-based organizations, and non-profit agencies covering all 15 counties to provide mortgage and rental payment and security deposit assistance, utility security deposit and payment assistance, and hotel/motel vouchers to 6000 individuals and families at risk of homelessness.

In this week's issue of e-news, we highlight several recent announcements by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which have relevance to community-based mental health and substance addiction treatment program practitioners, who are important stakeholders in community 10-year planning efforts to reduce homelessness and end chronic homelessness.

• Successful efforts to incorporate research findings into clinical practice are described in the September/October 2006 issue of SAMHSA News, the newsletter of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The issue describes a joint effort by SAMHSA and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to decrease the 17-year gap that typically occurs between the publication of research results in scholarly journals and their application in clinical practice. The "Blending Initiative," as the effort is called, takes findings on substance abuse treatment typically gleaned from NIDA's Clinical Trials Network and packages them into readily understandable curricula and tools for service providers. Topics covered so far include the treatment of opioid addiction with the medication buprenorphine and the use of the Addiction Severity Index, a tool for addiction counselors to collect information about all aspects of a client's life to use in building a treatment plan. SAMHSA News is published bimonthly and is available online or in hardcopy by telephoning 1 (888) 577-8977 (toll-free) for a free subscription.
• A SAMHSA media advisory reports that a SAMHSA-funded study "shows that receiving substance abuse treatment within 30 days of detoxification lengthens the time to subsequent relapse." According to the report of the study written by Dr. Tami L. Mark of Thomson Medstat, Rita Vandivort of SAMHSA, and Leslie Montejano of Thomson Medstat and published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, more than one-quarter of patients receiving publicly funded substance abuse detoxification will have a second detoxification readmission within a year. But if patients receive substance abuse treatment on two or more days within 30 days of discharge from a detoxification admission, time to subsequent relapse and readmission lengthens by 40 percent. According to the media advisory, the study also showed that only about one-fourth of patients engage in substance abuse treatment within a month following discharge from detoxification.
• SAMHSA Communities That Care (CTC) materials are now available on their website for downloading and reproduction. CTC "models a community-wide approach to prevention that also enables communities to select the right substance use prevention program for their needs in preventing substance abuse problems. CTC helps communities monitor and improve overall program quality, and ultimately prevention practice." The Regional Centers for Applied Prevention Technology (CAPT) will provide upon request a Training of Trainers of the CTC tool to States. The States then will be able to assist communities in implementing CTC in their areas.
• On December 4, SAMHSA in partnership with the Ad Council will launch a national awareness public service advertising (PSA) campaign "designed to decrease the negative attitudes that surround mental illness and encourage young adults to support their friends who are living with mental health problems." According to SAMHSA, in 2005 there were an estimated 24.6 million adults aged 18 or older who experienced serious psychological distress (SPD), which is highly correlated with serious mental illness. Among 18 to 25 year olds, the prevalence of SPD is high (18.6 % for 18-25, vs. 11.3% for all adults 18+), yet this age group shows the lowest rate of help-seeking behaviors. Additionally, those with mental health conditions in this segment have a high potential to minimize future disability if social acceptance is broadened and they receive the right support and services early on.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. The Chicago Plan to End Homelessness by 2012 includes strategies to prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless, rapidly rehouse those who are living in shelters and on the streets, and provide supportive services for housing stabilization and greater self sufficiency (see related story). To facilitate rapid rehousing of those individuals and families already in shelter, the Chicago Department of Housing issued a grant funding opportunity last fall, using $300,000 of Skyway revenues committed to Plan implementation, to create housing locator positions throughout the city. Although a number of community service agencies had housing locators, the city identified a need for additional locators to build further expertise and capacity within Chicago's homeless system for accessing private market permanent housing units. Annual grants renewable for up to 5 years were offered to existing homeless service organizations, coalitions and collaborations of providers for new housing locator positions to identify available private market rental units that were or could be made affordable to individuals and families leaving Chicago's homeless shelters.

The grant announcement identified as housing locator responsibilities cultivating relationships with landlords including facilitating relationships between supportive service staff and landlords; developing and maintaining a housing placement process; placing homeless individuals and families into permanent housing and entering and tracking the households in HMIS; providing progress reports on percentage of households retaining housing at 6 and 12 months; and participating in shared learning discussions with other housing locators in the city. No case management functions were permitted for the housing locators; rather, the announcement emphasized it would be "the role of the referring shelter or interim housing provider to provide directly or connect the household to additional services to support the household in housing. It is expected that appropriate supportive services will be provided based on the service needs and service plan for the individual or family." Funding up to $50,000 per housing locator position was offered to cover salary, benefits, and program-related expenses.

Three initial awards were made - two to individual organizations and one to an umbrella organization on behalf of a collaborative of agencies. During the first nine months of operation, the three grantees placed 205 households into permanent housing. A recent performance review by the Department of Housing based on housing placement and retention has determined that only one of the original three grantees, Featherfist working on the city's South side, will receive a renewal award. In lieu of the umbrella award, two of the individual agencies involved in the collaborative effort-La Casa Norte and San Jose Obrero Mission, both working primarily with the Latin community in the West and Northwest part of the city, will receive direct awards. A separate solicitation will be issued for the Northside.

Department of Housing officials note that the anticipated receipt of funds from the new Statewide Rental Housing Support program (see related story), which will provide rental subsidy for additional households earlier than the city's 10- year plan adopted in 2003 anticipated, makes housing locator services even more important to the effective utilization of the new rental subsidy resources.

Another successful housing locator model is the HomeStart program in Massachusetts which has grown from a small pilot in the 1990s to working with more than 50 shelters and programs in the Greater Boston area to provide skilled housing search assistance in one of the tightest housing markets in the country. HomeStart has located housing for more than 2500 clients. In FY 2005, "82% of those clients were coping with at least one disability."

email: ichnews@setechnology.com

web: http://www.usich.gov