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Deputy Director Jennifer Ho on her experience serving rural areas
When I was the Executive Director of Hearth Connection in Minnesota before I came to DC, I spent many mornings and afternoons driving across Minnesota. A 90-minute drive would bring me to Mankato or Rochester. In two and a half hours, I could be on the north shore of Lake Superior visiting our partners in Duluth, or in four and a half hours I could drive up to the Bois Forte reservation of Nett Lake. When we talk about rural homelessness, we are actually talking about a varied and diverse expanse of America. The northland lakes and woods are nothing like the rolling pastures of southern Minnesota. So too, the Montana and Alaska frontier is a world away from Appalachia. However, there are some important commonalities across rural America related to homelessness.
First, technology is not the given it has become in urban areas. Cell phones and internet access are not necessarily readily available or reliable. Second, people might be far away from services. And conversely, service providers might need to cover long distances to reach clients.
But the causes of homelessness are similar: poverty, inadequate housing, domestic violence, mental illness, and the invisible injuries of combat. Although it might be difficult to count homelessness in rural communities, that doesn't mean it isn't there.
We will not achieve our goals to end homelessness in America until we grasp the real problem of rural homelessness and work on replicating solutions that work in these communities. In this issue, we present examples of communities leading the way in preventing and ending rural homelessness.
- Read more about rural homelessness on our website
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Using Data to Make Progress: a Community Profile
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Clallam County, Washington reduced homelessness by 40% since 2004 in part from innovative use of data
For many communities and Continuums of Care in rural areas, one of the challenges is gathering accurate data that can be utilized to drive action. Towns are often many miles away from one another, and individuals may be living out of sight in wooded areas or in encampments far from the center of town, which makes getting an accurate PIT Count difficult. Also, many smaller service providers do not have the funding available to implement their own HMIS infrastructure.
Despite these challenges, one county in Washington State has seen dramatic results in part because of their commitment to data collection and analysis among all stakeholders in the county. Clallam County, Washington, located on the Olympic Peninsula, is one of the most sparsely populated counties in the country. They began their PIT Count in 2003. Now over 65 agencies, through the Shelter Providers Network, participate in the annual PIT Count using innovative strategies that work for their rural community, and all are connected to HMIS. USICH spoke with Kathy Wahto, the Executive Director of Serenity House and the Continuum of Care Lead in Clallam County, on how they use data and their collaborations with other providers and the Housing Authority.
- Read how Clallam County made progress
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Rural Providers on What We Need to Know About Rural Homelessness
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This month we spoke with two providers, Dreama Shreve of the Appalachian Regional Coalition to End Homelessness and Dr. Tom Simpatico of Pathways to Housing Vermont and the University of Vermont, on the nature of homelessness in rural areas and ways to improve services.
 Dreama Shreve shared what she believes Americans should know about rural homelessness, including what areas of investment are needed to best meet the needs of those experiencing homelessness in Appalachia and other rural areas.
-Read more
 Dr. Tom Simpatico spoke as a researcher and as the director of Pathways to Housing in Vermont, on how to meet the needs of various subpopulations of people experiencing homelessness in rural Vermont and how to adapt successful best practices to a rural context.
- Read more
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Federal Programs for Rural Communities
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Resources and funding from USDA, HUD, HHS, and VA
The federal government is committed to providing resources and support to the nearly 50 million Americans living in non-metropolitan areas. We've compiled program information from four major Departments that have targeted programs for rural America. These resources have far-reaching goals and audiences, from those living on Tribal lands to telehealth services for Veterans.
- Learn more about these resources
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News from our Federal Partners
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Department of Housing and Urban Development 
Continuum of Care Interim Rule Posted
On July 16, HUD posted the interim Continuum of Care Rules and Guidance on their website. This interim rule focuses on regulatory implementation of the new CoC program, including guidance on the CoC planning process. To assist CoC programs in successful implementation of the consolidated program, HUD has provided resources on these changes.
Department of Labor 
Secretary Solis visits innovative jobs programs for Veterans
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis visted programs funded through DOL's Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP). These programs work with Veterans experiencing homelessness, to provide job training and skill building in addition to other services to build life stability.
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On the USICH Blog...
The Affordable Care Act and Homelessness
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The Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has implications for the entire health care system in America. For service providers and state and local governments, many of the coverage changes under Medicaid in 2014 and the expansion of community health centers will have a dramatic impact on the health care provisions of those experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Deputy Director Jennifer Ho blogs on the portions of the Act that will be most important for those experiencing homelessness, and how health care expansion is a vital part of homelessness prevention.
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Deadline: Section 811 Project Rental Assistance Demonstration
National Health Care for the Homeless Day
Wednesday, August 8
Learn more
Check Out More Upcoming Events on our Online Calendar
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