BEND, OREGON. "The time has come to develop this plan to end homelessness. We can't afford not to have a plan," said Bend, Oregon Mayor Bruce Abernethy as the Mayor and City Council voted unanimously last week to move forward in partnership with the Deschutes County Commissioners to develop a 10-Year Plan to end homelessness.

"We really have no choice." said Councilor and former Mayor Bill Friedman. "We all have grown aware of how much homelessness is costing local government." Mayor Abernethy pledged to work with Deschutes County Commissioner Baney is enlisting the support of the neighboring two counties to develop a plan for all of central Oregon. Pictured here are (left to right): Mayor Bruce Abernethy, Mayor Pro Tem Linda Johnson, Bend City Councilor Chris Telfer, Bend City Councilor Peter Gramlich, and Bend City Councilor Bill Friedman.

The Deschutes County Commission also voted to pass a resolution to develop a local 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator Paul Carlson addressed both the city and the county on behalf of the Council, along with the co- chairs of the Central Oregon Homeless Leadership Council, Cindy Pasko and Suzy Reininger. "I strongly favor this action," said Commissioner Tammy Melton, "and I will take the lead to secure the commitment of the other two counties of central Oregon to develop a regional plan." Deschutes County lies east of the Cascade Range and has become a major west coast resort destination for winter and summer recreation. It has experienced explosive growth in the past two decades.

With this commitment the communities of central Oregon join ten other Oregon counties forming ten local 10-Year Plans to End Homelessness. Bend, Oregon is a community of nearly 80,000 that has been one of the fastest growing cities in the United States over the past decade. The area hosted a Project Homeless Connect last October that drew in nearly 1,000 homeless persons from throughout the region seeking connection to housing, jobs, and resources. Pictured here are (left to right): Suzy Reininger, Co- Chair Central Oregon Homeless Leadership Council, Cindy Pasko, Co-Chair Central Oregon Homeless Leadership Council, Christine Lewis, Housing Works, Corky Senecal, Neighbor Impact, Deschutes County Commissioner Dennis Luke Debbie Price, State of Oregon Housing and Community Development, Deschutes County Commissioner Mike Daly, Deschutes County Commissioner Tammy Melton, Council Regional Coordinator Paul Carlson, Deschutes County Deputy Administrator Erik Kropp, and Deschutes County Administrator Mark Kanner.

CHESAPEAKE, VIRGINIA. In Chesapeake, Virginia this week, the City Council approved a resolution adopting the city's new 10-Year Plan. Mayor Dalton Edge and the City Council adopted a resolution to accept the new 10-Year Plan, and Mayor Edge became the latest signatory to the America's Road Home Statement of Principles and Actions, joining his regional neighbors Mayors Fraim and Oberndorf. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness National Team Leader Michael German addressed the Council and affirmed their commitment to the Plan. Mayor Edge is pictured here at right with Mr. German.

The Plan notes that the "City continues to be a full partner in the Regional Task Force to End Homelessness and to commit reasonable resources to the efforts of the Task Force. Current regional efforts include the operation of a regional affordable housing database, the advocacy of the development of one SRO (Single Room Occupancy) facility in each city in the region, the development of a regional facility for residential substance abuse treatment, and hosting conferences to keep up with the latest research and best practices." The City will also look at best practices from other sites, including the Pathways to Housing/Housing First technology and prevention strategies from Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Just two weeks ago, Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim, Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf who has advanced a 10-Year Plan with new housing for chronically homeless persons and homeless veterans, Portsmouth Mayor Dr. James Holley whose city is moving toward a Plan, Chesapeake City Council member Cliff Hayes, and Isle of Wight County Chair Stan Clark were at the South Hampton Roads Regional Conference, where the elected officials committed to a regional partnership to end homelessness through the creation of a regional plan coupled to their city 10- Year Plans.

Mayor Edge's America's Road Home signature this week was also joined by San Mateo County Supervisor Mark Church and Mayor Sandi Bloem of Couer d'Alene, Idaho. These signatures bring the total number of elected jurisdictional city and county officials committed to the principles to more than 165.

WASHINGTON, DC. United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary and current United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Chair Michael Leavitt this week saw and heard firsthand the needs of those who have been living on the streets and in shelters with health, mental health, and treatment needs, as he visited Washington, DC's Christ House, a 33-bed medical respite facility providing 24-hour medical care for sick, homeless men and women. Secretary Leavitt was joined by Council Executive Director Philip Mangano; Philo Hall, Counselor to the Secretary; and Elizabeth Duke, Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

The federal officials were welcomed to the site, where they first toured Unity's street van, by Vincent Keane, President and CEO of Unity Health Care; Dr. Janelle Goetcheus, Chief Medial Officer of Unity Health Care; David Inoue, Administrative Director of Christ House; Mary Jordan, Director of Nursing; and Dr. Danielle Robertshaw, Unity Health Care's Medical Director of Homeless Outreach.

