North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness Articles RSS Feed

TAC Summary of New Homeless Definition

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:00:00 GMT

On May 20, 2009, President Obama signed the Homeless Emergency and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009 into law. The HEARTH Act expands and clarifies the definition of homelessness for the Emergency Solutions Grant and Continuum of Care programs (Supportive Housing Program and Shelter Plus Care) programs.

On December 5, 2011, HUD published the Final Rule on the HEARTH Definition of Homeless in the Federal Register. The Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC) has developed a summary of the new homeless definition, including a discussion of when the new definition can be used by existing programs.

Click here to download the summary or read it on TAC's website.

30-Jan-12 8:00 AM

The State of Homelessness in America 2012

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:00:00 GMT

On Wednesday, January 18, the National Alliance to End Homelessness released The State of Homelessness in America 2012. The second in a series, this year's report finds that, unexpectedly, the bad economy did not lead to a large increase in homelessness, but that the number of homeless people actually decreased slightly between 2009 and 2011. This can be largely attributed to the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), the stimulus-funded program aimed at curbing homelessness resulting from the recession. Moreover, the report found that indicators associated with homelessness, including severe housing cost burden and doubled-up households, increased. These findings, coupled with the impending expiration of HPRP, could mean increases in homelessness in the next years.

Download the Executive Summary and the Full Report here, or read them on the NAEH websit e.

27-Jan-12 8:00 AM

Summary of Changes to Definition of Homelessness

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:00:00 GMT

The National Alliance to End Homelessness published a summary and analysis of the changes to the definition of homelessness under the HEARTH Act. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published the final regulation on December 5, which went into effect on January 4.

The brief highlights the changes to the definition compared to both the previous regulation and the draft changes proposed by HUD in April 2010. The brief includes a table summarizing the changes to various categories of homelessness. It also outlines the decisions that communities and individual programs will have to make as a result of these changes.

Click here to download the summary or read it on the NAEH website.

27-Jan-12 8:00 AM

US Conference of Mayors Hunger and Homelessness Survey 2011

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:00:00 GMT

On December 15, The United States Conference of Mayors released their annual report on hunger and homelessness in U.S. cities. In 25 of the 29 cities surveyed for the report, requests for emergency food and housing have increased - with the majority of those requests coming from families. 58 percent of surveyed cities said they experienced an increase in the number of homeless families - up by an average of 15 percent from the previous year. The report also examines programs that cities are implementing to address homelessness and hunger. Three of the cities surveyed are in North Carolina: Asheville, Charlotte, and Gastonia.

The report is available on the US Conference of Mayors website.

10-Jan-12 9:00 AM

2011 Point-in-Time Estimates of Homelessness: Supplement to the AHAR

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:00:00 GMT

On December 13, 2011, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the results of the January 2011 point-in-time count. According to their report, 636,017 people were homeless in the United States on a single night in January. This represents a 2.1 percent decline from the year before. HUD and the Department of Veterans Affairs also announced a 12 percent decline in the number of veterans experiencing homelessness. The number of veterans experiencing homelessness decreased from 76,329 homeless veterans to 67,495 homeless veterans between January 2010 and January 2011.

Click here to download the report or read in on the HUD HRE website.

15-Dec-11 11:00 AM

NAEH Brief: Prevention Targeting 101

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:00:00 GMT

Since the implementation of the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) began in 2009, communities have been working to find the best possible way to use prevention funds. Figuring out how to target this limited resource is an important part of this and other homeless assistance grants. The National Alliance to End Homelessness has released a new brief entitled "Prevention Targeting 101" that sheds light on how communities can use local data to reach and preserve the housing situations of the households most at risk of homelessness. Techniques for evaluating success in prevention targeting efforts are also discussed.

Click here to download the brief or read it on the NAEH website.

15-Dec-11 11:00 AM

Health Care for the Homeless Research Update: October 2011

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:00:00 GMT

In its quarterly HCH Research Update, the Health Care for the Homeless Council summarizes recent publications on health care and homelessness. October's issue, compiled from several research databases, includes articles from approximately July to September 2011. Summaries are categorized into themes that vary by quarter.

Download the update here or read it on the HCH website.

7-Dec-11 9:00 AM

ICPH Brief: A Tangled Web - Homeless Families and Their Overlapping Needs

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Homeless families often have intense service needs resulting from mental illness, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and veteran status. Unfortunately, most reports depict families as a homogenous group or lump them with homeless singles, which has resulted in a very limited picture of families. This report from the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness sheds light on the diversity and interconnectedness of homeless family subpopulations and stresses the importance of comprehensive data collection.

