100,000 Homes Reaches Goal of Housing 100,000 People








June 17, 2014    

ISSUES  |  POLICY  |  SOLUTIONS  |  NEWS & EVENTS Forward Editor: Emanuel Cavallaro


Spotlight On...
100,000 Homes Reaches Goal of Housing 100,000 People


At a press conference on Wednesday, June 11, the 100,000 Homes campaign announced that the movement had housed its 100,000th highly vulnerable homeless person. A national movement coordinated by New York-based nonprofit, Community Solutions, the campaign set the goal in 2010 of housing 100,000 people and reached it in less than four years' time. According to the campaign's press release, 60 of the communities working with 100,000 Homes are on track to end chronic homelessness in the next three years.
"By reaching this milestone, the 100,000 Homes Campaign and communities across the country are providing further proof that ending homelessness is possible," said Laura Zeilinger, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH).






House Passes HUD Spending Bill
On Tuesday, June 10, the full House passed its fiscal year (FY) 2015 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) spending bill for programs under its jurisdiction, including the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants program and many other low-income housing programs. The bill, which passed through the House generally along party lines (
229-192), largely includes the same funding levels for homeless assistance and affordable housing programs that were included in the version of the bill that was approved by the full House Appropriations Committee, including flat funding the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants program at $2.105 billion and cutting various other programs.
Members of Congress proposed a number of amendments to the bill, some of which would help and others which would harm people experiencing homelessness. These include an amendment offered by Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) that would target $10 million within the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants funding to programs aimed to increase rural housing stability, and an amendment offered by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), which would increase McKinney funding dedicated to the national homeless data analysis project by $2 million for a total of $7 million. Both of these amendments passed by voice vote.
For further information about the House bill, including the text of the bill, visit Congress.gov.

The Senate is likely to consider its version of the T-HUD spending bill as early as this week. It is possible that the bill will be considered as part of a package, including other FY 2015 spending bills.
House Budget Committee Holds Hearing on Poverty and Federal Aid
Last Tuesday, June 10, the House Budget Committee held a hearing titled, "A Progress Report on the War on Poverty: Reforming Federal Aid." At this hearing, Rep. James Clyburn and professionals engaged in anti-poverty work were given the opportunity to testify about the War on Poverty's major accomplishments, unfinished business, and on the most effective way to improve core work and federal safety-net programs.


Overflow Hotel Information
The second overflow hotel for the conference, The Mayflower Renaissance Washington DC Hotel, located at 1127 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, is offering a special attendee rate of $189. Conference attendees can make reservations on the Marriott website. Be sure to book your room as soon as possible as the room block has limited availability, and rooms are going quickly.



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By Sam Batko

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is doing good work on at least one issue that deserves a positive mention: veteran homelessness. In this post, we look at the progress as reported in "The State of Homelessness in America 2014."
Can We Do Better than a $40 Million Increase in Funding for Homeless Assistance?
By Kate Seif In this post, we provide the latest update on how funding for homeless assistance is currently faring in the ongoing congressional appropriations process.
Meet the Interns, Summer 2014 Edition
By naehblog In this post, our summer interns introduce themselves. They're going to be helping out with the conference, so if you are attending, you may meet them this July.