Alliance Resource: Five Steps to End Veteran Homelessness

March 3, 2015

ISSUES | POLICY | SOLUTIONS | NEWS & EVENTS

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Editor: Emanuel Cavallaro

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Alliance Resource: Five Steps to End Veteran Homelessness

As part of the Alliance's ongoing effort to provide guidance to communities during the run-up to the 2015 goal of ending veteran homelessness in the U.S., we have published a one-page document that outlines and describes the five major steps that communities must take to end veteran homelessness. The document is the first in a series of resources on ending veteran homelessness the Alliance will provide in the coming months. To ensure you are receiving all materials, webinar invitations, and other updates, please email Kate Seif, the Alliance's program and policy analyst on veteran homelessness at cseif@naeh.org.

Access the resource

Hill Update

HUD Secretary Testifies at Budget Hearing in Support of President's Budget Proposal
On Wednesday, Feb. 25, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro testified at a hearing for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget request that President Obama's proposed budget is "about the results we deliver for the vulnerable."

At the hearing, which was held by the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) Appropriations Subcommittee, Secretary Castro said the President's proposed budget funding level of $21.1 billion for the Housing Choice Voucher program would preserve existing vouchers and fully restore vouchers lost to sequestration funding cuts by adding 67,000 new vouchers. That would help 2.4 million low-income families afford housing.
"The Budget also includes $10.8 billion for the Project-Based Rental Assistance program to maintain affordable rental housing for 1.2 million families, and provides $6.6 billion in operating and capital subsidies to preserve affordable public housing for an additional 1.1 million families," he said.

Read Secretary Castro's testimony

Opening Statement by Subcommittee Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart

Upcoming Webinar: Rapid Re-Housing Spotlight Communities: Trenton, NJ and Los Angeles

On Tuesday, March 10, at 2 p.m. ET, the Alliance will host a webinar that highlights the rapid re-housing strategies of Mercer County (Trenton), NJ and Los Angeles. During the webinar leaders from these communities will discuss how they have significantly expanded their capacity to rapidly re-house families. The speakers will highlight the strategies they used to develop a coordinated entry system, expand rapid re-housing, lessons learned along the way, and the impact the shift has made in their larger homeless service system.

VA Announces $300 Million in Renewal Grants for Programs Serving Homeless Vets

Last month, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced the availability of $300 million in grants under its Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program to nonprofit organizations and other groups that serve low-income veterans who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness and their families. This round of grants is available only to current SSVF grantees. VA will award an additional $93 million in SSVF funding to high-priority communities later this year.

Read the NOFA

2015 National Family and Youth Conference Materials Now Available Online

Presentation materials from our 2015 National Conference on Ending Family and Youth Homelessness workshops are now available on the Alliance website. The materials cover a wide range of topics discussed during conference workshops, from the sexual exploitation of homeless youth, meeting the needs of homeless survivors of domestic violence, rapid re-housing in high-cost rental markets, and much more. We will continue to add workshop presentation materials to the website as they become available. If you are a conference presenter who would like materials from your workshop added to the website, please email Alliance Communications Associate Emanuel Cavallaro at ecavallaro@naeh.org.

Conference Presentations

Article: Ending Veteran Homelessness, A Goal with a Plan

The community development magazine published by the National Housing Institute, Shelterforce, has devoted its latest issue to veteran homelessness. Among the articles appearing in this issue is "Ending Veteran Homelessness, A Goal with a Plan," by Alliance Program and Policy Analyst Kate Seif. In the article, Seif looks at the national movement to end homelessness among veterans by the end of 2015.