ublic Housing units available for homeless households * Simplifying access to shelters and drop-in centers * Forming an interagency commission to consider a variety of issues, including preventing homelessness among people leaving prison Homeless advocates were critical of one portion of the plan, which would evict people from shelter if they were deemed uncooperative in their search for housing. Under the proposal, residents could be expelled from shelter if they were not looking at 2 or more apartments per week or if they refused a variety of permanent housing options. To implement the initiative, the administration is challenging a 21-year old court decree that guarantees access to shelter for every homeless person. In addition to the new initiatives, New York City will stop pursuing several goals of the previous administration such as linking shelter rights to participation in welfare or work programs. The number of homeless families in New York City’s shelters has increased by 22 percent in the last year, leading to the highest levels since the 1980’s. The commissioner of New York City’s Department of Homeless Services, Linda Gibbs, stated, “The Department … is not just there to provide shelter, but also to get at the causes of homelessness and to address them. That is really a significant shift for this agency. You can’t address homelessness just by building shelters, and that is what this agency was doing.” The full text of the New York Times article on the overall plan can be found at: 2002/06/18/nyregion/18HOME.html The full text of the New York Times article on community opposition to the plans proposed shelter eviction policies can be found at: 2002/06/19/nyregion/19HOME.html ----- Mayors Adopt Agenda to Address Nation’s Housing Needs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Following recommendations from the Mayors’ National Housing Forum in May, the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a number of resolutions at their annual meeting this week that address the nation's affordable housing crisis. Some of the highlights: * Increase McKinney Act homeless assistance grants to $1.8 billion * Provide homeless housing renewals (i.e., Shelter Plus Care, the Supportive Housing Programs, and the SRO Program) through the mainstream HUD Housing Certificate Fund, rather than through renewals of the McKinney Act programs * Provide increased Federal resources for supportive services, including non-HUD funding streams, such as HHS, Veteran Affairs, and Labor * Create a National Housing Trust Fund and ensure cities receive a direct allocation of funds under the Fund * Enact legislation which funds the development of 150,000 units of public housing annually for the next 10 years in a form which encourages income diversity and fosters healthy urban neighborhoods * Urge cities to dedicate 10 percent or more of all housing units in projects supported with locally administered federal funds for homeless and special needs populations, under a competitive application process * Urge appointment of a Special Needs Coordinator in every city to coordinate and optimize existing funding streams for special needs populations, including Medicaid, CDBG, tax-exempt financing and other sources * Make it simpler for states to use TANF funds to provide supplemental housing benefits * Fund a new joint HUD/HHS demonstration project for families with multiple barriers to work that combines housing assistance with services * Encourage welfare agencies and housing agencies to cooperate and requires states to consider housing needs in TANF planning and implementation Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, announced that beginning this summer he would build a grassroots campaign through regional mayoral teams to lobby Congress and the public on the issue of affordable workforce housing. For a complete copy of the Mayors’ adopted resolutions as well as additional information about the mayors meeting, see /www.naeh.org/pol ). A comprehensive overview of the tri-partisan principles can also be viewed on that page. There continues to be speculation that Senate action on TANF reauthorization will be delayed. Secretary Thompson indicated he would support a one-year renewal of the existing welfare provision rather than see a “bad bill” be voted on in the Senate. On Wednesday, Senators Hutchinson and Sessions introduced a TANF reauthorization bill (S. 2648) that mirrors the Administration’s proposal and the bill passed by the House. Co-sponsors of the bill are Senators Frist, Gramm, Inhofe, Kyl, Lott and Thomas. Four of the co-sponsors are members of the Senate Finance Committee that has jurisdiction over the TANF bill. The Alliance is interested in keeping members as up-to-date as possible as action on TANF reauthorization continues to speed up. Please visit the Alliance’s Policy and Legislation page for new information as the week progresses or contact Sharon McDonald at smcdonal@naeh.org to receive grassroots alerts. ----- Advocacy Focus: The National Shelter-Plus-Care Coalition ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Over the last three rounds of the Continuum of Care, HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants program has provided funding for new permanent housing for 22,000 people — in addition to maintaining funding for permanent housing that already existed. And the trend is up — last year alone the Homeless Assistance Grants funded new permanent housing for 10,000 people. That number is expected to be closer to 15,000 in the 2002 competition. This upsurge in the supply of new permanent housing for homeless people is largely due to the work of the National Shelter-Plus-Care Coalition. NSC, as it is known, has done extensive advocacy to persuade Congress to provide funding for new permanent housing, without reducing funding for other kinds of homelessness programs. NSC’s advocacy efforts moved into high gear after the results of the 1999 competition were announced, when a number of renewal requests for permanent housing were denied by HUD. This raised concerns that formerly homeless people with severe mental illnesses and other disabilities would be forced to return to the streets and shelters. At that time, it was becoming more apparent that the burden of renewing expiring, longer-term contracts for permanent housing was threatening to overload the resources of the homeless assistance system. NSC’s advocacy campaign, beginning in early 2000, was based on activating local homeless assistance providers. Those providers educated their members of Congress on the positive impact of permanent supportive housing on homeless people with disabilities, the threat to their communities if sufficient funding for renewals was not forthcoming, and the great benefit that was available if the supply of housing could be expanded. They used research such as that conducted by Dr. Dennis Culhane of the University of Pennsylvania, showing the positive impact of permanent supportive housing. That first year, Congress responded by adding dedicated funding