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United States Interagency Council on Homelessness e-newsletter )
Reporting on Innovative Solutions to End Homelessness 08.14.2009
In this Issue . . .

  • SHORT TAKES: RESOURCES/ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM COUNCIL MEMBER AGENCIES
  • IN THE REGIONS: COLLABORATION ON THE USE OF RECOVERY ACT FUNDS AND OTHER TARGETED AND MAINSTREAM RESOURCES TO PREVENT AND END HOMELESSNESS FOSTERED AT NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL FEDERAL INTERAGENCY COUNCIL MEETING
  • USING A SOCIAL MEDIA BLOG, THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EXPANDS OUTREACH TO RETURNING SERVICE MEMBERS AND CREATES OPPORTUNITY TO HIGHLIGHT REPLICABLE INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS

  • IN THE CITIES AND COUNTIES: A 10 YEAR PLAN FOR SAN BERNARDINO, CA

  • IN THE CITIES AND COUNTIES: HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA INITIATIVE THAT "BROUGHT 200 CHILDREN OUT OF HOMELESSNESS" RECOGNIZED WITH NACo TOP ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR HUMAN SERVICES PROGRAMS

  • IN THE CITIES AND COUNTIES: FROM DALLAS, ADDING TO THE BODY OF DATA FROM 10 YEAR PLAN COMMUNITIES ON COSTS OF HOMELESSNESS

  • RC CORNER: A WINDOW INTO THE WORK OF THE COUNCIL'S REGIONAL COORDINATORS

  • Partners In a Vision


    SHORT TAKES: RESOURCES/ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM COUNCIL MEMBER AGENCIES

    The membership of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness includes 19 Cabinet Departments, Federal agencies, and White House offices including the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. All of the members are listed on the Council's web site, www.usich.gov. Below are some recent announcements from Council Member agencies that may be useful to community efforts to prevent and end homelessness.

    U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

    Preventing Homelessness

    On July 31, HUD announced that letters had been sent to 2,400 public housing agencies that administer the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, also known as Section 8, providing guidance on working with the Department regarding funding shortfalls to prevent families from being terminated from the program. The letter informed them of HUD's action thus far including making more resources available to address challenges they may be encountering as they manage their HCV program and asked that public housing agencies suspecting that their available funding might force them to terminate families from the program inform the Department by August 14. Read More.

    A HUD Notice published in the Federal Register provides an overview of tenant protection provisions included in The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 (PTFA) that is part of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, addresses their applicability to HUD programs, and advises where HUD program participants and other interested parties may find more detailed guidance directed to their programs. The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act requires that tenants residing in foreclosed residential properties be provided notice to vacate at least 90 days in advance of the date by which the immediate successor, generally, the purchaser, seeks to have the tenants vacate the property. Except where the purchaser will occupy the property as the primary residence, the term of any bona fide lease also remains in effect.

    U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

    Last week HHS Secretary Sebelius announced improvements to the federal government's grants.gov web site to make it easier to identify Recovery Act opportunities. HHS is the managing partner of the cross-agency grants.gov web site, which was established as a one stop portal for information on more than $500 billion in federal grants awarded annually through more than 1000 grant programs in 26 federal agencies. A section of the grants.gov web site will now be devoted to just the Recovery Act funding opportunities. HHS is also hosting a series of webinars this month targeted to potential Recovery Act grant applicants. Visit www.grants.gov to register for the webinars and to view past webinars in the series. To learn more about Recovery Act funding that may offer resources to support community efforts to prevent and end homelessness, visit the Council's web site, www.usich.gov, where you will find a list of programs at the bottom of the home page linked to up-to-date information from the agencies administering the programs.

    HHS' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) Office of Applied Studies has made available on the HHS website a Guide to the procedures used to calculate allocations for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant, the Mental Health Services Block Grant, the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Formula Grant, and the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) Formula Grant program.

    Addressing the 5th Annual Prevention Leadership Academy held in Chicago, Illinois, Frances Harding, director of SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, unveiled a new resource to help community decision makers choose cost effective substance abuse prevention programs. The new report Substance Abuse Prevention Dollars and Cents: A Cost Benefits Analysis is "designed to help policymakers and other stakeholders use the results of cost-benefit analysis as an information tool for decision making and for selecting the substance abuse prevention programs that best apply available resources toward addressing their needs."

    Also available online at the HHS web site is a videocast, Discussion on the Prevention and Treatment of Mental and Substance Use Disorders and Health Reform.

