Goal Statement

To provide services and adequate housing to those in need, with the overarching goal to end homelessness. 

Policy/Program Options 

• Program Approaches: These are the outlined goals of the Ten Year Plan to end homelessness by the communities involved in the program:
  • Creating Data Systems: Almost all of the plans (91 percent) outline strategies to create Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS).  
  • Homelessness Prevention: An overwhelming majority of the plans (79 percent) address emergency prevention (e.g., one-time rental or utility assistance, help negotiating an eviction with a landlord, etc.), and 91 percent of the plans outline systems prevention activities, such as discharge planning from correctional facilities, foster care systems, or mental health facilities.  
  • Outreach: Outreach efforts to engage people living on the streets are outlined in 79 percent of the plans.
    • Denver's Road Home Initiative: Three years into Denver’s 10-year plan to end homelessness, we are on track to meet the initiative’s ambitious goals.  The progress is tangible and encouraging:
      • 1,243 new units of housing for the homeless have been created
      • 957 families have received eviction assistance
      • 3,278 homeless people have received employment assistance
      • 415 families have been mentored through the faith initiative^[1]

• Shortening Time of Homelessness: Shortening the time that people spend homeless by providing permanent housing to homeless people is included in 67 percent of the plans; 57 percent call for rapid re-housing. In total, the plans call for creating approximately 196,000 units (or subsidies), of which 80,000 units are permanent supportive housing. 
• Links to Services: Once individuals or families are in housing, 81 percent of the plans outline strategies to link them with mainstream servicesso they can earn enough money to pay rent and avoid homelessness.2 
• 10 Year Plans
  • Policy Options - Ten Year Plans to End Homelessness: In 2000, the National Alliance to End Homelessness announced A Plan, Not a Dream: How to End Homelessness in Ten Years. This vision included strategies to end the problem by providing affordable housing and needed services, and, just as important, by preventing homelessness from occurring in the first place. Since that time, 220 commu nities have undertaken efforts to end homelessness and 90 communities have completed plans to end homelessness.
  • City of Norfolk Blueprint of the Plan to End Homelessness: The Commission to End Homelessness, appointed by City Council in 2004, identified numerous priorities to be implemented both in the short and long-term. In addition, earlier analysis by the Norfolk Homelessness Advisory Committee and subsequent input from community stakeholders contributed to the development of this draft plan. The priorities include intensive case management, employment and support services (e.g. mental health, substance abuse), and housing policies to increase transitional, permanent supportive, and affordable housing options. The City’s goal is to implement these strategies (and others as implementation progresses) to end homelessness as we know it within ten years.^[2] You may access the entire plan here.
• The Bush Adminstration Act under the HUD development has reactivated the federal Interagency Council on Homelessness after six year lapse and announced the proposed pooling of 35 million in new Federal dollars to provide supportive housing and critical services to states implementing plans developed through the homeless policy academics. needs footnote

Local / State / National Information

• Homelessness - USA
• Homelessness - Georgia
  • Homelessness - Atlanta, GA
• Homelessness - New Jersey
  • Homelessness - Trenton, NJ 
• Homelessness - Indiana
  • Homelessness - Richmond, IN

Glossary of Terms

• Chronic Homelessness- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines a chronically homeless person as an unaccompanied homeless person with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more or who has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.^[3]
• Continued homelessness - means that a person regularly use shelter-offered assistance. ^[4]
• Supportive Housing - a combination of affordable housing and services that help people live independent, stable and productive lives. ^[5]
• Rural areas- all territory, population, and housing units not classified as urban.^[6]

Bibliography 

• Related Issue Briefs

  • Rural Homelessness

• Reports

  • State Report Card on Child Homelessness