Alliance Online News: Alliance President Keynote Remarks Now Online

Alliance Online News View in browser www.endhomelessness.org Tuesday, August 4, 2015 spotlight on... Now on the Website: Alliance President Keynote Remarks, 2015 National Conference Alliance President and CEO Nan Roman took to the stage last month at the Alliance's 2015 National Conference on Ending Homelessness to talk about the current state of the national effort to end homelessness, the progress communities are making, and the challenges providers and other stakeholders face. The Alliance has now posted the full text and video of the speech delivered on Wednesday, July 15. "This has been a year with many challenges. The gap between those who have and those who do not is growing; and many who are poor feel that their opportunities to escape poverty are shrinking. There are tremendous and persistent racial disparities. The cost of housing is increasing, but incomes are not keeping pace," she said. "So there are a lot of challenges, but there are also always opportunities that allow us to make progress. And you are a group that has been incredibly adept at finding those opportunities." Read the speech, watch video » hill update VA, HUD Officials: Housing First, Homeless Assistance Programs Responsible for Progress on Vet Homelessness Last Wednesday, July 29, the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a hearing on the national push to end veteran homelessness. During the hearing, Lisa Pape, executive director of homeless programs within the Veterans Health Administration at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), noted her agency’s commitment to Housing First and explained that VA homeless assistance programs have been critical to progress so far. "Sustaining the gains made so far requires continued investments of financial resources,” she said. "Failure to provide such resources will severely jeopardize our ability to sustain our progress and will put at risk thousands of veterans and their families in the future." For more about the hearing, see our legislative update page, WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE HILL. Watch video of the hearing » alliance events UPCOMING WEBINAR: COORDINATED ENTRY AND SYSTEMS CHANGE Wednesday, August 26, 1 to 2 p.m. EDT On Wednesday, August 26, the Alliance will host a webinar on implementing coordinated entry. In this webinar, Cynthia Nagendra, director of the Alliance’s Center for Capacity Building, will provide an overview of coordinated entry, as well as the critical components: access, diversion, assessment and prioritization, and referral. This webinar is intended for providers in communities that are just getting started with coordinated entry, as well as those working to improve their existing coordinated entry systems. Register » Are You Coordinating With Early Learning and Development Providers? The Alliance is interested in talking with homeless service providers and system leaders who have established connections with early learning and development providers for children and families experiencing homelessness. The Alliance is partnering with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to explore successful models of partnership and barriers to coordinating services. ACF and the Alliance are particularly interested in hearing from those who are working to create bridges between homeless coordinated assessment systems and early learning and development providers. If you are willing to share your experiences, please contact the Alliance’s Director for Families and Youth Sharon McDonald at smcdonald@naeh.org. USICH Brief: Funding from Mainstream Programs Can Support Rapid Re-Housing The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) has issued a new brief that examines how communities can draw on funding from mainstream programs like human services agencies, child welfare agencies, and housing agencies to support rapid re-housing. Currently, most communities rely on federal funding specifically targeted at addressing homelessness to fund rapid re-housing. Examples of mainstream funding resources include: include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), HOME, and the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program. Read the brief » video spotlight Webinar video: Rapid Re Housing - Serving Youth and Young Adults from the blog Ending Homelessness Today the official blog of the national alliance to end homelessness Report: 73 Percent of Vets Served by Rapid Re-Housing Exited to Permanent Housing by Liza Doran Each year, thousands of Americans transition from active duty military service to veteran status. But after fighting for our country, these men and women are more likely than civilians to experience homelessness. Though the reasons for this are varied, many veterans struggle to return to civilian life, placing them at increased risk of experiencing homelessness. On any given night, nearly 50,000 veterans are homeless. In 2009, our federal government acknowledged the growing problem of veteran homelessness and proposed a solution. Then-Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki, in conjunction with President Barack Obama, established the audacious goal of ending veteran homelessness by the end of 2015. We’re now more than halfway through the year, with only five months to go. So how are we doing? Read more » comments » | Alliance President Keynote Remarks, 2015 National Conference on Ending Homelessness by naehblog I am so happy to welcome you to our national conference on ending homelessness. The board and staff of the Alliance are deeply gratified that you have joined us here. And we thank all of you, also, for what you do to end homelessness across the nation. This has been a year with many challenges. The gap between those who have and those who do not is growing; and many who are poor feel that their opportunities to escape poverty are shrinking. There are tremendous and persistent racial disparities. The cost of housing is increasing, but incomes are not keeping pace. These are the big picture problems, and we have our challenges on the homelessness side of things, as well. At the national level, funding is getting harder to come by. The work that you are doing – coordinated assessment and entry, rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing, critical time intervention, housing first, trauma informed care – are more sophisticated and effective. But they are also harder, requiring different skill sets, different administrative infrastructures, and different types of accountability. Read more » comments » | Employment is Part of the Solution: Reflections on the 2015 National Homelessness Conference by naehblog Clearly, there’s a growing recognition that employment is an important part of the solution to homelessness and a hunger for knowledge about what works, what funding is available, and how to deliver effective employment services. Now is certainly an opportune time to renew the focus on employment: recent federal policy changes such as the passage of HEARTH Act and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) place an added emphasis on helping people experiencing homelessness succeed in the labor market and ensuring that employment services are accessible and effective. Moreover, the growth of the rapid re-housing strategy has brought attention to just how critical effective, specialized employment services are to keeping individuals and families employed and stably housed. Read more » comments » |