WASHINGTON, DC. Congress returned this week from the July 4th District Work Period with appropriation and legislative issues important to efforts to prevent and end homelessness on the agenda. The President's FY 2008 budget proposed a record 8th year of increased funding - over $4.4 billion - for programs targeted to preventing and ending homelessness. Following several months of hearings, the House and Senate have begun consideration of the bills that will establish the actual funding levels.

New housing voucher resources for homeless veterans and a $25 million rapid rehousing for homeless families demonstration are among the recommendations of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee reported recommendations for the FY 08 Transportation/HUD, and Labor/Health and Human Services/Education appropriations bills that include increases above FY 07 for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants (+$119 million); Community Health Centers including Health Care for the Homeless Programs (+$199.9 million, that would support care for an estimated one million additional patients for a total of 17 million at over 4000 sites nationally); Low Income Energy Assistance (+$500 million, that could provide assistance to an additional 1.2 million families); Runaway and Homeless Youth (+$10 million, to support 70 new shelters ); and Education for Homeless Children and Youth (+$5 million to serve 74,000 more children).

The House Committee recommends a $403 million increase for Section 8 voucher renewals and $30 million for new vouchers including 1000 vouchers for the HUD-VASH (Veterans Supported Housing) program for homeless veterans. HUD-VASH is jointly supported by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Veterans Affairs with the VA providing ongoing treatment services to veterans who are homeless, mentally ill and suffering from substance abuse disorders. The VA screens for program eligibility and provides case management. HUD provides rental assistance through Section 8 vouchers.

An $11.5 million increase over FY 07 would be provided for homeless program activity across SAMHSA's programs of regional and national significance. Committee report language states, "the Committee is hopeful that programs that provide supportive services to individuals in permanent housing settings will help to end long term homelessness in this country and directs SAMHSA to develop supportive service programs within the authority of the programs of regional and national significance."

Last month the Senate Appropriations Committee also recommended increases in a number of Labor and Health and Human Services programs including 12.6% over FY 2007 for Community Health Centers, 19.4% for Runaway and Homeless Youth, and 8.6% for the Department of Labor ex-offender reintegration and re-entry programs.

The FY 08 Transportation/HUD bill marked up by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday includes a new initiative that would provide $25 million for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to conduct a demonstration program on the effectiveness of rapid rehousing programs in reducing the number of homeless families. A limited number of sites would be selected to receive funding as part of the Homeless Assistance Grants competition for which the Senate Committee is recommending the President's requested level of $1.586 billion, a $144 million increase over FY 07. The Committee suggests that selected sites should have programs that "minimize the amount of time that families are homeless, provide families with housing placement services, short term housing assistance, including up to 12 months of rental assistance, and provide case management services to ensure that families are stably housed and connected to mainstream services." HUD could use up to $3 million to conduct an evaluation of the demonstration.

The Senate Committee also recommended $75 million for the HUD-VASH program to assist an estimated 7500 homeless veterans, and $30 million for the Family Reunification Program, which provides vouchers for families for whom lack of housing is a principal factor in the separation or threat of separation of children from their families. This program also assists foster care youth ages 18-21 who left foster care after age 16 and lack adequate housing.

The recommendations of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will now be considered by the full House and Senate after which differences must be reconciled. The FY 08 fiscal year begins October 1.

WASHINGTON, DC.This week over 1,000 homeless program representatives, advocates, government officials, homeless individuals and others gathered in Washington, DC for the National Alliance to End Homelessness annual conference, "Ending Homelessness: The Time is Now!"

Through workshops, discussions, and seminars, research and model programs were presented and discussed along six major tracks: Planning and Oversight for participants developing or implementing a plan to end homelessness; Ending Chronic Homelessness with particular attention to engaging people living on the street, low demand housing, employment for people in recovery, maximizing consumer decision making, scattered site approaches, moving on from permanent supportive housing, and effective partnerships; Ending Family Homelessness; Ending Rural Homelessness with a special focus on networking among rural providers; Ending Youth Homelessness; and Housing Development for participants interested in developing affordable and permanent supportive housing.

