Alliance Online News: 2015 DC Homelessness Conference Begins Tomorrow

Alliance Online News View in browser www.endhomelessness.org Tuesday, July 14, 2015 spotlight on... 2015 National Homelessness Conference Begins Tomorrow in DC The Alliance’s three-day 2015 National Conference on Ending Homelessness will begin tomorrow, Wednesday, July 15, and run to Friday, July 17. Around 1,600 people will be in attendance, including federal and local officials, homeless advocates, and others working on the front lines of the fight to end homelessness. The Alliance extends a heartfelt thanks to everyone who registered to attend as well as to all our speakers, not just the conference keynotes, Richard Gere, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, and the Alliance’s own President and CEO Nan Roman, but also to our workshop speakers for sharing their experience, expertise, and insights with our attendees. If you are unable to attend, you can still follow the conference on the Alliance’s social media and blog, where we will be sharing highlights and photos from the event. You can also engage with us and conference speakers and attendees on Twitter using the conference hashtag #naeh15. #naeh15 » alliance events Upcoming Webinar: Rapid Re-Housing for Youth Tuesday, July 28, 1 to 2:30 p.m. EDT On Tuesday, July 28, the Alliance will host a webinar on using rapid re-housing to serve homeless youth. This webinar will feature speakers from innovative providers who are helping youth connect to housing by implementing the Core Components of Rapid Re-housing:  housing identification, time-limited rental assistance, and long-term mobile supportive services. Speakers will share the lessons they have learned and discuss the benefits of expanding overall capacity to serve homeless youth. Register » USICH, Partners Release Guidance on SSI/SSDI Benefits The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) has partnered with the Department of Veterans Affairs and others to provide guidance for homeless assistance providers on connecting homeless people with benefits through the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) programs. Among the topics covered in the guidance, which was produced in cooperation with the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), are: Application processes; Coordinating with local SSA field offices, health care providers, and others; and Strategies for working with veterans and other populations. Access the guidance » USICH: How the National Housing Trust Fund Will Help The National Housing Trust Fund, which was signed into law in 2008 as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, will begin receiving funding this year. In anticipation, USICH last week released a paper that explains how service providers and government leaders may use this new source of funding in the near future to finance the construction or rehabilitation of affordable housing and the way in which states will allocate Housing Trust Fund resources.  Read the paper » from the blog Ending Homelessness Today the official blog of the national alliance to end homelessness Attending Our Homelessness Conference? Here's Your Chance to Talk to Congress by Julie Klein Here at the Alliance we’re gearing up for our annual National Conference on Ending Homelessness in Washington, DC, which will take place this Wednesda,y July 15, to Friday, July 17. We’re looking forward to seeing many of you there! As you may already be aware, the Alliance holds a Capitol Hill Day each year in conjunction with our July conference. It’s a chance for our conference attendees to visit Capitol Hill where they can meet face-to-face with their Senators and Representatives and congressional staffers. This year we’re holding the event on Friday, July 17. Read more » comments » | Virginia Reduced Family Homelessness by 25 Percent in Four Years. Here's How They Did It by Anna Blasco A few years ago, the Commonwealth of Virginia decided to make a major change in the way their homelessness funding and strategies worked. In Virginia, like many communities, state funds were invested heavily in emergency shelter operations. Based on the success with rapid re-housing Virginia experienced when implementing the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), they decided to adopt rapid re-housing as the commonwealth's primary intervention for homeless families. Read more » comments » | Senate Committee Takes Action to End Youth Homelessness by Sharon McDonald For too long, the needs of most homeless youth have gone unaddressed. While communities around the country run many good programs to help them, these programs are typically filled to capacity and serve only a fraction of youth in need. That means that tonight, many homeless youth, including youth under the age of 18, will have no safe place to stay. Instead, they will camp out in abandoned buildings, in the woods, in garages, or spend the night in homes where they are in danger of abuse or sexual exploitation. Or they may just walk the streets all night. Read more » comments » |