After touring the residential area of the site which opened in 1985, Secretary Leavitt lead a wide-ranging roundtable discussion where he expressed particular interest in the commitment of Christ House's senior staff, some of whom live on site, and the agency's business model. Mr. Keane noted the importance of both resources and leadership for the federal agencies. Among the topics covered were treatment resources, clinical activities in the corrections system, electronic medical records, and veterans. Director Mangano, responding to concerns about federal resources, pointed out the federal strategy to emphasize deeper mainstream program resources (see related e-news story) and create access points and increased technical capability in the field to ensure consumers secure all resources.

WASHINGTON, DC. The United States Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) this week announced the 25th annual awards under FEMA's Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFS) - $153 million awarded to programs in more than 2,500 cities and counties for food, shelter, rent, mortgage and utility assistance programs for people with non-disaster related emergencies.

FEMA Administrator David Paulison said that, since its inception twenty-five years ago, the EFS Program has disbursed more than $3.1 billion in federal aid. The program is administered by a National Board of voluntary agencies chaired by FEMA. Member agencies of the National Board include American Red Cross; Catholic Charities USA; National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; The Salvation Army; United Jewish Communities; and United Way of America.

The Emergency Food and Shelter Program began in 1983 with a $50 million federal appropriation to help meet the needs of hungry and homeless people throughout the United States and its territories by allocating federal funds for the provision of food and shelter. The EFS Program, appropriated annually under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, provides supplemental funds to nearly 12,000 agencies for the prevention of homelessness and the provision of other food and shelter services.

The national board qualifies jurisdictions for annual EFS funding awards based on criteria involving current population, unemployment and poverty levels. Grants are awarded to non-profit community and government organizations that are chosen by local boards in the qualifying jurisdictions. In addition to direct funding awards, Mr. Paulison said that eight percent of this year's total EFS appropriation has been set aside by the national board for state grants to aid those in need in non-qualifying jurisdictions.

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS. "The right resources to the right people at the right time." With those words the Massachusetts Commission to End Homelessness characterized its new strategy for ending homelessness in the Commonwealth through its new statewide plan released in January. This week, Massachusetts Lt. Governor Tim Murray, who chairs the Interagency Council on Homelessness and Housing, State Representative Byron Rushing who led legislative advocacy for the joint legislative- executive commission that developed the plan and was its co-chair, and United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano briefed private sector partners on the recommendations of the Commission. The more than 100 attendees included partners from real estate, financial managers, developers, and the Cambridge agency Shelter, Inc.'s Board and Advisory Board members. Shelter, Inc., Executive Director Tom Lorello hosted the event. Pictured here are (left to right): State Representative Byron Rushing, Assistant Majority Leader, and Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Commission on Homelessness; Massachusetts Lt. Governor Tim Murray; Director Mangano; Tom Lorello, Executive Director, Shelter, Inc.; and Phill Gross, Chair, Shelter, Inc Advisory Council and Co-founder and Director, Adage Capitol Management.

"The Commission's actions are truly unique," Lt. Governor Murray told the partners. "No other state in the nation has put together such a comprehensive, statewide analysis and plan looking at the full range of the homeless population . . . Ending homelessness, therefore, is one of those rare opportunities where doing the right thing and doing the most cost-effective thing are the same."

"Every level of government needs to be partnered," indicated Director Mangano. "Federal, state, and local, along with the private sector - we need to be sending our resources in the same direction to move forward strategies that are informed by field-tested, evidence- based practice that is cost efficient, a trifecta of public policy goals."

Representative Byron Rushing, addressing partners, noted the already established 90% success rate of the Housing First initiative underway statewide, Home and Healthy for Good. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts' FY 2008 budget doubled the investment in the Home and Healthy for Good program to $1.2 million.

Shelter, Inc. Advisory Board Chair Phill Gross moderated the event, which also included Anne Margulies, Massachusetts Assistant Secretary for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, and Former Lt. Governor Tom O'Neill, President of O'Neill and Associates and a member of Shelter, Inc.'s Advisory Board. Mr. Gross noted the importance of Shelter, Inc's own shift in strategy to a housing focus, informed by research and innovation.

The Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, lead agency for the Commonwealth's Housing First initiative, recently issued a new report on the pilot year of the statewide initiative which housed 227 people as of November 2007, showing that the average length of homelessness upon entry into the HHG program was 5 years. The costs per person per month, including the cost of housing and services, decreased from $2,720 before housing to $1,939 after housing placement, or $32,640 and $23,268 annualized, with a projected annual cost savings to the Commonwealth of $9,379 per person housed, or $2.1 million.

The Commission stated that ending the pervasive social and economic problem of homelessness is possible and is a moral imperative: " . . . Ending homelessness will not be easy and will require a dramatic transformation of the Commonwealth's system for responding to homeless individuals and families. The Commission generated a broadly- accepted vision for a new system, where shelters are used only for emergency transitions and every family and individual has a permanent place to live. " The planners set a new housing goal of 200 units annually for five years of Single Person Occupancy (SPO) housing and 800 new family units annually over the same 5-year period - 500 in private developments and 300 in new public housing.

The Commission proposes to reduce dramatically reliance on shelters, recommending adoption of the goal of reducing the number of family shelter units and individual beds by 20% and notes that a key task for the Massachusetts Interagency Council will be to develop effective measuring tools to assess progress. In order to achieve the shelter utilization reduction, the Commonwealth has proposed an initial investment of $10 million to establish a pool of flexible resources to develop and test a Uniform Assessment Tool to ensure resources can be targeted to precisely fill the need for each individual and family; develop pilot Regional Coordinating Entities to develop early warning systems and coordinate access to the broad array of income supports and services necessary to stabilize housing situations; provide a flexible array of tools for stabilizing, diverting and rehousing families and individuals who present as homeless or at imminent risk; and begin the planning for repurposing shelter facilities and service providers to play a key role in the new system.

The Commission continues the Commonwealth's longstanding approach of specific strategies for subpopulations of those who are homeless, noting about its proposed typology: "To devise a strategy to promote housing stability for all who touch the state's homeless system, it is necessary to understand the needs of the populations involved. For both families and individuals, while we want the new system to treat each case as unique and devise a situation-specific response, we have adopted a nomenclature of 'tiers' to characterize the subpopulations so that we can frame categories of responses."

DENVER, COLORADO. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has signed the first bill of the 2008 legislative session, creating new opportunities sought by foster care youth in the state to maintain family connections. A group of young adults who recently aged out of the state's foster care system had identified the need to formalize their ability to maintain connections with their own siblings and then - with the support of the Mile High United Way's "Bridging the Gap" initiative for foster care youth - wrote a legislative remedy, found sponsors for the bill, and testified before committees that eventually delivered unanimous support from the Colorado Legislature. Joining Governor Ritter at the bill-signing ceremony were two former foster care youth who helped forward HB 1006.

Governor Ritter noted, "When it comes to foster care and foster children, we know from experience that permanence and connections to family can make a tremendous difference." Governor Ritter added: "A sibling may be the only sense of permanence, safety or family that a foster child has. So when a foster child makes a request to see their brother or sister, we should listen and put it at the top of the priority list. It might seem like a little thing, but it's not." Research has shown that foster care youth are at high risk of homelessness when they leave care, and research on the chronically homeless adult population notes a relation between homelessness experienced in youth and subsequent adult experiences of homelessness.

The National Governors Association last year surveyed state policies for aging out youth and noted the important role that Governors play in achieving better outcomes for youth : "Because governors have the power to set agendas, assign responsibilities, and redirect resources, they are uniquely positioned to set the direction of foster care reforms in their states. Governors can ensure youth transitioning out of foster care have access to a comprehensive array of programs and services that address their permanency, health, economic, life skills, and housing needs; promote opportunities for foster youth to provide input on programs and services; develop policies and partnerships that seamlessly connect child welfare with other youth-serving systems; and call on the business, volunteer, and philanthropic communities to sponsor work experience, mentoring, and asset development opportunities.

Since 2006, NGA has been working with six states - California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and South Carolina - in the NGA Policy Academy on Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care on research and best practices for successful transition. Additionally, NGA has convened a six-state academy on young adults with disabilities, noting: "Young people with disabilities are more likely to drop out of high school; less likely to receive job training, tutoring, or counseling; more likely to be arrested after exiting school; are 5 times less likely to enter post-secondary school than peers; experience a 70 percent unemployment rate; are 4 times more likely to be in foster care; are at high risk for becoming homeless; and live in poverty at twice the rate of individuals without a disability. " States in this academy are Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Montana, and Washington.

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA. National Basketball Association (NBA) Team President and Coach of the Miami Heat Pat Riley and Genette Eaton, CEO of HomeAid, a national non-profit provider of housing for persons who are homeless, this week launched a new HomeAid Wounded Veterans program to address employability for returning veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Announced at a kick-off event in Los Angeles, the new program will build facilities across the U.S. that provide supportive educational services and job-skills training to help returning service members attain self-sufficiency.

