IN THE SPOTLIGHT

National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference 

On July 13th - 15th, nearly 80 policy practioners, service providers, and homeless advocates from Virginia attended this year's National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) conference in Washington, D.C. While the uncertainty of our economy and the fate of federal spending on Capitol Hill were acknowledged by all, the resolution to continue to use resources strategically to end homelessness prevailed. The workshops available covered a wide variety of topics.

Nan Roman, President and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, challenged homeless advocates to focus in three ways:

• to shift more resources into rapid re-housing and shift organizational capacity into rapid re-housing;
• to access mainstream programs and prioritize resources for the highest needs;
• to advocate and engage in the debate over national priorities.

Ms. Roman's remarks were made within the context of the national debate over the debt ceiling and the likelihood of a significant decrease in federal resources for homelessness. She also emphasized that the goal is NOT to drastically reduce emergency shelter capacity but to give emergency shelter providers the tools to help families and individuals into housing faster.

VCEH attended the workshop "Innovative Housing Interventions for Survivors of Domestic Violence" which included a presentation on a pilot project funded by the Gates Foundation to provide housing first to survivors of domestic violence. In order to enable service providers to offer families services tailored to their unique needs, the funding available was quite flexible. According to one of the presenters, "Housing first is possible for domestic violence survivors, even when there is 'current' domestic violence and a high level of lethality.... It is possible for domestic violence survivors to remain in or return to their homes, thereby preventing homelessness." The pilot project focused on survivor centered advocacy, empowerment, and the use of voluntary services "better fit our mission; choice and self- determination is what our movement is all about."

NAEH Capitol Hill Day 

VCEH Program Manager Robin Gahan served as the NAEH Capitol Hill Day state captain and coordinated meetings with members of Congress. Over twenty-five constituents attended this year's event - the largest turnout ever - to urge our legislators to "robustly support" funding for homeless programs through McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants, funding for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program and HUD-VASH Program, SAMHSA Homeless Services, and Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) programs. 

A special thank you to those who organized meetings with their district's representative including Kathy Sibert, A-SPAN; April Martin, Fairfax Housing Locators; and Kerrie Wilson and Greg White, Reston Interfaith.

The 1,000 Homes initiative aims to partner with local communities to:

(1)   identify the most vulnerable people experiencing     

         homelessness by compiling information using a tool called the          Vulnerability Index,

(2)   rank their vulnerability by severity, and

(3)   systematically house them before their homelessness causes            them to die.

VCEH is proud to announce that five communities within the diverse regions of our state have officially joined the 1,000 Homes initiative and are in the midst of organizing their local campaigns.

Participating Communities

Central Virginia

  Richmond

Hampton Roads

Norfolk

Virginia Peninsula

Northern Virginia 

Arlington

Southwest Virginia 

Roanoke 

Participating communities will now benefit from promotional use of the 1,000 Homes Facebook page ( like us!) as well as the new webpage: www.1khomesva.org

VCEH gets around the state to visit with our partners, attend events, facilitate or host meetings, and more.  

Here's what we were up to in July!

Prince William County for a meeting with Delegate Lingamfelter to discuss long-term solutions to ending homelessness, the 1,000 Homes initiative, and the success of rapid re-housing for families experiencing homelessness.

Richmond for the 100,000 Homes Registry Week Boot Camp which was sponsored by VCEH. Over 60 change agents from across the state and county attended for a 3-day training July 29 - August 1.

Martinsville for the West Piedmont Better Housing Coalition and Continuum of Care board meeting to present the 1,000 Homes statewide effort and opportunity.

Washington, D.C. for the National Alliance to End Homelessness conference and Capitol Hill Day.

RESOURCES

 SAMHSA Permanent Supportive Housing Toolkit 

and Fidelity Assessment

 The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has declared Permanent Supportive Housing an evidence based model that "helps people choose, get, and keep housing that meets their needs and preferences." SAMHSA has released its Permanent Supportive Housing toolkit (available for free download.)

In order to evaluate whether or not your program is successfully achieving positive outcomes, SAMHSA has developed a Fidelity Assessment within its toolkit. This tool is a self-assessment and can be downloaded separately as means to ensure your programs fidelity to the model. The assessment tool provides instructions for conducting assessments and tips on how to use the data to improve your program. 

Perhaps you are asking, "Why should I evaluate our program?" 

The answer is simple: "Consumer outcomes are the bottom line for Permanent Supportive Housing services, just as profit is the bottom line in business. No successful businessperson would assume that the business was profitable just because the enterprise produced a number of widgets or because employees worked hard. Productivity does not necessarily lead to profit." To download the assessment, click here 

 

For more information about membership, see VCEH Membership

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