    U.S. Department of Justice

    A new report, Communication and Public Health Emergencies: A Guide for Law Enforcement has been posted on the DOJ web site. The report was prepared by the Police Executive Research Forum with support from the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance.

    With an increasing number of communities interested in establishing specialized mental health and drug courts to divert non violent offenders from jail into treatment, the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Center for Court Innovation have released a new Best Practices report, Avoiding Failures of Implementation: Lessons from Process Evaluations.

    U.S. Department of Education

    This week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, HHS Secretary Sebelius and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano held a press conference announcing guidance on the H1N1 flu virus for schools. Included in the guidance is the recommendation that students and staff with influenza-like illness remain home until 24 hours after resolution of fever without the use of fever- reducing medications. Read the Guidance. View the press conference video. Download the Com munications Packet.

    Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

    While testifying before the U.S. Senate Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate announced the creation of a "Children's Working Group." The working group will allow FEMA and its partners to explore and implement planning and response strategies specific to children throughout the agency and ensure that during a disaster the unique needs of children are fully integrated into how FEMA administers this support to states and the public. Read more.

    IN THE REGIONS: COLLABORATION ON THE USE OF RECOVERY ACT FUNDS AND OTHER TARGETED AND MAINSTREAM RESOURCES TO PREVENT AND END HOMELESSNESS FOSTERED AT NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL FEDERAL INTERAGENCY COUNCIL MEETING

    BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. The work of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness is carried out in the field by the Council's Regional Coordinators and through Federal Regional Interagency Councils comprised of key regional representatives of the Council's member agencies whose efforts mirror the work of the federal partners in Washington to make resources more available and accessible to homeless people. A meeting of the New England Regional Federal Interagency Council on Homelessness earlier this month, chaired by VA New England Healthcare System Director Dr. Michael Mayo-Smith and assisted by Council Regional Coordinator John O'Brien, brought together senior regional officials of seven federal agencies for a discussion of targeted and mainstream resources included in the Recovery Act and the FY 09 federal budget for preventing and ending homelessness.

    The Federal officials included Department of Housing and Urban Development Region 1 Deputy Director Kristine Foye and CPD Program Manager Robert Shumeyko; U.S. Department of Labor VETS Regional Administrator David Houle and ETA Federal Projects Officer Suzanne Pouliot; Department of Health and Human Services ACF Regional Administrator Mary Ann Higgins, Department of Education Civil Rights Program Manager Carolyn Lazaris; U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Housing and Program Support Director Richard Lavoie, VA Region 1 Homeless Coordinator Gerry Carmichael, and Social Security Administration Regional Public Affairs Officer Kurt Czarnowski.

    Joining the federal officials for a discussion of the impact and implications of these resources on state and local jurisdictional planning and partnerships were Robert Pulster, Associate Director of the newly created Massachusetts Division of Housing Stabilization; Peter Kelleher, President and CEO of Harbor Homes in Nashua, NH; and John Yazwinski, President and CEO of Father Bill's & Mainspring in the cities of Quincy and Brockton, MA. The Regional Council members also received an update from Michelle Brophy, Director of a newly expanded New England office of the Corporation for Supportive Housing.

    The newly created Massachusetts Division of Housing Stabilization consolidates homeless resources from both the Department of Transitional Assistance and the Department of Housing and Community Development into a single division charged with preventing homelessness, rapidly rehousing into permanent housing those that become homeless, and sheltering any for whom homelessness was unavoidable. The work of this new division is guided by the Massachusetts Commission to End Homelessness Report and the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness, and is expected to result in an unparalleled level of coordination between shelter agencies and key housing and service partners in cities and towns in the delivery of resources to prevent and end homelessness in the Commonwealth.

    USING A SOCIAL MEDIA BLOG, THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EXPANDS OUTREACH TO RETURNING SERVICE MEMBERS AND CREATES OPPORTUNITY TO HIGHLIGHT REPLICABLE INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS

    "We believe there are solutions to veterans' homelessness and that prevention is fundamental to breaking the homeless cycle." With this opening statement of belief and commitment, Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs Director John Lee presented Governor Christine Gregoire with the nation's first statewide Homeless Veterans Action Plan in 2006. The Plan, which had been prepared at the request of the Governor and was updated in 2007, has become a model for other state and community 10 Year Plan efforts to prevent and end homelessness among veterans. Efforts include coordination with local 10 Year Plans to ensure that the local plans include a clearly defined veterans sub-strategy.

