2. Purpose of the Plan Targeted, solutions-driven goals Cost-effective/strategic use of government expenditures Roadmap for joint action by 19 Council agencies Guide development of programs and budget proposals Set of priorities the federal agencies will pursue over the 5-year period: FY 2010 - FY 2014
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4. No one should be without a safe, stable place to call home.
5. Core Values Homelessness is unacceptable. There are no “homeless people,” but rather people who have lost their homes who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Homelessness is expensive – it’s better to invest in solutions. Homelessness is solvable – we have learned a lot about what works. Homelessness can be prevented. There is strength in collaboration – and USICH can make a difference.
6. Goals & Targets Finish the job of ending chronic homelessness by 2015
7. Goals & Targets Prevent and end homelessness among Veterans and their families by 2015
8. Goals & Targets Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children by 2020
9. Goals & Targets Set a path to ending all types of homelessness
10. Goals & Targets Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children by 2020
17. Veterans and their families VA understands the new face of OEF/OIF Veterans Increased focus on female Veterans and their families in DOL’s HVRP program Collaborative work to review barriers to mainstream programs for Veterans with families Education and VA working together to ensure VA has information about educational rights of homeless children Interagency push for PIT Number of VASH vouchers helping Veteran families
18. Other families with children Significant work on 10K Housing Choice Vouchers despite Congressional decision Weekly interagency engagement Common vocabulary discussion HPRP Engaging Education’s state coordinator and local liaisons about local and state involvement
19. Unaccompanied youth Youth signature initiative Significant dialogue among federal agencies and stakeholders Engagement with White House and Center for American Progress HHS ACF focus on different types of youth in and out of foster care Consolidate models to encourage demonstration opportunities
20. Call to Action Commit to goals and focus on results Take action Be active partners
21. Local implementation Role of state and regional interagency councils Local plans that reflect family goal
22. What’s Next … Questions to Ponder Is your community still managing homelessness in shelter settings and on the street, or are you changing your practices to prevent homelessness whenever you can, rapidly returning people to housing as quickly as you are able, and reaching out to the people who have been homeless the longest and finding a way to combine housing and support in permanent supportive housing? What unique partnerships are being fostered that bring us closer to our vision that no one should experience homelessness?
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24. Are you making sure that the community HMIS is major part of plan’s data collection function?
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26. Do the programs ensure that permanent housing is available on the back end?
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Hinweis der Redaktion
The Council chaired by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis comprised of 19 federal agencies Charged by Congress with coordinating the federal response to homelessness.Creating a national partnershipReducing and ending homelessnessMaximizing the effectiveness of the federal government.
These are the core values that the Council charged us to embed in the Plan.The strategies set forth in Opening Doors have been working on the local level in pockets across the United States. A fiscally prudent government response is imperative—local, state, and federal governments cannot afford to invest in anything but the most evidence-based, cost-effective strategies.
Now that we have released the Federal Strategic Plan, the real challenge will be implementation. While by name it is a Federal plan, the Federal role is meant to be collaborative. We are excited to engage in spreading the best practices we are seeing throughout your communities and spread them across the country. HHS, HUD, Labor, VA, and USICH cannot do this alone. Working together, we can harness public and private resources and build on the innovations that have been demonstrated at the local level and in cities nationwide to provide everyone—from the most capable to the most vulnerable—the opportunity to reach their full potential. All 52 strategies have been assigned to one Deputy Director.There has been extensive activities since last year’s launch and I’ll focus our efforts on these three groups Before going into the details, you will be excited to know that new work is being done inside of the Department of Education to bring all programs within the agency around the table to identify ways in which the whole education system can contribute to accomplishing the goals in the plan.
VA understands the new face of the OEF/OIF Veterans, the fact that many have families, and that they need to re-tool to be responsive to this.
For other families, despite the fact that Congress has not yet made decisions about the President’s recommendation to invest in 10,000 new Housing Choice Vouchers to operate two demonstrations, including one for homeless families, much work has been done within the agencies. For a year, HUD, HHS and ED have met weekly to think about how they can promote their programs working together more effectively at the local level. These discussions have been very important in terms of helping agencies break down silos and understand one another’s programs, who they serve, the jurisdictions in which they operate, models of effective collaboration that are happening around the country already, and incentives and disincentives to good collaborations. Last month, building off the interagency dialogue on which programs serve which groups of people, HUD, ED and some of their grantees, as well as key advocates came together with many other stakeholders for the Common Vocabulary forum. A necessary first step to simplify and clarify how we talk about homelessness across multiple programs and agencies.HPRP is probably the biggest investment that has been made, and again we are hopeful Congress allows HUD to implement HEARTH and ESG so that we can continue to meet the needs of families at risk of homelessness while learning as much as we can about targeting prevention and rapid re-housing investments to stretch what dollars there are as far as we possibly can.Deputy Director Jennifer Ho has spent time talking with ED’s state coordinators and local liaisons about getting a seat at the table at State ICHs and local CoCs.
USICH along with HUD, HHS, Education, and Labor are exploring how the Youth Signature Initiative might be shaped. I have hosted youth focus groups in New York City and Columbus, Ohio, as well as visiting model programs in California, New York, and Ohio. USICH is participating in an inter-agency work group on youth in transition. Close work with ACF to better understand that we are not just talking about youth who age out of foster care but also older youth who have go in and out of foster care.Trying to consolidate what we know and some of the model practices to encourage more systems and people to do what is working well, and to be clear about what we need to learn through future demonstration opportunities.In addition to the obvious experts at HHS and ED, HUD has built up its team to include more youth experts, including a recent addition on loan from Casey Family Programs.Interagency push on the PIT.Work to understand the pros and cons of building better linkages between HMIS and RHYMIS.
Now. Let’s talk about your community and what this Plan means to you. The following are important questions for all of us to answer and I look forward to engaging with you about the most effective ways to move forward on these fronts.