Invited to speak to the conference participants at a closing plenary on Wednesday, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson (pictured here) spoke of the progress that has been made in reducing the number of homeless veterans by 20% over the past six years, the contribution of faith-based providers in providing services to homeless veterans, and described a number of initiatives to prevent homelessness among returning war veterans and veterans being released from incarceration as well as expanded housing and services for veterans experiencing chronic homelessness.

"Only through a dedicated partnership with community and faith- based organizations can we hope to reduce homelessness among veterans," said Secretary Nicholson with the announcement that 92 organizations in 37 states would receive $24 million to provide housing and supportive services to homeless veterans. Funding to 53 of the organizations will create 1000 transitional housing beds under the VA's per diem program, bringing the total number of transitional beds to 11,500. VA resources for women veterans, mentally ill and frail elderly veterans have been doubled including grants to 36 organizations in this most recent funding announcement.

The Secretary noted that 300 veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom have received a variety of housing and services to ensure that they do not become chronically homeless; additional substance abuse counselors have been hired at VA medical centers and 21 new corrections specialists hired to work with incarcerated veterans returning to the community.

2007 marks the 20th anniversary of the first federal program targeted specifically at the needs and problems of homeless veterans, which will be marked by a national conference in San Diego in October.

WASHINGTON, D.C. Federal legislative efforts to create housing for very low and extremely low income families, reauthorize the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, and provide housing and services to homeless veterans were highlighted by Members of Congress in plenary remarks at this week's National Alliance to End Homelessness Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

At a plenary session on Tuesday, U. S. Representative and Chair of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank, noting that he believes the federal government needs to "get back into the rental housing building business, particularly for extremely low income households," discussed HR 2895, legislation he recently introduced along with 16 bipartisan cosponsors to create a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund through which 1.5 million affordable housing units would be created over 10 years. (see related story this issue). He also spoke of the need for legislative action to "retool" the Low Income Housing Tax Credit to make it work better with HUD programs; create subsidies or other mechanisms to prevent loss of rental housing stock as Section 8 project contracts expire; and stop predatory lending.

At the closing plenary on Wednesday, conference participants welcomed U.S. Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity and U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI). Chairwoman Waters has joined Congressman Frank in sponsoring HR 2895, the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund bill as well as leading efforts on consideration of Section 8 voucher reforms and working to stop predatory lending.

Reauthorization of the McKinney- Vento Homeless Assistance Act, support for federal funding of supportive services for persons experiencing long term homelessness, and ending veterans homelessness were the focus of Senator Jack Reed's remarks. Senator Reed together with Colorado Senator Wayne Allard introduced S 1518, the Community Partnership to End Homelessness Act, in May to reauthorize the housing titles of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The bill would consolidate HUD's homeless programs as sought by the Administration to increase community flexibility and would also increase current levels of funding for homelessness assistance grants by $350 million to $1.8 billion and allocate $250 million in additional funding for homelessness prevention initiatives. More specifically the bill would,

• consolidate HUD's three main competitive homelessness programs, Supportive Housing Program, Shelter Plus Care, and Moderate Rehabilitation/Single Room Occupancy, into one program called the Community Homeless Assistance Program.
• require that thirty percent of total funds available nationally be allocated for permanent housing for individuals with disabilities or families headed by a person with disabilities. At least 10 percent of overall funds would be allocated for permanently housing families with children.
• require HUD to provide incentives for communities to use proven strategies to end homelessness including permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless people, and rapid rehousing programs for homeless families.
• allow communities that demonstrate results - reducing the number of people who become homeless, the length of time people are homeless, and recidivism back into homelessness- to use their homeless assistance funding more flexibly and to serve groups that are at risk of becoming homeless.
• create a more flexible set of requirements for rural communities to be more consistent with the capacities of rural homelessness programs.
• renew leasing, rental assistance, and operating costs of permanent housing programs for 1 year at a time through the section 8 housing voucher account, provided that the applicant demonstrates need and compliance with appropriate standards.

In his remarks, Senator Reed highlighted the new opportunity for federal prevention resources offered in the bill and said that the legislation would reward communities that have engaged in developing plans to end homelessness.

