By Martha Quillin martha.quillinnewsobserver.com Posted: Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008 DURHAM - An apartment complex expected to open next month will almost quadruple the number of beds for veterans at risk of homelessness in this city, and housing experts say it's not nearly enough. The nonprofit Volunteers of America built the 24-unit Maple Court apartments in Durham because a disproportionate number of the Triangle's 500 or more homeless veterans live there. Bob Williamson, who runs ...

By PAUL CLARK Asheville Citizen-Times Posted: Nov. 15, 2008 ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Travis Robinson was headed for the streets when he heard about the Veterans Restoration Quarters. It may have saved his life, he believes. For months, he'd been having nightmares about his time in Iraq. Enemy fire and bombings were constant for the 37th Engineer Battalion as it set up support in hostile territory for soldiers coming from the rear. At home at his parents' house in Rutherford ...

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press Writer Posted: Nov. 12, 2008 WASHINGTON — Congress and the Obama administration should end the two-year wait that people deemed too sick to work by the government face before qualifying for Medicare, lawmakers and leading advocacy groups said Wednesday. Medicare covers people 65 and older and the disabled, and at any time, 1.5 million disabled people find themselves waiting to qualify. About 40 percent are uninsured during ...

By DEE HENRY Hickory Daily Record Posted: Nov. 16 12:03 p.m. Updated: Nov. 16 8:05 p.m. HICKORY, N.C. — The mosaic decoration on the kitchen wall, made of broken plates, bowls and cups, carries a strong message. "Even broken things can be made beautiful," said Debbie Haynes, executive director of the Safe Harbor Rescue Mission. The wall was created by former residents of the Ada Geitner Home on Second Street, SE, in Hickory. The Hickory Daily Record reports that the ...

By Emmanuel Tambakakis CNN (CNN) -- Until recently, Navy veteran Joe O'Boyle had no home. Joe O'Boyle found a home with the help of Pathways to Housing, a New York-based nonprofit. For 15 years, he was a nomad wandering the streets of his native New York before he got help from Pathways to Housing, a nonprofit organization. O'Boyle spent two of his homeless years underground, riding the trains of the city's subway system. "I had nothing to do, so I rode the trains. I got ...

The Delancey Street Foundation takes drug addicts, ex-convicts and the homeless, and trains them for the real world By Jennifer Wang Updated 3:00 p.m. ET, Wed., Nov. 5, 2008 Imagine a place where former drug addicts, ex-convicts and the homeless can go to find housing, employment and education. When they leave for the "real world" again, they've learned the skills to become successful attorneys, doctors, and yes, even cops. It may sound like a pipe dream, but its not.  ...

ASHEVILLE – Spare Change grants announced The Asheville Downtown Association Foundation recently announced the recipients of grants from funds collected through the Spare Change for Real Change program. Spare Change collection boxes located throughout downtown serve as an alternative to giving to panhandlers. Many area businesses match funds collected in Spare Change boxes or supplement the program with significant donations. “Spare Change for Real Change was designed ...

We wanted to pass along the findings from NYU Furman Center on the impact of supportive housing development on neighboring property values. The study examined 123 residences developed in New York City between 1985 and 2003 and attempted to isolate the impact of development on the rate of property value growth. The report found that properties up to two blocks away INCREASED slightly (3-4%) over the norm. Key findings include: Over the first five years following ...

Court: Ga. sex offender law is unfair to homeless By GREG BLUESTEIN Associated Press Writer Posted: Monday, Oct. 27, 2008 More Information * http://www.gasupreme.us ATLANTA Georgia's top court ruled Monday that a provision in Georgia's strict new sex offender law is unconstitutional because it fails to tell homeless offenders how they can comply with the law. The law is designed to keep sex offenders away from children by monitoring how close they live to schools, ...

By Clay Barbour cbarbour@charlotteobserver.com Posted: Monday, Nov. 03, 2008 The pickings are getting slim at one of Tina Partridge's favorite shopping spots, another sign of the country's tough times. About once a month Partridge and her five children head to the Steele Creek Goodwill retail store, where the young mother can find great deals on everything from school clothes to dirt bikes. But the slumping economy is taking its toll on selection these days, and that hits ...

WASHINGTON - On a cold January morning in 2001, Mel Martinez, then the new secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was headed to his office in his limo when he saw some homeless people huddled on the vents of the steam tunnels that heat federal buildings. "Somebody ought to do something for them," Martinez said he told himself. "And it dawned on me at that moment that it was me." So began the Bush administration's radical, liberal -- and successful -- national campaign ...

A gap exists between scientific research and clinical practice in the field of substance abuse treatment which is not common to other fields of medicine. This is typically attributed to the fact that the substance abuse treatment field grew out of a non-medical tradition, leading to a widespread belief that research has little to contribute to treatment. Enoch Gordis, as Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) in 1991, noted this gap, inferring that clinici

In 2005, the state of Rhode Island and the United Way of Rhode Island created a program to address chronic homelessness in the state by housing 50 homeless single adults in subsidized apartments and by providing those clients with the services they needed to stay housed. The program was designed according to “Housing First” principles which involve rapid access to permanent housing with voluntary access to a variety of services. The program was implemented in late 2005 with the first client acc

This randomized clinical trial tested an approach to prevent homelessness among mentally ill individuals. Although it is widely believed that mentally disabled persons merit care and accommodation in the community, we frequently fail in providing it.1-9 In the United States, men and women with chronic mental illnesses such as schizophrenia have a 25%T to 50% risk of becoming homeless, which is about 10 to 20 times the risk of homelessness for the general population.

This study explores the process of exit from and reentry to public family shelters for homeless families in New York City. A Cox proportional-hazards model was developed t identify the effects of demographic, family structure, reason for homelessness, an time-related variables on the hazard rates for different types of shelter discharge d shelter reentry. The study specifically explores the significance of type of housing placement as a predictor variable for shelter reentry.

Researchers have proposed that at least 4 classes of variables contribute to homelessness: persistent poverty, behavioral disorders, impoverished social networks, and loss of affordable housing.4'5 We tested predictor variables from each of these domains. First, however, we describe the theoretical rationale and empirical evidence linking each to homelessness.

This study examined the vocational outcomes of 4,778 formerly homeless individuals with severe mental illness who were enrolled in the Access to Community Care and Effective Services and Support (ACCESS) program, a multisite demonstration project designed to provide services to this population.

This project is based on a review of 1995 to 2005 literature on issues concerning unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness. It provides an overview of the challenges these young people face and includes research about why they leave their homes, how they live after leaving, and what interventions are being used to assist them. It is broken down into sections on history, definitions, estimates, research, legislation, education, and interventions. Studies mentioned are predominantly tho

The study examined the long-term effectiveness of approaches to housing homeless persons with serious mental illness. Results show that homeless persons with serious mental illness can remain in stable housing for periods of up to five years, supporting the premise that long-term residential stability can be enhanced by providing access to safe and affordable supportive housing.

Using the flexibility afforded by the definition of “assistance” in the final TANF regulations, states and counties may finance homelessness prevention benefits for all families with children with federal TANF funds without adverse effects on working families or others not receiving monthly TANF benefits. It is not necessary either to deny emergency assistance to certain families because they do not receive TANF cash assistance or to run the clock on families’ 60-month federal lifetime TANF