to HUD’s budget for fiscal 2001, covering all renewals of expiring Shelter Plus Care contracts. It also back-funded all Shelter Plus Care renewals for fiscal 2000. With regular Continuum of Care funding no longer burdened with the cost of those renewals, the dedicated funding freed up money for new projects. Last year NSC had similar results, persuading Congress to provide dedicated funding for all Shelter Plus Care renewals in the 2002 competition. This year, the agenda is more aggressive, including renewals of grants for permanent housing in the Supportive Housing Program, and providing the renewal funding through the same account that funds Section 8 mainstream permanent housing renewals, in order to provide more reliability. Through these measures, NSC hopes to expand the funding available for new permanent housing and other projects, while guaranteeing a stable source of renewal funding for existing projects. Information on the NSC Training and Strategy Institute, _“Advocacy Works!,”_ will be held in conjunction with the National Alliance’s annual conference in July and can be found at conf2002/advocacy.htm ----- Upcoming Events ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ June 26-28: "Blueprints for the Future" Housing Services Conference--focusing on Service-Enriched Housing and Management and Services Systems. Harrisburg, PA. Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. For details, visit /www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/fysb/summit.html or contact 800-223-2936. June 27-29: National Health Care for the Homeless Conference. Chicago, IL. For details, visit conference/ or contact 800-439-3300. July 17-20: National Alliance to End Homelessness Annual Conference and Training Institutes. Washington, DC. For details, visit conf2002 or contact conference@naeh.org ** August 3-8: 2002 Annual AIDS Housing Leadership Institute. Leavenworth, WA. Sponsored by AIDS Housing of Washington. For details, visit /www.endhomelessness.org/conf2002/ for details. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose mission is to mobilize the nonprofit, public and private sectors of society in an alliance to end homelessness. Guiding our work is the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. The Ten Year Plan identifies our nation's current weaknesses in addressing the problem and lays out practical steps that our nation can take to change our present course and truly end homelessness within ten years. For an html text copy go to: pub/tenyear/index.htm OR For an Adobe PDF copy go to: pub/tenyear/10yearplan.pdf ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No American should have to be homeless! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ National Alliance to End Homelessness 1518 K Street NW, Suite 206 Washington, DC 20005 (202) 638-1526 Website index.htm#5 email: naeh@naeh.org The Alliance Online News is delivered electronically each Friday. Please feel free to forward this email to your colleagues and encourage them to join as Alliance Partners. For information on becoming an Alliance Partner, please visit contact/ Any comments or suggestions about how this weekly email can better serve your needs would be greatly appreciated - please email naeh@naeh.org. Homeless and Housing News group/HomelessNews From H. C. Covington" searcho Pierced k Beatifuldating n Pierced Clit ihsearchMsearchrtrueysearchCo Www psearch Clit isearche searcho Clit Beatifuldating hsearchnsearchet Www Beatifuldating e Www p Www rsearch Www ftruea Pierced f Clit ntrueatruettruecsearcht Pierced a Clit !search w Pierced Beatifuldating IT Beatifuldating Www osearchi Www io Clit sc Www rsearchesearchty Clit av Www i Www asearchl Www truet searche Clit c Www C Clit r Beatifuldating s Beatifuldating O Clit e Www osearch Osearchfsearchc Clit wwmsearchr Www yesearchtetruep Www i Www e Pierced og Beatifuldating . 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The other position available is to assist in the development of our Asset Builder Individual Development Account (IDA) programs which help low income and socially challenged people save small sums of money to start a business, buy a home or pay for education expenses. Both might require some evening and/or week end hours. These positions are supported by Americorps and are subject to VISTA/Americorps rules. Pay is low (approximately $8,900 plus a transit pass) and the rewards are high. A bonus that can be used to pay down college debt is available to those who complete their full year of service. Payments on college debt can be deferred during a person's year of service. People selected will be part of the Mercy Corps HQ region's team and will be working to help people secure better lives for themselves and their families. It is important for applicants to review the VISTA Americorps website before contacting our organization and, if interested, submit a letter and resume via e-mail or snail mail by or before July 1. Positions require some week end hours and will be filled as and if appropriate candidates are found. Details about the jobs are on our mercyenterprise website at www.mercyenterprise.org Mercy Corps -- Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided more than $640 million in aid to 74 nations. The agency currently reaches more than 5 million people in over 30 countries including the United States. More than 91 percent of the Mercy Corps' resources are allocated to programs that help those in need. See details at www.mercycorps.org OR www.mercyenterprise.org Contact: Carol Coren Director of Oregon Programs/Mercy Enterprise Corporation 936 SE Ankeny Street Portland, OR 97214 503-236-1580 carolcoren@aol.com ccoren@mercyenterprise.org www.mercycorps.org www.mercyenterprise.org From H. C. Covington"  
Note to reader: This = editorial=20 appeared today in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Santa Cruz, Ca., a city which = was=20 identified by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and = the=20 National Coalition on Homelessness as one of the three meanest cities to = homeless people in the State of California.  Police Chief Steven = Belcher=20 recently identified that "60% of the crime in Santa Cruz is alcohol = related," in=20 a city that has twice the number of alcohol outlets as other cities its=20 size.  Alcohol is sold exclusively by Santa Cruz merchants.  = But the=20 Sentinel has now declared war on "preparation and distribution of free=20 food."  I personally was arrested on Friday, June 28th, 2002 for=20 chalk-writing "Sleep is Not a Crime!" on the sidewalk.  My citation = was on=20 "citizen" complaint from Julie Hendee, an employee of the City's = Redevelopment=20 Agency.  Major budget cuts are expected due to a budget = shortfall. =20 The Santa Cruz Police Department is $15 million in a city of = 54,000.  This=20 represents 33% of the general fund.  The Sentinel has, in this = editorial,=20 warned the council to keep its budget ax away from the police budget, or = else!
 
--- Becky Johnson
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