WASHINGTON. D.C. This week the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness welcomed more than 70 representatives from cities and counties engaged in the National Partnership to end chronic homelessness and from the United Kingdom and several Canadian municipalities at the Council's inaugural National Project Homeless Connect Best Practices Institute in Washington, D.C. Project Homeless Connect, the one day, one stop engagement event pioneered in San Francisco and promoted by the Council as an innovation that supports community 10- Year Plan efforts, has been replicated in 130 communities to date.

This week's Institute brought together representatives of communities interested in establishing or improving their Connect events with faculty partners from communities across the country with firsthand expertise in planning and executing successful Connect events and included a presentation by the Council of its new Project Homeless Connect Toolkit. Faculty presenters included San Francisco Project Homeless Connect Director Judith Klain; Norfolk, VA Office to End Homelessness Director Katie Kitchin; Denver's Road Home Program Manager Jamie Van Leeuwen; Knoxville, TN Community Development Program Manager Michael Dunthorn; and Mary Carroll of Portland, OR City Commissioner Erik Sten's Office. Participants received guidance on best practices and strategies to create consumer centric events that successfully engage persons in the community experiencing homelessness and move them in a trajectory toward greater stability. Among the topic areas: hospitality including mayoral welcome, outreach, site selection, volunteer escorts, and other event logistics; immediacy of results including service planning, follow up care, and results reporting; and partnership including recruitment and training of volunteers, role for academia in evaluation; and business support. The involvement of the Portland Trailblazers and the Denver Broncos in their community Connect events points out the opportunity for partnership with sports teams to help catalyze media and assist with outreach to other business partners. Seed grants through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and United Way leadership in New Jersey serve as examples of promoting successful PHC events statewide. Portland, OR "innovated the innovation" with the nation's first Connect event targeted specifically to homeless families last July.

This week's Best Practices Institute is one of several PHC-related Council initiatives this year that include coordinating with the United Way Days of Caring events in October and conducting the Council's third annual National Project Homeless Connect the week of December 3-7, 2007. To help promote the dissemination and use of best practices, the Council has invited several city experts to convene an "experts panel" to interact with proposed events to offer communities the opportunity to become an "official" National Project Homeless Connect event.

WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has introduced legislation, HR 2895, with 16 bipartisan cosponsors to create a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund to support the production, rehabilitation, and preservation of 1.5 million affordable housing units over the next 10 years. "The growing shortage of affordable housing is one of the most serious social and economic problems facing our country," said Chairman Frank adding, " Given our severely constrained fiscal realities, we are doing the best we can to address this -- creating a low income housing trust fund that will be paid for in ways that do not draw from federal tax revenues." An estimated $800 million to $1 billion would initially be available annually, with all of the funds dedicated in the first year to the hurricane stricken areas of the Gulf Coast. A Financial Services Committee hearing on the bill has been scheduled for July 19.

HR 2895, would require that 100% of the funds be used for the benefit of very low and extremely low income families with at least 75% of the funds targeted for extremely low income households, generally those earning less than 30% of the area median income with adjustments for small and large families or the poverty line adjusted for family size. At least 30% would be for households with incomes at or below the federal Supplemental Security Income payment level.

Under the bill, Trust Fund resources would be intended primarily as grants and loans for affordable rental housing though downpayment and closing cost assistance for first time homebuyers would also be eligible activities. Manufactured housing, community land trusts, and cooperatives would be eligible so long as the income targeting requirements are met. Up to 20% of a project grant could be used for project based rental assistance for 12 months. The affordable housing units are to be created for the most part within mixed income developments to assure economic integration. Typical exceptions would be applicants that propose small projects in low poverty neighborhoods, rural communities, or that serve special populations.

Revenue for the Trust Fund would come from the proposed GSE Affordable Housing Fund contained in HR 1427, the Government Sponsored Enterprises Reform Act of 2007, passed by the House on May 22nd which would require contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in amounts equal to 1.2 basis points on each GSE's total outstanding mortgages each year from 2007-2011; savings from FHA reforms; and any additional amounts that might be appropriated, transferred or credited to the fund under any other provisions of law. The FHA-related revenue provisions are part of HR 1852, the Expanding American Homeownership Act, reported by the House Financial Services Committee on June 28.

