Alliance Online News: Alliance VP Says Progress on Vet Homelessness Could Drive National Discussion

Alliance Online News View in browser www.endhomelessness.org Tuesday, September 8, 2015 spotlight on... Alliance VP: Progress on Vet Homelessness Could Drive National Discussion Progress on ending veteran homelessness could gain the issue of homelessness increased exposure, Alliance Vice President for Programs and Policy Steve Berg recently told The National Memo. In an article about the lack of attention from presidential candidates on the issue, which affects 580,000 Americans on a given day, he said “Some candidate is going to figure out that this is an opportunity to get him or herself associated with something really good. Maybe.” Read the article » hill update Congress Returns from Recess, Will Resume Budget Negotiations Following their return today from the August recess, Congress is expected in the coming weeks to negotiate an FY 2016 Continuing Resolution (CR), a stopgap funding measure that would keep the government running beyond the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. To date, no funding bills, including the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) bills, have passed through either chamber of Congress. Where Do Homeless Programs Stand in the Federal Budget? » Lancaster Reports Zero Homeless Vets Lancaster County, Pa. declared on Thursday, Sept. 3, that it had housed all of its homeless veterans. According to the county, it has reached “functional zero” for homelessness among veterans, meaning the community has the capacity to serve more homeless veterans than are currently entering the homeless system. More information » from the blog Ending Homelessness Today the official blog of the national alliance to end homelessness When the Math Doesn't Add Up: Ending Homelessness Requires Prevention by Liza Doran Summer is officially over, and school is back in session. So here’s some basic math to jog the brain: to end homelessness, the number of people exiting homelessness must be greater than the number of people entering homelessness. In Los Angeles County, over 10,000 chronically homeless individuals exited homelessness to housing in the past three years—a remarkable feat. And yet, the number of homeless persons continues to grow. So what’s happening in the equation? Read more » comments » | When Homeless Youth Attend College, Where Do They Stay? by Mindy Mitchell September is back-to-school month, so it’s a perfect time to talk about the difficulties facing one group of people who we might not always think about as experiencing homelessness: college students. Everyone knows how important getting some kind of post-secondary education can be to lifting people out of poverty, but people with low-incomes, including homeless youth, face particular barriers to completing college. And failing to complete college can burden low-income students further by increasing their debt without increasing their income. Read more » comments » | The Clock is Ticking on Veteran Homelessness. Does Your Community Have a Plan? by Steve Berg At the end of this year we will reach the deadline for a truly historic goal set in 2010: an end to homelessness among all veterans! The clock is ticking. Since the goal was set in the federal government’s strategic plan Opening Doors, we’ve seen tremendous progress around the country. Just today, the federal government declared Connecticut the first state to end chronic homelessness among veterans. True, chronically homeless veterans make up a fraction of the total homeless veteran population, but this is an important achievement, one we expect to see repeated soon. Read more » comments » |