Homelessness Update

Alliance Online News View in browser www.endhomelessness.org January 12, 2016 spotlight on... VETERAN HOMELESSNESS ON STATE OF THE UNION AGENDA A formerly homeless veteran from Las Vegas will sit in first lady Michelle Obama's visitor box during tonight’s State of the Union address. Cynthia Dias, 64, served during the Vietnam War and attributed her years of homelessness to post-traumatic stress disorder. She is just one of several guests that will exemplify the themes the President will highlight in his final address to the nation. In 2015, Southern Nevada placed 1,395 Veterans experiencing homelessness into permanent housing, achieving the goal of the Administration's Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness, an initiative introduced by the first lady and Dr. Jill Biden back in 2014.  Read more about Dias and the other guests at tonight’s address. new resources Interested in finding out what long-time providers think about how to effectively address youth homelessness? If so, you will want to check out this new series of papers issued by the Alliance as part of its Practice Knowledge Project, an initiative aimed at identifying the practice approaches that are most likely to succeed in reducing the number of homeless youth in this nation.  The series consists of four papers:  Family Intervention for Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Ending Homelessness for Unaccompanied Youth: Rapid Re-Housing Ending Homelessness for Unaccompanied Youth: Minor Youth Ending Homelessness for Unaccompanied Youth: Age 18-24 Read the Papers Promoting Family Wellbeing Through Housing Stability Join Alliance Vice President for Program and Policy Steve Berg on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 2:00 pm EST for a free webinar on Homeless Families and the Housing Choice Voucher. Berg will join several other panelists for a robust discussion around The Importance of Access to Housing Choice Vouchers for Homeless Families. This webinar, sponsored by CSH, will focus on the outcomes associated with the permanent subsidy provided to families in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's recent Family Options Study and specifically, the findings as they relate to family stability and well-being. Register Today Alliance webinar: rapid re-housing Are you struggling to shift from transitional to rapid re-housing? If so, this webinar is for you. Join us Tuesday, Jan. 26, at 1 p.m. EST for an insightful discussion with experts from Pierce County, Washington and learn how reallocating transitional housing to rapid re-housing transformed its homeless system. You will learn about the challenges, as well as the benefits of this shift through powerful examples. Speakers will also provide insight on how rapid re-housing can be used to serve the unique needs of domestic violence victims.    Register Today from the blog Ending Homelessness Today the official blog of the national alliance to end homelessness In Many Major Cities, Homelessness Increased in 2015 by Liza Doran A new report from The United States Conference of Mayors paints a grim picture of homelessness as captured by several trends observed in major cities across the nation.   Read more » comments » | Here's How You End Veteran Homelessness: Employment, Housing, and Health Care by Kathryn Monet and Emanuel Cavallaro In 2009, Congress authorized a three-year demonstration program to explore ways to increase the housing stability of homeless and at-risk veterans and their families. Now, here we are at the tail end of 2015, and a lot has changed in the years since. The nation has reduced veteran homelessness by 35 percent using many of the same methods first employed in that program, known as the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Demonstration (VHPD). It was one of the first steps in the Obama administration’s initiative to end veteran homelessness by 2016. Read more » comments » | Congress Passed a Spending Bill. Here's What it Means for Ending Homelessness in 2016 by Steve Berg Last week, just in time for the New Year (and to avert another government shutdown), Congress passed a final $1.1 trillion spending bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 that will fund all federal discretionary programs through next fall. President Obama signed the bill into law Friday, Dec. 18. The bill includes all federal agencies’ discretionary spending: big ticket items like the military, veterans’ health care, education and law enforcement support, medical research, and virtually all of the budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including all its major homeless programs. Read more » comments » | About Us The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to solving the problem of homelessness and preventing its continued growth. Join Us The Alliance is online: on Facebook, on Twitter, on our blog, and on our website! Join the Alliance's online community, and stay up-to-date with homelessness and housing information. www.endhomelessness.org Forward to a Friend Need Technical Assistance? Visit the Center for Capacity Building to learn more about the ways the Center can help your community end homelessness. Sign The Statement Sign the Never Another Homeless Veteran Statement! »