Click here to download the report or read it on the ICPH website.

1-Dec-11 9:00 AM

Teams try bringing homeless in from cold

Jay Price - noemail@ncceh.org — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:00:00 GMT

BY JAY PRICE - jprice@newsobserver.com

DURHAM -- Late in a long day of hunting half-lost men and women in alley corners, under bridges and in odd wedges of forest at highway interchanges, the team in the minivan rolled up on nine men stealthily sipping beer and socializing behind a church.

"I hope I can get a house!" one of the homeless men yelled, after recognizing the team. He was joking, but in a sense, getting him into that house was exactly what the trio in the van was there to do.

They were members of an outreach team fielded by a group named Housing for New Hope, a roving tie to society for some of the Triangle's most hard-core street people.

The teams roam Durham and Orange counties almost daily, performing a kind of free-range casework, checking in with homeless people they know and chatting up newcomers. They build trust and relationships, helping with basic health assessments, advice, referrals and transportation.

All the while, they're watching and listening for any opening, any hint that someone might finally be ready to sleep indoors. The agency has its own housing and works with other agencies and independent landlords.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline recently gave $40,000 to Housing for New Hope, one of several grants the company awarded to small nonprofit groups around the state that are effective in providing health care to under-served populations.

More than 1,400 people were homeless in the Triangle as of the last annual count in January. Some take advantage of traditional or transitional housing and visit soup kitchens and support agencies such as clinics.

Others, though, dip only occasionally into the patchwork of support, and they do their eating, drinking and sleeping outdoors. The most effective way to reach them is as obvious as it is unconventional: Go where they are.

It was still dark on a recent morning when a three-person Housing for New Hope team parked near a used car lot and began following a footpath into a stand of trees. Michael Kelly took the lead, followed by Marigny Manson, a registered nurse, and Patricia King, who, like Kelly, is called a peer-support specialist.

As the path entered the trees, Kelly stopped to examine a six-pack of beer bottles on the ground. They were thick with ants.

He shook his head. The trail was cold.

Life in hidden places

Kelly knows beer bottles. He knows woods and knows the people who drink beer in the woods. He was one of them for years, until outreach workers with the agency got him off the street and helped him become one of them. Now he lives in his own Habitat for Humanity house.

On this day, Kelly was the driver - and security expert and all-around field guide to the world of homelessness. Manson brought the critical health care expertise, and King stood ready to add anyone who was willing to the agency's database and lend a knowledgeable ear for the endless problems that homeless people face.

Their quarry was surprisingly common. It seemed like every vacant wooded lot near a convenience store, or close to a good spot to panhandle - such as Durham's Ninth Street or Franklin Street in Chapel Hill - has tents, tarpaulins or rolled up sleeping bags tucked away discreetly.

"We find people, meet people and build some form of relationship," Kelly said. "Anybody can get out and preach from a corner and tell you what you ought to be doing. We don't do that. We just let them know help is available and when you're ready we can help link you with it. We have empathy that's real, and people can relate to us."

A few stops later, the team parked near another camp, in a wedge of woods between two highways.

"It never ceases to amaze me where you find these places, and with all the ones we know about, there are sure to be a bunch more that we don't know about," Kelly said.

A good conversational gambit, he said, is to look for something a little different or clever about the camp and compliment the residents on it. A bathroom cabinet nailed to a tree, for example, or a rubber bag hanging from a limb for a shower.

'It's not that cold'

The man they were looking for wasn't home, so they checked the entrance to a nearby shopping center where he usually "flies" his sign.

"Homeless help needed" the sign said. The man, whom the team did not want identified, was sitting on a thin cushion on a curb, a bag with a sandwich in it and an aluminum cane on the ground beside him. He had tied his graying hair in a ponytail, and he was wearing a nice pair of work boots and a clean, waterproof hiking jacket. Manson had taken him on a tour of group homes a couple of weeks earlier and wanted to hear whether he had made up his mind about moving into one.

He showed no sign of emotion at their presence and didn't look at them.

"You know it's going to get cold out here, man," said Kelly.

"I know," came the reply.

"I just don't understand why you're not interested in a group home," Manson said.

"It's not that cold," he said.

"Not yet," said Manson, "But you know you've got that option, OK?"

The man decided they deserved a full explanation.

"Look, I don't need to be around a whole bunch of people, and when I want to drink a beer, I want to drink a beer without anybody messing with me," he said.

