ATLANTA, GEORGIA. The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta was the site for this week's meeting of the Region IV Federal Interagency Council on Homelessness. Under the leadership of current Region IV Council Chair, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Regional Director and former Augusta Mayor Bob Young, the Region IV Council is composed of senior officials from federal agencies responsible for programs in the southeastern states and Puerto Rico. Nearly 50 officials from the federal Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Labor, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Social Security Administration, General Services Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency, and invited guests met to discuss federal initiatives on homelessness.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano described to the federal partners recent developments in the national effort to end chronic homelessness, and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin gave a 3-year progress report on her city's homelessness efforts in partnership with surrounding counties. The meeting was organized by Council Regional Coordinator Michael German who also arranged for the special venue of the Carter Center.

The Region IV Federal Interagency Council on Homelessness is a key Council initiative to mirror at the regional level the partnerships of the Interagency Council and federal agencies in Washington and to make federal resources more accessible to states and cities. Among the issues discussed at this week's meeting were increases in funding for HUD's homeless assistance grants programs over the last several years; Department of Labor initiatives to make mainstream employment programs more accessible to homeless people, particularly homeless veterans; efforts by the Social Security Administration to facilitate SSI benefit applications by eligible homeless persons; and new regulations by the Department of Health and Human Services permitting the use of Title V federal surplus properties for permanent supportive housing. Dr. Craig Burnette from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs discussed VA proposals pending in Congress to increase resources for homeless veterans.

In his presentation, Council Director Mangano spoke of the Council's efforts to create a national partnership at every level of government and with every element of the private sector to reduce homelessness in the nation and forward the Administration's goal of ending chronic homelessness. "No one level of government can get the job done alone," he noted, "but partnered together with the private sector we can." Director Mangano applauded Mayor Franklin for the "political will" she has extended on the issue of ending homelessness which is making a significant difference in Atlanta. He welcomed Atlanta "into the growing number of cities that have seen a reduction in homelessness from their 10- year planning efforts". The city recently announced a 6.2% overall reduction in homelessness, and an 8.3% reduction in the unsheltered population over the past year. Director Mangano praised the central role the United Way of Atlanta, and its President Mark O'Connell, have played in the city's 10-year planning effort. Mangano paid special recognition to the efforts of Horace Sibley, both individually and as chair of the Regional Commission on Homelessness, to ensure that ending homelessness continues to be a primary priority in Atlanta.

In her remarks, Mayor Franklin spoke of the importance of partnerships and "shared leadership" between the city and surrounding counties in finding solutions to homelessness. She noted that $20 million in private funding has been raised to implement Atlanta's 10-Year Plan and that these private funds are being "matched dollar for dollar" by the city. She also described two new initiatives by her administration that resulted from visits to other cities she and Commission Chair Horace Sibley had made at the encouragement of the Interagency Council. These initiatives are creating new housing opportunities for homeless families and employment opportunities for chronically homeless individuals (see related story).

Pictured here are attendees at the Region IV meeting (top photo) and (lower photo) Mayor Franklin (right) speaking with Director Mangano (left).

ATLANTA, GEORGIA. Progress and results were the topics this week as Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin spoke to the Region IV Federal Interagency Council on Homelessness (see related story) regarding implementation of key goals from the regional Blueprint to End Homelessness in 10 Years. Mayor Franklin noted the partnerships the city has developed with seven surrounding counties and spoke about two new initiatives the city has undertaken. Mayor Franklin recounted how these new initiatives - one creating a Housing First approach for homeless families and another facilitating employment opportunities for chronically homeless individuals - were inspired by site visits that she and Commission Chair Horace Sibley had made to innovative programs in cities around the country, particularly New York City, at the encouragement of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Remarking on the Housing First initiative for homeless families, Mayor Franklin noted that this initiative " in no way decreases the city's commitment to end chronic homelessness" but simply reflects the city's desire to take action immediately to move women with children out of crowded shelters and into housing. The development of the initiative, which has included interviews by Commission Chair Sibley and other Commission members at shelters with heads of families, has within the last month moved 63 families out of shelters and into permanent housing. The second initiative was inspired by a visit to NYC's Ready, Willing and Able program and involved initial collaboration with the State of Georgia to create an Employment First approach for chronically homeless individuals, which is now being administered by the city.

