Budget Demonstrates Continued Commitment to Opening Doors Goals
President Obama's Fiscal Year 2013 (FY 13) Budget Proposal includes a significant funding commitment to implement Opening Doors. This year's Budget Proposal includes $4.7 billion for targeted homeless assistance funding, a 17% increase over the previously enacted Fiscal Year 2012 Budget.
Targeted Homeless Assistance Programs (Budget Authority in Millions of Dollars)
"The President's Budget reflects our commitment to funding what works," said USICH Executive Director Barbara Poppe. "Together we have demonstrated that increased investment combined with strong collaboration and improved targeting leads to reductions in homelessness."
The President's FY 13 Budget Proposal is the second budget developed by USICH member agencies since the release of Opening Doors and is a statement of the Administration's commitment to preventing and ending homelessness as a national priority.
The 17% increase in targeted homeless assistance funding includes the following:
Increased strategic investments to implement the HEARTH Act. $330 million increase for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homeless Assistance Grants, including $286 million for the second year of the revamped Emergency Solutions Grants.
Continued expansion of supportive housing for our nation's Veterans through HUD-VASH. An additional 10,000 HUD-VASH vouchers combined with health care and supportive services to help Veterans exit homelessness.
Additional funding and focus on prevention and rapid re-housing. $200M expansion of the Department of Veterans Affairs Supportive Services for Veteran Families program - built on best practices developed across the country.
New investments through the Affordable Care Act to leverage mainstream programs including Medicaid. Additional 5% increase in Department of Health and Human Services targeted homeless assistance programs.
"By continuing to invest in our Homeless Assistance Grants ($2.2 billion) and HUD-VASH ($75 million), we move toward realizing the vision of Opening Doors to finish the job of ending chronic and Veterans homelessness by 2015 and set a path to ending family and youth homelessness within the decade," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.
- FY 13 Budget Homelessness Fact Sheet (html) or (pdf)
Important Video Message from HUD Secretary Donovan Offers Guidance and Direction to ESG Grant Recipients
Message to HUD's Emergency Solutions Grant Recipients on the Importance of Rapid Re-Housing
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan issued a video message directed to Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) recipients and subrecipients, Continuums of Care (CoCs), and other organizations partnering with HUD to end homelessness. He opened the message by reminding HUD's partners that, "the fight to end homelessness is one of the Obama Administration's most critical priorities and winning that fight depends on you, our local partners."
In addition to highlighting success in carrying out the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), Secretary Donovan calls on ESG recipients to do the following:
Invest an unprecedented percentage of your funding in rapid re-housing: We've learned from HPRP that rapid re-housing programs make the biggest impact on homelessness and should be given the highest priority under ESG.
Collaborate with CoCs: Keep planning smarter. Better coordination creates better results for homeless families and the American taxpayer.
Focus on results and collecting quality data in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS): This data is essential to measuring what works and what doesn't. Accurate HMIS data will also enable us to gain a more informed understanding of the problems of homelessness in our communities.
USICH recently released a map that provides state level homelessness contacts and statistics. There were technical issues with the map after the initial launch. These are now resolved and we encourage you to revisit the map.
This map provides contact information for key partners on the ground in each state with the numbers of people experiencing homelessness in the four key populations targeted by the four goals of Opening Doors: chronic, Veterans, families, and overall homelessness.