"Well, at a group home, you can go outside and drink a beer," Manson said.

"Well, I get angry and I might get arrested and that will cost me some money."

Manson, changing the subject, asked what he wanted for Christmas. A group of local churches is trying to fill lists for homeless people. He replied that some insulated coveralls would be good.

They headed for the church near Ninth Street, a gathering place for some of Durham's most entrenched homeless people.

Behind the church, Kelly eased out from behind the wheel and greeted old friends who go by the names of Concrete and Slim.

The team's strategy

It's tempting to think Kelly is too chatty, but his easy manner with people who may be drunk, mentally ill, or both, and an intuition about how to approach them, are unusual gifts that the other members of the team both need and appreciate.

"Having that social relationship is really important for those not ready to engage with us yet, because it's just like, OK, we're just chatting about the old days, and who's doing what, and how they are," Manson said.

Chattiness also helps as another kind of tool. If they walk up to a group and two are garrulous drunks and a third is quiet and seems to need some help, Kelly can amp up his chattiness while one of the others eases the quiet person aside for a talk. Which is exactly what King did behind the church, walking a newcomer to the streets around to the other side of the minivan and enrolling him in the agency's database.

Many of those standing around in the group just don't like being hemmed in by walls and roofs and rules, said Slim, whose real name is Davlin Carver.

"And a lot of people here have burned bridges with their families," he said. "Some of 'em have that sickness, that phobia thing about being cooped up.

"Me, I stay out here because I choose to," he said. "Everything is a choice."

And what does it take to get someone to make a choice to come in off the street?

"It takes something harsh to get every man or woman to that point where Michael got to," Slim said, grinning atKelly.

Waiting to hit bottom

The familiarity is a two-way street. The outreach workers know the street people, and the street people know them. In Kelly's case, that's easy, because he has been a member of both groups. And he might still be in a tent, drinking and panhandling, if he hadn't reached that point where he was vulnerable.

Six years ago, Kelly was living in some woods near Ninth Street with Concrete and another man, near where Slim now camps. The outreach workers with Housing for New Hope had been chatting him up for a year and a half, and when he hit bottom - two health care crises, including one in which a doctor told him he had briefly been dead - they were there.

When the agency helped him ease back into society, he got a normal life, and the agency got something extraordinary, too: a man who is not only wise about homeless life, but has a deep knowledge of it. His skills are unique, something no training program could replicate.

Slim understands what coming off the street has done for Kelly, but he'd rather have the woods, the freedom and that paper cup of beer in his hand.

"I just ain't at that point," he said. "Till a person hits the bottom, they'll continue to do what they're doing. I haven't hit that bottom."

Kelly shot the breeze awhile longer with his old buddies, then, with the rest of the team, climbed back in the minivan.

Slim, he said, got cleaned up a couple of times with the help of a religious ministry, but slid right back into street life and sleeping out in the woods. One day, though, Slim may give them an opening, and Kelly said they'll be ready.

"It's our goal in life, I suppose, to find out what makes people to continue to choose that," he said. "Then, somehow, we have to figure out how to change their mind."

Read the original article on the News & Observer website.

17-Nov-11 11:00 AM

ESG Program Interim Regulations

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:00:00 GMT

On November 15, 2011, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released new interim regulations for the Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) program. This interim rule revises the regulations for the Emergency Shelter Grants program by establishing the regulations for the Emergency Solutions Grants program, which replaces the Emergency Shelter Grants program. The change in the program’s name, from Emergency Shelter Grants to Emergency Solutions Grants, reflects the change in the program’s focus from addressing the needs of homeless people in emergency or transitional shelters to assisting people to quickly regain stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis and/or homelessness.

Download the regulations here or read them on the HUD HRE website.

15-Nov-11 12:00 PM

HEARTH "Homeless" Definition Final Rule

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:00:00 GMT

On November 15, 2011, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the final regulation on the definition of homelessness. This final rule integrates the regulation for the definition of “homeless,” and the corresponding recordkeeping requirements, for the Emergency Solutions Grants program, the Shelter Plus Care program, and the Supportive Housing Program. This final rule also establishes the regulation for the definition “developmental disability” and the definition and recordkeeping requirements for “homeless individual with a disability” for the Shelter Plus Care program and the Supportive Housing Program.

Download the regulation here or read it on the HUD HRE website.

