Alliance Releases Video Series on Learning Collaborative Planning








March 18, 2014    
ISSUES  |  POLICY  |  SOLUTIONS  |  NEWS & EVENTS Forward Editor: Emanuel Cavallaro


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Alliance Releases Video Series on Learning Collaborative Planning


The Alliance's Capacity Building Team has produced a series of instructional videos designed to show housing providers how to align their programs with best practices to house more families in need. The videos outline how housing providers can organize a Rapid Re-Housing Learning Collaborative with other organizations in their communities in order to implement changes that will improve their housing efforts. The video series discusses the first meeting of a Learning Collaborative, including an overview of rapid re-housing and updating your policies, procedures, job descriptions, and assessment tools.





Senators Propose Funding National Housing Trust Fund
Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Mike Crapo (R-ID), have proposed a bipartisan housing finance reform bill that would provide more than $3.5 billion a year for the National Housing Trust Fund. The bill would also wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and create the new Federal Mortgage Insurance Corporation (FMIC) to regulate the secondary mortgage market. The National Housing Trust Fund, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2008, was meant to build, preserve, and operate rental housing affordable for extremely low income families. It has yet to be funded, in spite of a nationwide shortage of affordable housing for this income group. Senate Reaches Deal on Unemployment Insurance Extension
Last Thursday, March 13, a bipartisan group of senators reached a deal on extending expired unemployment insurance benefits for five months. The plan will also allow retroactive payments going back to December 28, when Congress allowed unemployment insurance benefits to expire for more than two million Americans. If this package is passed, it would be financed through a combination of offsets such as extending pension smoothing provisions from a 2012 highway bill and extending customs user fees through 2024. It is unclear whether the bill will gain enough votes to pass through the House.
House Committee Marks Up Budget Views and Estimates
Last Thursday, March 13, the House Financial Services Committee marked up its Budget Views and Estimates on the President's fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget proposal. The Views and Estimates document portrays the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as an overly bureaucratic agency that lacks prioritization to define the agency's mission and fails to deliver measureable results. In the document, the Committee criticizes the President for failing to address these issues, and recommends the consolidation of programs and cuts in staff.
During the markup, Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) defended HUD programs and argued that the Budget Views and Estimates document is misrepresentative of Members of Congress' views on affordable housing and homeless assistance programs.
Committees and Subcommittees Hold Hearings on Budget Proposal
Last Wednesday, March 12, the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on the President's FY 2015 budget proposal. During the hearing, Jacob Lew, treasury secretary, praised the President's Budget Proposal's prioritization of ending homelessness among veterans and increasing access to affordable housing through funding the Promise Zone initiative.
Last Thursday, March 13, the House Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee held a hearing on proposed FY 2015 appropriations for agencies, programs and activities under its jurisdiction. During the hearing, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, praised the proposal's investment in areas critical to our long-term prosperity and deficit reduction.
Last Wednesday, March 12, the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee held a hearing on the FY 2015 budget request for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In his hearing testimony, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, expressed support for the President's Budget Proposal, noting that ending homelessness among veterans by the end of 2015 remains one of VA's top priorities.
Secretary Shinseki pointed to the progress the VA has made in ending homelessness among veterans in recent years, but explained that much work remains to be done. He explained that funding VA programs that assist homeless veterans and their families at the levels requested in the President's Budget Proposal will play a critical role in enabling the VA to reach its goal.
Last Thursday, March 13, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee held a similar hearing, during which Secretary Shinseki also testified.
Congress Departs for Recess
Yesterday, Monday, March 17, Congress departed for a week of recess. Both chambers will return next Monday, January 24.
In this blog post we look at how the fight to end chronic homelessness in America is gaining steam and what you can do to help.
Communities to Receive $300 Million in Additional Funding for Homeless Veteran Families
In this post we take a look at the very real possibility of ending veteran homelessness, including the resources that are available for communities and the necessary steps communities will need to take in order to make this goal a reality.

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