September 2012 Council Meeting on Family Homelessness
On September 12, USICH hosted its third full Council meeting of the year. On September 12, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) hosted the third Council meeting of the year, which focused on work being done in Utah and Washington State to use mainstream programs to help prevent and end family homelessness. USICH Chair and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was joined by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Director of the Corporation for National and Community Service Wendy Spencer, Luke Tate from the White House Domestic Policy Council, and representatives from 18 member agencies.
This meeting focused on how leaders at all levels can bring mainstream resources and programs to the table to give families the support they need to exit homelessness. These mainstream resources, which include public housing, schools, workforce centers, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), can be woven together with targeted homelessness resources to make progress. For the nearly 242,000 individuals in families experiencing homelessness on a given night, it is critical that agencies at all levels of government work together to expand practices that work for families, like rapid re-housing and school interventions.
