USICH Blog
09/28/2012 - What We’re Talking About: The Week at USICH - September 24-27
Unaccompanied Youth and the Point In Time Count 
Communities are now beginning to think about their January 2013 Point in Time Count, especially as it relates to unaccompanied youth. For the first time as part of the new Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act guidelines, unaccompanied youth will be counted in the Point-in- Time count in every community across the country. To kick off this process, The National Alliance to End Homelessness will host a webinar on including Youth in the Point-In-Time Count on Thursday, October 4 from 1:30-3:00PM (EST).
Also discussing both the full Point in Time count as well as the upcoming Housing Inventory Count, HUD is putting on a webinar on Tuesday, October 2 from 3:30-4:30 EDT. This will cover all the new requirements for communities conducting these counts, which includes information on ensuring more youth are counted in January 2013.
Increasing Access to Health Care Under the Affordable Care Act
Earlier this week, the President & CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation posted a blog discussing how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides an unprecedented opportunity to improve health and long-term stability to people experiencing homelessness. He addressed the 2014 Medicaid expansion and what it will take to connect people experiencing homelessness to Medicaid under the ACA, with focus specifically on improving outreach and coordination in communities. The blog draws on a report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation in September 2012 called Medicaid Coverage and Care for the Homeless Population: Key Lessons to Consider for the 2014 Medicaid Expansion. He concludes that this new effort could bring renewed attention at the state and local level to the problem of homelessness itself.
Read the Kaiser Family Foundation Report
Medicaid innovation and the Affordable Care Act was also highlighted this week in the Oregonian, where Deputy Director Jennifer Ho was interviewed while visiting Portland, Oregon to learn more about the ways they’re implementing a Coordinated Care Organization through a Medicaid waiver. Stay tuned next week to hear Jennifer’s reflection on the work being done in Portland, and the innovation that has the potential to change the face of integrated healthcare for individuals experiencing homelessness. As Ho noted, “Access to healthcare is actually homelessness prevention,” and providers in Portland are working to make that a priority.
Read the article in The Oregonian
Employment opportunity with USICH
USICH is now looking for a Communications Specialist to join our team in Washington, DC. The Communications Specialist serves as a public affairs specialist responsible for planning and implementing communications and media information programs regarding the work of the USICH and its initiatives as well as serves as the primary webmaster for the organization. Knowledge of the broad objectives of a national public affairs program and skill in working with the media and working knowledge of the newspapers, wire service, radio and television procedures is required. Applicants should possess excellent writing and editing skills, and skill in analyzing controversial and/or complex information and developing written material designed to reach a variety of constituencies.
Learn more about this opportunity
Other news of note:
The public comment period for HUD's Interim Continuum of Care Program rule has been extended. The new deadline for comments is now November 16, 2012. Learn more and submit your comment now.
Earlier this week Atlanta’s Mayor Kasim Reed announced their goal to end chronic Veterans homelessness by 2013
The Census Bureau released their report on the emergency and transitional shelter population in 2010; USICH Director Barbara Poppe spoke with the Washington Times about the value of this data and where it fits in with the Annual Homelessness Assessment Report Data we use on a daily basis.