Implementation of the 10-year plan is proceeding and has evolved into a regional blueprint with seven surrounding counties joining the city in partnership in a Regional Commission on Homelessness. Gwinnett County officials voted to join the Commission in March of this year, joining Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton and Rockdale counties in the partnership with the city. One of the centerpieces of the effort is the 24/7 Gateway Homeless Services Center, a full-service facility offering a drop-in center, 270 interim housing beds and access to services for homeless individuals undergoing employment training, waiting for entry into substance abuse programs, veterans needing transitional housing and individuals who need medical or mental health services. A description of Mayor Franklin's seven-point Action Plan for the Blueprint, identifying priority initiatives and projects, as well as measurable outcomes, can be found at http://www.unitedwayatlanta.org/homeless.asp

In her concluding comments, Mayor Franklin noted that "much is to be gained in community spirit, and the spirit of the community shifts, when everyone is focused on those most in need. And it shifts for the better."

Pictured here (top photo) is Regional Council Chair and HUD Regional Director Bob Young (right) welcoming Mayor Franklin (left). Also pictured (lower photo) are (left) Mayor Franklin), (center) Council Regional Coordinator Michael German, and (right) Council Director Mangano.

MANISTEE, MICHIGAN. Achieving results, ensuring the use of innovations, and building partnerships were messages brought to mayors and other jurisdictional leaders attending the Michigan Association of Mayors summer conference earlier this month, when United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator John O'Brien participated in the meeting to represent the Council's partnership in the current Michigan statewide initiative to end homelessness. The Michigan Campaign to End Homelessness is a unique state-led effort to create a statewide plan to end homelessness supported by the creation of 10-year plans to end homelessness in each of Michigan's 83 counties.

The Michigan Campaign to End Homelessness is being coordinated by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, under the leadership of Executive Director Michael DeVos, who led development of Maine's statewide plan. The Michigan partnership seeks to build political and civic will throughout the state leading up to the rollout of the completed 10-year plans at a two-day meeting in October. Mr. DeVos noted that "over the years, many innovative programs have been created around the state to address the housing and service needs of Michigan's poorest citizens - homeless individuals and families. For the first time, communities and the state are working together in a coordinated way to end homelessness in our state."

Interagency Council Regional Coordinator O'Brien, who worked in partnership with Mr. DeVos in the forwarding of Maine's plan, also shared with the mayors and jurisdictional leaders the emerging role of cost benefit analysis data showing the true cost of chronic homelessness to public systems of care, treatment, and incarceration.

Pictured here (left to right) are Michael DeVos, Daniel P. Gilmartin, Executive Director of the Michigan Municipal League, Council Regional Coordinator John O'Brien, and Ed Winter, President of the Michigan Association of Mayors.

WASHINGTON, DC. The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness is continuing to extend technical assistance and peer-to-peer expertise to cities and counties planning to participate in the 2006 National Project Homeless Connect Week. The Interagency Council recently announced that December 4 - 8 will be this year's national event across the country.

Representatives of 25 cities in the U.S. and Canada participated in the most recent in a series of peer-to-peer technical assistance national conference calls being sponsored by the Interagency Council. Expert faculty for the technical assistance call represented cities that have conducted prior events. Judith Klain, Director of San Francisco Project Homeless Connect and Cathy ten Broeke, Homeless Coordinator for Minneapolis and Hennepin County led a discussion of the important role of mayoral and county leadership in successfully executed PHC events and the resulting benefits to 10-year planning. Minneapolis/ Hennepin County has held two PHC events in the last year and San Francisco recently held its 12th PHC event. Please see last week's enews for more information on this discussion.

The next peer-to-peer conference call is scheduled for August 29 at 1 pm Eastern to discuss "Critical Elements for Results: Building New Partnerships for Project Homeless Connect." Successful Project Homeless Connect events are built around partnerships with business, volunteers, service providers, homeless persons, and the media. Communities interested in participating in this call should contact the Council at usichevents@us ich.gov.

National League of Cities- Interagency Council Project Homeless Connect Webinar September 7

On September 7, the Interagency Council and the National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF) will sponsor a web seminar at 2 pm Eastern entitled Project Homeless Connect: Using Civic Engagement to Serve the Homeless. This webinar will provide practical advice and examples for cities interested in replicating the PHC model or improving upon their own past PHC events. Reservations must be made through YEF. Cities are encouraged to register early and to join with community partners to participate as a group. To register online, go to the YEF webpage and click on the Project Homeless Connect webinar link. For more information on the webinar, contact YEF by email at pierce@nlc.org.

Faculty for the NLC call will include Judith Klain of San Francisco Project Homeless Connect. San Francisco just completed its 12th Project Homeless Connect event, with a total of 2508 clients attending with the assistance of 1424 volunteers.

THIS WEEK, the e-news begins a series of occasional articles on state budget initiatives that are providing new resources to create housing opportunities, improve prevention and intervention services, and remove barriers to participation in mainstream services for homeless people. States have a key role in the National Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness being constellated by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. The Interagency Council has worked closely with Governors and state officials to foster the creation of state interagency councils on homelessness in 53 states and territories and to encourage the development of state 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness. The federal agencies in partnership have also engaged every state in the Policy Academy series to promote state planning in addressing family and chronic homelessness. State efforts are producing new partnerships, new resources, and innovations and replicable best practices ranging from Washington State's incarcerated veterans program to South Carolina's data warehouse in the national effort to prevent and end homelessness.