    New outreach initiatives to returning service members in Washington State are helping in the effort to prevent homelessness and word of these successful initiatives is spreading through a new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Blog for Returning Service Members. Following are excerpts about the Washington State efforts from two blog postings:

    "Demobilizing: A Simpler Process through One Stop Shopping"

    A new program is now in action to take VA resources to returning service members. The Washington National Guard deployed in 2008 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and began returning home in July. Instead of the old model of waiting for them to return to Washington State and sending small teams of people around the state to brief them on Veterans benefits, VA, Washington Department of Veterans Affairs, and many other Veterans-oriented agencies have sent a team to meet the unit as they process out of active duty at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. . . One of the driving forces behind this effort to meet the needs of these Veterans where they are is Tom Riggs, chief of transition services for the Washington State National Guard. "After seeing the struggles some of our Veterans dealt with during the last demobilization, we determined that the two things we needed to take care of were their health and their finances. So this time, we worked with the units to have each soldiers information sent to us in advance so we could fill out all their paperwork and have it ready. . . .This is important because I witnessed what happened during the last demobilization in 2004, and I saw the soldiers who needed help and became homeless," said Riggs. ". . . This time I knew we had to get in front of this and prepare these soldiers to transition back to civilian life and give each soldiers a good touch before they headed back to their families and friends."

    "Demobilization: Do You Have a Job When You Get Back?"

    Unlike active duty service members who return home and are still being paid by the military, Reservists and National Guard Soldiers often come home to unemployment and/or underemployment. While there are laws protecting service members with jobs who deploy on active duty orders, not every service member comes back to a job with benefits. This sudden loss of a paycheck and benefits can have wide-ranging implications. To lessen the impact of this loss on the soldier, their family, their unit and their community, the Washington State WorkSource agency, Employment Security Department and many unions and job placement agencies are working with the National Guard to ensure that soldiers return to a job or have the skills to find a job.

    To read more of each of these postings and view other postings, visit the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Blog for Returning Service Members at http://www.blogs.va.gov/ReturningServiceMembers/. A thorough listing of VA resources and benefits available to OEF/OIF Returning Service Members can be found on the VA web page, http://www.oefoif.va.gov/

    IN THE CITIES AND COUNTIES: A 10 YEAR PLAN FOR SAN BERNARDINO, CA

    This week the San Bernardino, CA Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution of support for the 10 Year Strategy to End Homelessness developed by the San Bernardino Homeless Partnership. In the resolution, which was presented by Supervisors Board Vice Chair Josie Gonzales, the Board noted that "the San Bernardino County Homeless Partnership's 10-Year Strategy to End Homelessness in San Bernardino County represents one of the most significant and innovative collaborative planning efforts to date in addressing homelessness in San Bernardino County."

    Promising their full support, the Board Resolution also noted "it is the intention of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to encourage all city officials, law enforcement, public housing authorities, specialty courts, schools, nonprofit organizations, and all other interested parties to actively participate in the San Bernardino County Homeless Partnership's 10-Year Strategy to End Homelessness in San Bernardino County." Taking immediate action on one of its recommendations that a county Interagency Council on Homelessness direct and evaluate the implementation of the 10 Year Strategy, the Board appointed Supervisor Josie Gonzales as delegate and First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt as alternate to the Interagency Council on Homelessness. Other members of the county ICH will include city officials, law enforcement, County departments, the Public Housing Authority, Specialty Courts, Superintendent of Schools, and non-profit organizations.

    The 10 Year Plan Strategy is the outcome of an effort that began in the fall of 2007 when the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors approved the creation of the San Bernardino County Homeless Partnership, comprised of representatives from city and county government, community and faith based organizations, and educational institutions, to provide leadership and strategic planning in an effort to eliminate the root causes of homelessness. A County Office of Homeless Services (OHS) was established to provide administrative support for the Partnership. The 2007 San Bernardino County Homeless Census had identified 7,331 persons either living on the streets or in facilities that serve homeless persons, which had represented a 39% increase since the 2003 Homeless Census.

    The Plan promotes Housing First and Rapid Exit from shelters strategies and includes 25 Recommendations for action in the areas of:

    • Homeless Prevention (jurisdictions in San Bernadino County are receiving nearly $7 million in federal Recovery Act HPRP funds)
    • Community Integration Strategies
    • Outreach and Engagement System for Chronically Homeless Persons
    • Centralized Assessment and Regional Referral and Service Delivery
    • Income and Support Services
    • Shorten Homelessness
    • Permanent Housing
    • HMIS
    • Measuring Performance
    The Plan prioritizes these action areas with Homeless Prevention, Permanent Housing and Measuring Performance (includes establishing the interagency council) in the highest priority category.

