USICH Blog
Department of Housing and Urban Development Archive
09/04/2012 - New Research on Who Applies for and Receives Mainstream Rental Assistance
The Housing Choice Voucher and Public Housing programs are the largest sources of rental assistance for low-income households in the U.S. Unfortunately, these programs are not funded adequately to serve all, or even most, eligible applicants. As a result, families often spend years waiting to be offered assistance. New research provides a more detailed picture of who applies for and receives rental assistance, and their housing conditions while waiting to receive assistance.
08/01/2012 - HUD, USICH Hears from You: Understanding the Needs of the LGBT Homeless Population
On July 16, 2012, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness hosted a listening session entitled “Understanding the Needs of the LGBT Homeless Population” at the National Alliance to End Homelessness’ 2012 National Conference on Ending Homelessness. This listening session allowed Federal partners to learn from advocates, community partners, and homeless service providers about the challenges, opportunities, and best practices related to the implementation of HUD’s new Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity final rule.
07/03/2012 - Top Ten Reasons Homeless Advocates Care about the New Section 811 Project Rental Assistance (PRA) Program
On May 15, 2012, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published the highly anticipated Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for HUD’s Fiscal Year 2012 Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities Project Rental Assistance Demonstration (PRA Demo) Program. The PRA Demo NOFA announces the availability – for the first time – of $85 million in funding to identify, stimulate, and support innovative state-level partnerships and strategies that will transform and increase affordable permanent supportive housing (PSH) for extremely low income people with disabilities including those experiencing homelessness.
06/21/2012 - Why PHAs?
At the end of May, USICH, HUD, and the Corporation for Supportive Housing hosted representatives from 45 communities in Washington, DC for a day-long convening on the important topic of Public Housing Agency (PHA) engagement in local efforts to prevent and end homelessness. Over 110 PHA and Continuum of Care (CoC) representatives joined with Federal staff and other partners to learn more about innovative work already underway in communities, as well as to discuss common policy, regulatory, and political challenges that sometimes inhibit PHAs’ ability to better serve individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Earlier this year, we hosted a similar convening on the West Coast.
As clearly articulated in Opening Doors, ending homelessness in this country will require communities to leverage mainstream resources—like public housing and housing choice vouchers—in unprecedented ways. Consider the following facts...