North Carolina's "Housing 400" Initiative

The 2006 North Carolina General Assembly has approved legislation that will create 400 units of independent and supportive housing for very low income persons with disabilities. The initiative will be funded through an increase of $10.9 million to the state Housing Trust Fund for capital funding and $1.2 million in recurring operating subsidy provided to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to make these 400 units affordable for persons at SSI income levels.

These new resources are particularly welcome news for the twelve jurisdictions engaged in 10 year planning efforts in the state: Asheville/Buncombe County, Chapel Hill/Orange County, Durham/Durham County, Fayetteville/Cumberland County, Greensboro/High Point/Guilford County, Henderson/Vance County, Raleigh/Wake County, and the cities of Charlotte, Gastonia, Shelby, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.

Officials from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services are collaborating with the North Carolina Housing Coalition, the Eastern N.C. Center for Independent Living, Guilford County Emergency Management, Alliance for Disability Advocacy / Center for Independent Living, The Housing Partnership, and F.I.R.S.T in holding a series of community meetings this month around the state for communities and housing partners to discuss implementation of this initiative. While application criteria will not be finalized until after these discussions, it is expected that the initiative will provide approximately $27,000 in capital funds per unit with an operating subsidy of approximately $251 per unit per month.

CLALLAM COUNTY, WASHINGTON. Clallam County WA, a predominately rural county in the far reaches of the upper Pacific Northwest, is finding success in reducing family and individual homelessness through the creation of a results oriented 10-year plan, collaborative prevention efforts, an increasing focus on permanent housing solutions, and applying for new permanent housing resources for families and individuals being made available through state, federal and public-private investments.

Port Angeles is the county seat and largest city in Clallam County with a population of just over 18,000 according to recently released 2005 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The non-profit Serenity House, founded over 20 years ago by two nurses to provide substance abuse rehabilitation, now provides services annually to nearly 1400 homeless families and individuals in the form of emergency and transitional housing services and child care. Much of its operational funding has come from the operation of thrift stores in the county. Serenity House's programs for homeless families include Family Shelter Services providing emergency shelter for up to 60 days and prevention services such as rent/mortgage arrears payment, Evergreen Family Village, and Serenity Court. The latter two provide a total of 26 units of transitional family housing with intensive case management services for 18-24 months.

Recently, however, Serenity House has taken steps to begin offering permanent housing solutions to families and individuals in a process that began over two years ago when Serenity House's Executive Director Kathy Wahto led an effort by the Shelter Providers Network to develop a 10- year plan to end homelessness for Clallam County. The plan built on the collaboration of more than 55 agencies and churches in the county providing homeless services. The draft plan was refined in 2005 and adopted by the county commissioners pursuant to Washington State's Homelessness Housing and Assistance Act which required county governments to develop a plan to reduce homelessness by 50% by 2015 as part of a statewide initiative. The "Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in Clallam County" addressed both family and individual homelessness, calling for the creation of 200 family units and 300 units for homeless single adults "with an emphasis on prevention, coordinated service delivery, data collection and performance monitoring." In a step toward fulfillment of that plan, Serenity House developed a One Family-One Home project in collaboration with the Clallam Housing Authority and Healthy Families of Port Angeles and West End Outreach Services in Forks to create new service enhanced transition-in-place housing units for homeless families with incomes at or below 50% of the median county income facing complex situations benefiting from intensive case management.

Last month the Washington Families Fund selected the One Family-One Home project for funding. The project is expected to help 160 homeless families over the ten year project period. Twelve families will be helped at any one time, 8 in Port Angeles and 4 in the small town of Forks, population 3000. In Port Angeles, half of the units will be reserved for families that have experienced recent domestic violence. The Clallam Housing Authority is providing project based section 8 vouchers for all twelve units and will also provide classes on financial literacy, home maintenance, and home ownership. The transition-in-place model means that families may choose to continue living in the housing even after intensive case management services are no longer needed. The Port Angeles housing units are located in two tax credit apartment complexes, making these units more affordable. You can read more about the Washington Families Fund in the August 9 e-news.

Serenity House will also open its first permanent supportive project for chronically homeless individuals next year. The Tempest Permanent Supportive Housing Project, funded in part by a $356,000 homeless assistance grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and $70,000 from the city's Community Development Block Grant revolving loan fund, will provide 15 small apartments for chronically homeless individuals. The project involves a renovation of a former restaurant and motel and may eventually include a soup kitchen.