The HomeAid Wounded Veterans program identified three important elements to help returning service members address both the need for recovery from physical and emotional injuries, while increasing employment opportunity: a stable place to live during transition; support services with a specific focus on employability; and an organization with the credibility, experience, and nationwide breadth to establish and manage a response to veterans' needs.

HomeAid will support both the housing and management elements. Through HomeAid, the program will build multi-unit housing facilities across the U.S. that will be donated to service provider organizations that offer the support and educational services. Under Mr. Riley's leadership, HomeAid will manage the program's day-to-day operations. The program plans to build a minimum of ten facilities across the country in the next five years in locations such as Houston, TX; Fitchburg, MA; Miami, FL; Los Angeles, CA; San Diego, CA; and New York, NY - geographical and construction targets that have a confluence of wounded veterans, builders, funding partners, service providers and available land.

"HomeAid Wounded Veterans will follow our proprietary housing development model by creating public/private partnerships that provide monetary and in-kind donations for each building project that we undertake," said Ms. Eaton. "Partnering with local and national builders as well as local and national service provider organizations, HomeAid has created a seamless approach to building and operating multi-unit housing facilities for today's homeless and veteran populations."

According to HomeAid strategy, job- and life-skills training are vital to increase employability for wounded veterans. Lack of specific job training coupled with their wounds places many of them at a disadvantage when seeking employment. Skills training received in the military often is not transferable or may not be fully appreciated by employers. Also, a veteran's physical, mental or emotional wounds may inhibit use of military training. According to Mr. Riley, the requisite job training must be provided in a nurturing environment that offers emotional, physical and mental support. Multiple service providers will be sought to provide these life-enhancing services.

Since 1989, HomeAid, a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization, has successfully marshaled the resources of the construction industry to build and donate housing to service provider organizations that serve individuals and families who are temporarily homeless. HomeAid has built more than 150 facilities, serviced more than 80,000 individuals and developed a housing portfolio that exceeds $200 million.

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news highlights initiatives in states and cities to ensure access to benefits and resources that support consumers in achieving stability and economic opportunity. Screening for a broad range of benefits, entitlements, and mainstream resources for which consumers may be eligible is a best practice in preventing and ending homelessness. Screening and real-time applications, including expedited access and streamlined processing are essential elements for partners in State Interagency Councils, jurisdictional 10-Year Plans, and Project Homeless Connect events to include in their initiatives.

United Way of America and the Bank of America Charitable Foundation recently announced a new $2 million investment in United Way's Financial Stability Partnership launched last May to increase income and savings for working people including through EITC access and tax preparation. The Bank of America Charitable Foundation will provide grants to two statewide and 42 local United Way agencies across the U.S. Last year, Bank of America associates provided more than 2,000 volunteer hours to help working individuals and families claim valuable tax refunds and will continue these efforts in 2008 at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance locations offering free tax preparation services. This grant will also support the Financial Stability Leadership Summit and new One Stop Financial Stability Centers.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz recently launched his city's 2008 Earned Income Tax Credit and tax preparation campaign, which is estimated to have previously secured over $58 million in EITC returns and more than $142 million in total refunds for over 9,200 residents each year. Miami's partners include the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Eastern Financial Credit Union, Dade County Credit Union, the Benefit Bank, and the City's Economic Initiatives and Neighborhood Enhancement Team (NET) department.

In just 18 months a public-private initiative from the Ohio Governor's office helped more than 7,500 Ohio residents access over $9 million in tax credits and other work supports, using electronic filing for federal and state taxes, Medicaid, energy assistance, Food Stamps, and more. Partners include the Office of Governor Ted Strickland, the Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Ohio Department of Development, Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, and more than 300 faith-based and community organizations sponsoring Ohio Benefit Bank services.

Noted Governor Strickland in announcing the initiative: "The OBB is a step toward turning programs on paper into benefits in hand. It is an acknowledgement of the fact that no government program, no matter how well-intentioned, can help a person who doesn't know the program exists or what the program offers."

Arkansas officials found that 94% of benefits not being accessed for eligible residents of the state were from federal benefit programs. In a new joint initiative of the State of Arkansas, Department of Workforce Services, Department of Human Services, and the Arkansas Interfaith Conference (AIC), seven counties will create access points for screening and filing at community centers, public libraries, churches and other sites that will reach residents at locations and during hours when it is convenient. After one year of operation and evaluation, Arkansas Governor Beebe will determine future expansion statewide.

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