Trust Fund assistance would be distributed 60% to local participating jurisdictions and 40% to states, Indian /tribes and insular areas. The bill authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish a formula to allocate funds among the states and local participating jurisdictions taking into consideration the population of eligible areas, the percentage of families living in substandard housing, the percentage of families paying more than 50% of their income for housing, the costs of construction or rehab, the percentage of the population residing in counties having extremely low vacancy rates, and age of housing stock. If the Secretary failed to establish a formula, the funds would be distributed under the HOME program formula.

State and local governments would develop an Allocation Plan based on priority housing needs and geographic diversity and considering leveraging and project affordability under which Trust Fund monies would be competitively awarded to entities including for-profits, non profits, federally recognized Tribe, Alaskan Native Village,and faith based organizations that demonstrate the experience and capacity to carry out proposed Trust Fund activity. The bill includes a match requirement based on the source of the matching dollars. If the entity uses state, local or private sources for the match, $1 of matching funds would be required for every $2 in Trust Funds. If the entity proposes the use of federal dollars controlled by the state or local government, a dollar for dollar match would be required. Importantly, revenue committed by a jurisdiction to a Trust Fund assisted project to provide services to residents would qualify as matching funds. Match requirements could be waived for jurisdictions that demonstrate fiscal distress. The jurisdiction could qualify for a reduced future match if a project is successfully sited where a zoning variance or other waiver of regulatory barriers was required. At a minimum, units created with Trust Fund dollars would have to meet federal visitability standards (wheel chair accessible through the front door and restrooms).

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. Over 3,000 appointed and elected officials from counties across the country will be in Richmond, VA this weekend for the 72nd National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual Conference and Exposition. Counties are important jurisdictional partners in the National Partnership being constellated by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness to end chronic homelessness that currently includes over 300 jurisdictionally based 10-Year planning efforts. Increasingly counties are partnering with cities to create regional plans. In most states, counties have primary responsibility for human services programs that provide the behavioral and other supportive services so important to sustaining tenancies for persons experiencing chronic homelessness. The counties have also taken lead roles in developing model jail diversion programs for non violent mentally ill offenders and initiatives to transition foster youth to young adulthood. NACo has adopted policy resolutions supporting the Administration's goal of ending chronic homelessness and encouraging every county to develop a 10-year plan.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano has been invited to speak at three of the key standing committee meetings at this year's conference-the Health Steering Committee chaired by Lee County, Florida Commissioner Bob Janes; the Human Services and Education Steering Committee chaired by Sacramento, CA County Supervisor Roger Dickinson; and the Community and Economic Development Committee chaired by Fort Bend County, Texas Commissioner Grady Prestage. Director Mangano will also meet with NACo president-elect Oakland County, MI Commissioner Eric Coleman. Pictured here, l-r from top, Commissioners Coleman, Janes, Supervisor Dickinson, and Commissioner Prestage.

The NACo meeting follows by just two weeks the 75th Annual Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Los Angeles at which the mayors affirmed their continuing commitment to end chronic homelessness, supported the National Project Homeless Connect effort, indicated support for permanent housing for homeless veterans, and confirmed their five-year partnership and support for the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and ongoing partnership through 10-Year Plans.

PATERSON, NEW JERSEY. Last month Region II Interagency Council on Homelessness representatives, who include senior officials of federal agencies in the New York-New Jersey Region, met with nearly 40 city, county, state, non profit agency and faith based representatives to discuss the range of federal technical assistance and program resources available to support homeless prevention and intervention initiatives being considered for inclusion in the 10- Year Plan being developed in Passaic County, New Jersey. Participants included representatives of the Human Services Advisory Committee for Passaic County, the Comprehensive Emergency Assistance System, and Eva's Place. The Region II Interagency Council on Homelessness is chaired by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region II Director Deborah Konopko.

The Homeless Assistance Forum, held at the Passaic County Administration Building in Paterson, was organized by United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Region II Coordinator Sam Miller and included participation by Dennis Gonzalez, Executive Assistant to Region II HHS Director Konopko; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Newark Field Office CPD Program Manager Richard Kotuski; U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition official Carmen Falcones-Espinoza; Social Security Administration Public Affairs Officer Everett Lo; and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs representative Paul Charbonneau.