Serenity House is also working with other providers and city and county officials in Clallam County to intensify prevention activities. In a recent interview for an article in the Washington State Housing Finance Agency newsletter, Serenity House Director Wahto, described the importance of "reaching out to families or households who need help before they get in too deep". She described outreach efforts to school districts, food banks, landlords, property owners, and police officers as important to the overall goal of preventing homelessness. "Schools are useful. Teachers and administrators see kids in school whose families are struggling and don't know what to do about it. We're seeing the same kind of success rate that I hear from other organizations. With this kind of intervention, between 85 and 95% of people sustain and retain housing," she said.

When Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper unveiled his city's 10-year plan to end homelessness, Denver's Road Home, last year, he was clear about the intention - to invest in cost effective programs with measurable results. He noted that with the implementation of the plan, "we'll be able to say, 'Here's your investment; here's what we delivered.' This will end much of the frustration of just throwing money at the problem without having any results." And Denver has been getting results. In May, the city announced that the results of the latest point in time survey showed an 11.5% decline in homelessness in the Denver metro region including a reduction in street homelessness from 1000 to 600 persons since January 2005.

Mayor Hickenlooper, along with city point person Department of Human Services Manager Roxane White, has consistently emphasized the importance of involving all segments of the community in ending homelessness in the Mile High City. Early on, he engaged business in the development of the results oriented plan and he enlisted the faith based community, asking every congregation to adopt a homeless family. To ensure the broadest possible civic involvement in the plan's ongoing implementation, a detailed communications strategy was included as part of the plan to keep the community aware of the investments, the results, and ways to participate. Mayor Hickenlooper has generously shared his insights, and the innovations developed in his city with other mayors and jurisdictional leaders, including hosting the Council's National Summit for Jurisdictional Leaders: Going from Good to Better to Great in the Development of 10-Year Plans in May. He has also been a national leader in supporting the Administration's Samaritan Initiative to provide new resources for communities to develop permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless persons, testifying at a congressional hearing in 2004.

Mayor Hickenlooper and his Denver Road Home Team provide a continuing focus on the needs of Denver's homeless by engaging the broader community in opportunities to be part of the solution. In October the City is partnering with Comcast to hold a Project Homeless Connect event at the Denver Human Services Building. More than 1000 Comcast employees will be volunteering at this one day, one stop housing and services opportunity for the homeless. A corporate relay to benefit the Denver Road Home Plan has been added to the schedule for the Denver's first ever marathon on October 15 which has been specially designed as a scenic urban course highlighting downtown landmarks and scenic parks.

For his leadership in creating a 10-year plan that emphasizes strategic investments to deliver maximum results, and his continuing efforts to increase awareness and involvement by every element of the community in solutions to homelessness in the Mile High City, the Council was pleased to present Mayor John Hickenlooper with an inaugural A Home for Every American Award.

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news highlights jurisdictional leaders committed to the 10-year planning process to end chronic homelessness, with this week's issue featuring Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. Mayor Franklin (pictured here) spoke at the meeting of the Region IV Federal Interagency Council on Homelessness at the Carter Center in Atlanta this week (see related stories).

. . . What characterizes our efforts here in Atlanta is partnership, the same kind we put together when we hosted the Olympics. This partnership on ending homelessness has brought eight political jurisdictions to the table working together. Eight political jurisdictions that hardly agree on anything else. And we are happy to be partnered with the Council, and all of the individual federal agencies.

. . . One of the greatest accomplishments we've demonstrated on chronic homelessness is that partnering. We're doing everything through partnership, and a symbol of the power of that partnership is the Commission that Horace Sibley now leads on ending chronic homelessness in Atlanta. That Commission has been in place for 3 years and is indicative that partnership works. Together we've raised over $20 million from the private sector, and we've matched it dollar for dollar with a city revenue source that has issued $20 million in what we call "Homeless Opportunity Bonds." These resources can be used for the purchase, renovation, or construction of housing, and thus far have resulted in 138 new tenancies across our city.

. . . We have recognized that both prevention and intervention are needed to accomplish the mission. We have an eviction and foreclosure program that has prevented homelessness for more than 2800 families in the last few years. Needless to say, this is a cost effective strategy. A central part of our prevention initiative for individuals has been our reunification assistance program and the Gateway Center we opened in 2005.

. . . We are a city without county powers. Human services do not formally flow under our Charter, but we recognized the need to form relationships with the counties and, again, Horace Sibley's leadership has brought an expansive and regional effort into being.

. . . Now we know the important role of leadership and partnership, but we've learned in working with counties that shared leadership is important and that is especially true for mayors who don't have authority over human services resources. They need to understand the importance of shared leadership in a partnership that provides a strategy to move forward.