15-Nov-11 12:00 PM

Census Bureau Report: The Research Supplemental Poverty Measure - 2010

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:00:00 GMT

The U.S. Census Bureau has released a report, "The Research Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2010." This report describes the new supplemental poverty measure (SPM), developed by the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the National Academy of Sciences, that accounts for the economic circumstances of poverty using contemporary social and economic realities. The SPM will not replace the official poverty measure, but it provides greater understanding of the economic conditions of people in poverty. For example, the SPM takes into account items not measured by the official poverty measurement, including benefits family receive (such as cash assistance) and family expenses (such as medical out-of-pocket and commuting costs). The SPM found that the rate of poverty was 15.3, which is higher than the official rate of 15.1.

Download the report here or read it on the Census Bureau's website.

15-Nov-11 12:00 PM

NLIHC Housing Spotlight: Renters' Growing Pain

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:00:00 GMT

The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released the first edition of Housing Spotlight, which is a data series on housing issues. The first brief, "Renters' Growing Pain," describes housing cost burden among renters. Using 2010 American Community Survey data, brief finds that lowest-income renters, those earning under $20,000 per year, are the most likely to face housing cost burden. The brief also describes how the number of renters is growing, however, in 2010 there were one million fewer units of low-income rental housing under $500 than there were in 2007.

Download the brief here or read it on the NLIHC's website.

8-Nov-11 2:00 PM

NAEH Brief: Data Point - Veteran Homelessness in the United States

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:00:00 GMT

The National Alliance to End Homelessness has released a one-page brief entitled Data Point: Veteran Homelessness in the United States. The brief provides key data on homelessness among veterans as reported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) in the recent report, Veteran Homelessness: A Supplemental Report to the 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.

The data shows that there are 76,000 homeless veterans on a given night and 145,000 sheltered homeless veterans over a 12-month period. The Data Point brief also provides a map with a state breakdown of the most recent point-in-time counts and rates of veteran homelessness. There is also a graphic that depicts an annual benchmarks scenario of decreases in the population of homeless veterans needed to end veteran homelessness in five years, as set by VA and HUD.

Download the brief here or read it on the NAEH website.

8-Nov-11 1:00 PM

Opening Doors: Annual Update 2011

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:00:00 GMT

On October 3, 2011, the US Interagency Council on Homelessness released the 2011 Annual Update to Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.

The 2011 Annual Update covers in detail the progress made around many of the Opening Doors goals, objectives and strategies. Particularly noteworthy progress has been made in six categories:

Breaking down silos
Better data collection analysis and reporting
Adoption of proven tools and effective practices
Better use of targeted resources
Improved access to mainstream resources
Increased engagement with states and communities

Click here to download the 2011 Annual Update or read it online here.

7-Oct-11 11:00 AM

Religious Groups Tackle Poverty and Homelessness

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan - noemail@ncceh.org — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:00:00 GMT

BY DAWN BAUMGARTNER VAUGHAN

DURHAM – Faith and community leaders gathered for a collective call to action Friday to address homelessness and poverty during a day-long conference at Union Baptist Church.

The first Faith Institute on Homelessness and Poverty brought together those who are helping, those who want to help, those who want to galvanize their congregations and those who have ideas on how best to do it.

Henry Kaestner, co-founder of DurhamCares, moderated a session between four faith leaders about the spiritual call to end homelessness. Kaestner said the message of DurhamCares is to “love thy neighbor.”

Rabbi Leah Berkowitz of Judea Reform Congregation said that Judaism’s imperative is to help the poor, hungry and homeless and to never oppress another people, as they were once slaves.

“Helping the poor is a commandment, not a suggestion,” Berkowitz said.

Abdul Waheed of the Islamic community talked about “neighborly needs” and to follow the teaching of never going to bed on a full stomach while knowing a neighbor is hungry.

The Rev. Mel Williams, pastor of Watts Street Baptist Church, cited scripture after scripture that show that the biblical call to help is clear.

“There are so many facets to poverty,” Williams said, ticking off housing, health care, education, jobs and family support. “Together, with the help of the holy one, we can end poverty and homelessness in our city.”

The Rev. Kenneth Hammond, senior pastor of Union Baptist, said faith leaders need to reframe homelessness so people see it as a moral issue, not a social condition.

“Justice demands we become proactive,” Hammond said.

They talked about how exactly congregations can help their neighbors. Kaestner mentioned the Interfaith Hospitality Network. Williams said that he wouldn’t be where he was without a support system, and support systems are what people need to succeed. One person suggested that each congregation in Durham adopt a family a year. That idea took off, and leaders talked about how to use existing programs to facilitate matching congregations with families.