Participants were welcomed by Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders Director Elease Evans and Passaic County Human Services Director Pamela Owen. In January Freeholders Director Evans helped lead Passaic County's Project Homeless Connect, part of a statewide PHC effort.

This is the second Homeless Assistance Forum held by the Region II Interagency Council members to support community 10-Year Plan efforts in the New York-New Jersey region. A forum was held in December with Morris County, NJ officials. On September 19th, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano will join Rochester, NY Mayor Robert Duffy and Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks to kick off a 10-Year planning effort. The announcement will precede the community's 6th Annual Symposium on Homelessness and Poverty at which Director Mangano will be the plenary speaker and which will include participation by Region II Interagency Council members.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. Successful 10-Year Plan efforts maximize both the utilization of government and philanthropic program resources, and access by homeless and at risk of homelessness families and individuals to consumer oriented mainstream entitlement resources like SSI, Food Stamps, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). These consumer oriented mainstream resources can provide the income needed to sustain long term housing and service initiatives. In San Francisco this week, the National League of Cities and United Way of America are hosting an "EITC and Beyond Summit" expected to draw as many as 500 municipal and United Way leaders working together in teams to create action plans for improving the financial stability of the families they serve, with the Earned Income Tax Credit as one of the foundational elements.

In May, United Way of America CEO Brian Gallagher and Board Chair Rodney Slater brought together a cross-section of the nation's most powerful and effective Fortune 500 businesses, non-profit organizations, federal agencies and local United Ways to announce a new national initiative, the United Way Financial Stability Partnership, to empower low- to moderate-income people to achieve long-term financial stability that leads to independence. United Way committed to increase its investment in this new initiative by 50% over five years, to $1.5 billion, and set ambitious benchmarks to increase EITC enrollment by 25% in 200 targeted communities over the next year and by 50% in 400 targeted communities over five years, create new bank accounts, and enroll eligible individuals and families in benefits programs.

For low income working persons and families, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit can provide a return of some or all of the federal tax that was withheld and in some cases, the EITC can exceed the amount of tax paid. An advanced EITC option available to qualifying workers with children can reduce the amount of tax withheld from each paycheck throughout the year. On July 6th, Louisiana became the 22nd state to adopt a state version of the federal EITC when Governor Kathleen Blanco signed legislation creating a 3.5% refundable EITC that is expected to benefit over half a million low and moderate income families in Louisiana. San Francisco was one of the first cities to pioneer a local EITC, the San Francisco Working Families Tax Credit.

This week's "EITC and Beyond Summit" is one of the cornerstone events in the launch of the United Way initiative. For the National League of Cities, the partnership with the United Way for this Summit is an extension of the work of its Institute for Youth, Education, and Families related to family economic success. A Toolkit for Municipal Leaders, Maximizing the Earned Income Tax Credit for Your Community, is available for download from the NLC Institute for Youth, Education and Families website.

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness recognizes the United Way and the National League of Cities as important partners in the national effort to prevent and end homelessness. Last fall, the NLC Institute for Youth, Education and Families partnered with the Council for a National Project Homeless Connect technical assistance webinar to promote adoption of the Project Homeless Connect innovation. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano has called the United Way an "extraordinary partner" in the quest to abolish homelessness through jurisdictionally led, community based 10- Year Plans. Speaking at the 2007 State Conference meeting of United Ways of New Jersey Presidents and CEOs last month, Director Mangano noted that "All over the country - Atlanta, Nashua, Quincy, Dallas, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, Minneapolis, New York and more - United Way is playing a leading role in working with jurisdictional leaders to convene community stakeholders and offering support and resources to assist in the creation and implementation of 10-Year Plans . . . Your support with all the strengths you bring is vital in making a community impact on this issue. And what we're seeing across the country is the United Way involved in local efforts tied to a National Partnership that results in reductions in homelessness on the streets and in shelters."

email: usich@usich.gov

web: http://www.usich.gov