    Among the recommendations is the creation of a One Stop Center that would serve as a model for the future creation of additional regional One Stop Centers throughout the county. As envisioned in the Plan, the One Stop Centers would include standardized intake and assessment, and a wide range of housing placement and social services but "basic emergency services such as food and clothing should not be provided at such Centers but should only be available on a referral basis so that the Center is regarded by both clients and the community as a place where serious work is undertaken by persons interested in transforming their lives." The Plan highlights several discharge planning practices already in place and emphasizes the importance of continuing to improve such planning for foster youth, and for those exiting jails and public and private providers in the health care system. The establishment of a recuperative care program " flexible enough to address the needs of a variety of homeless persons and families with medical problems" is recommended.

    Noting the effectiveness of case management, the Plan calls for "appropriate case management services to be available to all homeless persons whether they are on the street, accessing one-stop centers, in emergency shelters or transitional housing, or receiving permanent supportive housing services." An Appendix provides a "partial list of the hidden costs of homelessness to public systems of care" providing sample per unit of service costs in three categories: Health Related, Incarceration Related ( response, arrest, court hearing, incarceration, probation), and Basic Emergency Services ( shelters , transitional housing, hotel vouchers etc).

    IN THE CITIES AND COUNTIES: HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA INITIATIVE THAT "BROUGHT 200 CHILDREN OUT OF HOMELESSNESS" RECOGNIZED WITH NACo TOP ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR HUMAN SERVICES PROGRAMS

    A Hillsborough County, Florida initiative targeted to giving homeless 3 and 4 year old children priority access to early childhood programs and their families intensive services took top honors for human services programs at the 2009 NACo Annual Conference and Exposition held last month in Nashville, TN. After just one year, the Hillsborough County Homeless Early Childhood Initiative has helped end the homelessness of over 200 children. Head Start funding made available through the Recovery Act will help the county serve even more of these children reports Hillsborough County Human Services Administrator Manus O'Donnell who spoke with United States Interagency Council on Homelessness National Team Leader Michael German at the conference.

    The Homeless Early Childhood Initiative grew out of concern expressed by Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe about the impact of homelessness on the development and educational success prospects of preschool children. An idea to expand Head Start opportunities in the county for these children grew into a larger vision after discussion with the county Children's Services office to wrap intensive social services around the family to give them in the words of Commissioner Sharpe, "the necessary tools and support they need to become independent self sufficient members of our community."

    The initiative is administratively located in the Department of Human Services' Children's Services office and includes coordinated access to over 100 programs and services provided through various public and non profit agencies. Homeless children ages 3 and 4 receive immediate placement into the Head Start program. Family services include emergency and permanent housing, gas and bus vouchers for transportation, health care, and job training and placement.

    In its first year in 2008, the Homeless Early Childhood Initiative assisted 129 families including 217 children at an estimated cost of $979,000. About 2/3 of the resources were already available through existing programs. The additional funding of $364,000 was provided by the Children's Board of Hillsborough County. In 1988 Hillsborough County voters passed a levy of up to 50 cents per $1000 of assessed property taxes to support prevention and early intervention services for children. The Children's Board of Hillsborough County was established in 1989 to carry out this mission.

    IN THE CITIES AND COUNTIES: FROM DALLAS, ADDING TO THE BODY OF DATA FROM 10 YEAR PLAN COMMUNITIES ON COSTS OF HOMELESSNESS

    DALLAS, TEXAS. A recent article in the Dallas Morning News aimed to put a price tag on the annual cost of homelessness in Dallas County. The newspaper reported that $50 million was the "conservative" estimate after "totaling the annual expenses of more than a dozen local taxpayer-funded agencies." Included in the costs were federal funds being administered locally including $4.3 million in HUD funding and $661,000 in health care for homeless veterans. Not included was "at least $23 million in private funds spent locally caring for the homeless." As much as half of the $50 million cost was seen as being attributable to just 600 to 1000 long term homeless persons, many of whom have been termed "frequent fliers" because they are known to cycle repeatedly through public systems of care and corrections.