More than just action taken by individual people and congregations, speakers urged others to contact elected government officials to support funding for programs that address poverty and homelessness.

Chris Estes, executive director of N.C. Affordable Housing Coalition, and Denise Neunaber, executive director of N.C. Coalition to End Homelessness, talked about the importance of advocacy.

Estes said that he learned that housing is the hub of the wheel that links all other things, like finding a job, stability and sending children to school.

Affordable housing will need development subsidies to operate and manage, he said.

“It is very important for you to advocate for organizations that do this in the community – especially putting homes on the ground,” Estes said. “The faith community is so important.”

Neunaber said they have started seeing results in plans to end homelessness. The answer isn’t homeless shelters, she said, but rather housing.

To prevent homelessness, she said, the real difference is in having a support system. Faith communities can step in as support systems, she said.

Neunaber said the new model is prevention; emergency shelter; rapid rehousing; and permanent supportive housing.

Other topics discussed Friday included social support for transitioning to stability; creating employment and income opportunities; outreach and engagement with those still homeless; and what to do next. Organizations sharing information included The Stewards Fund, Genesis Home, Housing for New Hope, Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham, The Durham Center, TROSA, Good Work, Open Table Ministry and Durham Public Schools.

The institute was presented by the Coalition to End Homelessness in Durham, Durham Congregations In Action, DurhamCares and Union Baptist Church.

Read the article on the Herald-Sun website here.

13-Sep-11 8:00 AM

Homelessness Pulse Report: First Quarter 2011

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:00:00 GMT

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released the Homelessness Pulse Report: First Quarter, 2011, which presents quarterly trends of homelessness data from a number of communities. The major findings show that sheltered homelessness increased in 75 percent of the Continuum of Cares (CoCs) included in the report, but that the newly sheltered homeless population decreased in 55 percent of the CoCs. The report presents data at quarterly intervals ending with January, 2011. The data were collected from 23 CoCs representing 361 counties and 422 cities.

The Homelessness Pulse Report is HUD's attempt to disseminate data more frequently than the Annual Homeless Assessment Report and to monitor progress against the Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.

Download the report here or read it on the HUD HRE website.

7-Sep-11 8:00 AM

Closing the Front Door: Creating a Successful Diversion Program for Homeless Families

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 20:00:00 GMT

A new paper by the National Alliance to End Homelessness' Center for Capacity Building explores how shelter diversion enables communities to reduce new entries into their homeless assistance system and use their available shelter beds more effectively. This paper provides information on the key elements of diversion programs, describes how to measure progress, and highlights communities using the model successfully. The paper, "Closing the Front Door: Creating a Successful Diversion Program for Homeless Families," is part of a series on "front door" strategies.

Download the brief here or read in on the NAEH website.

17-Aug-11 4:00 PM

Helping Chronically Homeless People Avoid High-Cost Health Care

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:00:00 GMT

The National Alliance to End Homelessness released a new advocacy tool, "Helping Chronically Homeless People Avoid High-Cost Health Care," designed for health policy audiences at all levels of government. This brief succinctly makes the case that permanent supportive housing should be part of health care solutions, especially where public resources are strained caring for chronically and highly vulnerable homeless people. Designed as a handout for policymakers and interested stakeholders, this brief can serve as a starting point to tailor messages about the relationship between permanent supportive housing and health care for audiences outside the homelessness arena.

Download the brief here or read it on the NAEH website.

15-Aug-11 1:00 PM

NAEH Economy Bytes Brief and Data Point Brief

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:00:00 GMT

The National Alliance to End Homelessness released a brief that finds that state and local budget cuts are leading to increased vulnerability and may lead to increases in homelessness. The key finding in the brief, Economy Bytes: Effect of State and Local Budget Cuts on Homelessness, is the identification of nine states where an elevated level of vulnerability exists; among these states, four have the highest levels of vulnerability. The brief, which is the third in the Economy Bytes series, also details how in the past two fiscal years (2010 and 2011), 24 states and the District of Columbia made cuts to public assistance and 34 made cuts to public sector jobs.

Accompanying this publication is a one-page brief called Data Point: Homeless Assistance Program Funding: Federal vs. State and Local Assistance. The key finding in this brief is that more than half (54 percent) of all homeless program beds are entirely funded through state and local dollars.

Read the Economy Bytes brief

Read the Data Point brief

2-Aug-11 4:00 PM