Alliance Online News: Thank you for Making the Alliance’s Conference a Success

Alliance Online News View in browser www.endhomelessness.org Tuesday, July 21, 2015 spotlight on... Thank you for Making the Alliance’s 2015 National Conference a Success Last week, the Alliance’s 2015 National Conference on Ending Homelessness took place Washington, DC, and we could not be more pleased with the turnout and the quality of the content provided by our knowledgeable speakers.Thank you to everyone who participated and attended. In the coming weeks, we intend to make content from the conference available on the Alliance website, including conference presentations, video of the plenary speeches, and a report on Hill Day participation. Stay tuned to the Alliance’s newsletter, blog, and social media for updates. Reflections on #NAEH15: Ensuring Forward Momentum » hill update House Passes Housing Bills On Tuesday, July 14, the U.S. House of Representatives passed two bills that would improve access to housing for people experiencing homelessness. The Homes for Heroes Act of 2015 would require annual submission of the Supplemental Veterans’ Annual Homeless Assessment report. It would also create the position of Special Assistant for Veterans’ Affairs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which should ensure continued collaboration between the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and HUD. There is not yet a comparable bill in the Senate. The Housing Efficiency Act would allow nonprofit organizations to administer permanent rental assistance through the Continuum of Care program. This bill is meant to address a section of the HEARTH Act that limits the authority to administer such assistance to public housing agencies and state and local governments. Although this issue has been addressed in appropriations bills each year, this bill would make the fix permanent. It would reduce administration burden and help nonprofits increase their capacity to re-house homeless individuals and families. This bill also would require HUD to reallocate unspent funds annually rather than twice a year. Alliance Resource: Lessons from Virginia in Taking Rapid Re-Housing to Scale From 2010 to 2014 the Commonwealth  of Virginia reduced family homelessness by 25 percent. In this resource, we outline how the Alliance worked with the Commonwealth and the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness on a three-year, $3 million dollar project to re-tool Virginia’s family homelessness system from a shelter and transitional housing-based system to system based on the rapid re-housing approach to achieve the dramatic reduction. Read the paper » 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 » Report: Partnerships for Opening Doors The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) has partnered with the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Butler Family Fund to release a report sharing the findings and recommendations from the “Partnerships for Opening Doors Summit” on integrating employment and homeless assistance programs. The report, “Partnerships for Opening Doors,” represents contributions from 11 communities, as well as national organizations and federal partners. The report covers: The employment and training needs of people experiencing homelessness; The ways in which communities have coordinated employment and homeless programs; and Recommendations for how the federal government could support local efforts. Read the report » from the blog Ending Homelessness Today the official blog of the national alliance to end homelessness Reflections on #NAEH15: Ensuring Forward Momentum by David Wertheimer As someone well into my second decade of NAEH conferences, I always come to the gathering with the hope and expectation of learning about new solutions to homelessness, engaging with interesting people, and honing my own skills in the field. This year, I was (once again) not disappointed. The level of knowledge – and sophistication – that our field has achieved is impressive. We can, with increasing confidence, say that we know what it takes to make homelessness rare, brief and  non-recurring, and how to apply our shared wisdom in urban, suburban and rural settings to minimize, or even prevent, the crisis of homelessness for unaccompanied youth, adults or families. Read more » comments » | 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 Wednesday, 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 » |