    What are some of these costs? $373/night at a psychiatric hospital. $55.60/night in jail. $30.91/hour for police response. $59.42/per booking at the City Marshall and Detention Center for public intoxification. Among the annualized estimated costs were $15.6 million for Parkland Memorial Hospital, $10.6 million for the Lew Sterrett Justice Center (county jail), $5 million for ambulance service, $897,000 for downtown arrests Police Department costs, $373,000 in homeless student services by the Dallas School District, $350,000 in shelter costs, $2 million by Dallas County Courts, $1.7 million by the Terrell State Hospital for psychiatric hospitalization, and $2 million in mental health care by Dallas Metro Services. Value Options, the managed care company that coordinates mental health care for the poor in Dallas County was unable to offer an overall estimate but did cite the example of how just three homeless individuals over the course of one year - April 2008 to March 2009 - incurred bills totaling $183,000 for 169 days in psychiatric hospitals and substance abuse treatment centers.

    Mike Rawlings, the city's homeless czar who helped champion development of The Bridge, the city's one year old Homeless Assistance Center, as an implementation step in the community 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, was motivated to do so by the understanding that it doesn't make sense to spend so much money and still have those same people living on the streets and in shelters. "Somebody would be fired in the business world if they got those results," he said.

    Delivering a first year report on The Bridge in June, Dallas City leaders including Mayor Tom Leppert, Councilmember Pauline Medrano, DownTown Dallas President and CEO John Crawford, and Mr. Rawlings, reported The Bridge had surpassed its first year target for successfully engaging and supporting individuals to move out of chronic homelessness with permanent residences for 414 people and jobs for 780 individuals. Other outcomes reported included a 25% decrease in crime in the Central Business District and $2.7 million savings to Dallas County through 800 fewer jail stays.

    RC CORNER: A WINDOW INTO THE WORK OF THE COUNCIL'S REGIONAL COORDINATORS

    Federal agency collaborations and partnerships with state and local governments and the private and faith-based and community sectors are key to achieving the objectives of preventing and ending homelessness. Throughout the year, the Council's Regional Coordinators are in the field providing a broad range of technical assistance and support to facilitate federal agency collaboration in the regions and assist local, state and regional efforts.

    As the government level most often responsible for administering human service programs and also playing a key role in the development of specialized drug and mental health courts, counties have a key role to play in the effort to prevent and end homelessness. The National Association of Counties has been a strong partner to 10 Year Plan efforts. More than 350 of the 10 Year Plans around the nation are partnerships of cities and counties. Council National Team Leader Michael German has worked closely with the leadership and members of the three leading organizations of local elected officials -- the National Association of Counties, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the National League of Cities to promote jurisdictional leadership in ending homelessness and the dissemination of best practices in outreach/engagement, housing solutions, and supportive services. He continued these activities last month at the 2009 National Association of Counties Annual Meeting and Exposition held in Nashville, TN. Shown here at the Large Urban Caucus luncheon, l-r, Eldrin Bell, Chairman, Clayton County, GA; Sam Olens, Chairman, Cobb County, GA; unidentified; Burrell Ellis, Chief Executive Officer, DeKalb County, GA; Valerie Brown, Sonoma County,CA Vice Chair and NACo President; Roger Dickinson, Supervisor, Sacramento County, CA; Connie Stokes, Commissioner, DeKalb County, GA; and Council Team Leader German.

    Before traveling to Nashville for the NACo Conference, Michael accompanied U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Ron Sims to a meeting of the Atlanta Regional Commission on Homelessness where after addressing the Commission, Deputy Secretary Sims continued the dialogue with Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. Shown here are, l-r, Council Team Leader German, Mayor Franklin, and HUD Deputy Secretary Sims. As the Executive for the King County, Washington - the nation's 13th largest county in a metropolitan area of 1.8 million residents and 39 cities including the cities of Seattle, Bellevue and Redmond - prior to his appointment as HUD Deputy Secretary, Mr. Sims was nationally recognized for his work on transportation, homelessness, climate change, health care reform, urban development and affordable housing. His keen interest in ending homelessness included co- chairing the Committee to End Homelessness in King County.

    The Regional Commission on Homelessness is the outgrowth of the request by Mayor Franklin in 2002 to the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta to lead a broad based effort to develop a practical plan to address homelessness. A Commission on Homelessness, chaired by retired King & Spalding law partner Horace Sibley, and co- chaired by civic leader Myrtle Davis and Dr. Louis Sullivan, president emeritus of the Morehouse College of Medicine, developed the 2003 Blueprint to End Homelessness which led to a more regional approach which is being overseen by the Regional Commission on Homelessness that continues to receive administrative and management expertise from the United Way. More than $30 million in private funding has been raised for this effort and the more than $20 million in Homeless Opportunity Bonds issued by the Atlanta Redevelopment Authority that have created hundreds of permanent supportive housing units to help meet the housing goals of the Blueprint was the focus of a Council Innovation story last year.

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