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Issue Brief

Chronic Homelessness - USA

Scope of the Problem  factual statements on the extent of the problem in the past, current, or future

• The remaining 10 percent enter the system just over twice a year and spend an average of 280 days per stay—virtually living in the system and utilizing nearly half its resources. They often cycle between homelessness, hospitals, jails, and other institutional care and often have a complex medical problem, a serious mental illness like schizophrenia, and/or alcohol or drug addiction. There are approximately 123,790 chronically homeless individuals nationwide on any given night. *Needs footnote

• Although a small share of the overall homeless population, chronically homeless people use up more than 50 percent of the services.^[1]

Past Policy & Program Milestones  key legislation and other significant policy and funding shifts, major studies, etc.

• 1987 — McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. 

• 1990 — New York-New York Agreement: "... the 1990 New York/New York Agreement to House Homeless Mentally Ill Individuals, a historic joint effort by New York State and New York City that created 3,615 units of supportive and licensed, permanent and transitional housing for homeless mentally ill people in New York City. The New York/New York (NY/NY) Agreement remains the largest housing initiative for homeless mentally ill people to date..."^[2]

• 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. 

Current Policy & Programs  summary of current policies in the form of legislation, programs, and funding

• McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act: This federally funded group of programs have the purpose of assisting in many helpful strategies to alleviate the pressures of homelessness. It is, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the primary source of funding for programs serving the homeless.^[3]  
• What are the programs authorized by this act? What are the current budget levels/allocations?

• Section 8 Program: Tenant Based and Project-Based Rental Assistance: This is a program whereby tenants pay 30 percent of their income for rent in specific housing communities, such as projects. Many low-income workers pay up to 70 percent of their income for their housing. Thus, this program alleviates that 40 percent, leaving people with low-income with the ability to use their income for other, important means. ^[4]

• HUD's Shelter Care Plus:The Shelter Plus Care Program provides rental assistance for hard-to-serve homeless persons with disabilities in connection with supportive services funded from sources outside the program.

• Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program: the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been authorized by Congress to dedicate funds for homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing activities, including: short-term or medium-term rental assistance, housing relocation and stabilization services, mediation, credit counseling, security or utility deposits, utility payments, moving cost assistance, case management, or other appropriate activities for homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing of persons that have become homeless.

• Low Income Housing Tax Credit: A deduction-equivalent credit that offsets up to $25,000 of income, available to owners of residential, low-income rental property. Depending upon when the property was purchased, income limitations may apply.^[5] 

• General Assistance (GA): The objective of general assistance is to provide cash assistance to dependent needy children and disabled adults who are not eligible for assistance under a federally matched cash assistance program, such as New Mexico works (NMW) or the federal program of supplemental security income (SSI).^[6] 

• SEVRA (Section 8 Vouchers Reform Act):The Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA) makes a number of important reforms in the voucher program and some related changes in the laws governing public and assisted housing. These reforms will help the voucher program perform even more effectively in meeting its mission of providing access to affordable housing to millions of Americans.^[7]
• TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families): Under the welfare reform legislation of 1996, (the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act – PWRORA – Public Law 104-193), TANF replaced the welfare programs known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) program and the Emergency Assistance (EA) program. The law ended federal entitlement to assistance and instead created TANF as a block grant that provides States, territories and tribes federal funds each year. These funds cover benefits, administrative expenses, and services targeted to needy families. TANF became effective July 1, 1997, and was reauthorized in February 2006 under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.^[8] 

Key Organizations   contacts for public and private organizations

• Government

• Executive Branch
• US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD):HUD's mission is to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination. To fulfill this mission, HUD will embrace high standards of ethics, management and accountability and forge new partnerships--particularly with faith-based and community organizations--that leverage resources and improve HUD's ability to be effective on the community level.
• US Department of Health and Human Services — Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA):The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has established a clear vision for its work -- a life in the community for everyone. To realize this vision, the Agency has sharply focused its mission on building resilience and facilitating recovery for people with or at risk for mental or substance use disorders. SAMHSA is gearing all of its resources -- programs, policies and grants -- toward that outcome.
• HUD's Interagency Council on Homelessness:The mission of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness is to coordinate the federal response to homelessness and to constellate a national partnership at every level of government and every element of the private sector to reduce and end homelessness in the nation. 
• Legislative Branch
• Representative Geoff Davis (R-KY): Congressman Geoff Davis represents Kentucky’s Fourth District. The twenty-four county district in Northern Kentucky borders West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana.Congressman Davis serves on the House Ways and Means Committee with assignments to the Subcommittees on Select Revenue Measures and Trade  He is also Co-Chairman of the National Security Interagency Reform Working Group and holds a leadership role within the Republican Conference as a Deputy Whip.
• US Senate Committee on Appropriations (Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies:
• Committee in charge of Providing housing and services to our Nation’s most vulnerable through Section 8 Tenant-based rental assistance, Project-Based Rental assistance, Homeless Assistance Grants, Housing for Elderly; people with disabilities and people living with HIV/AIDS.^[9] 
• To see total appropriations look at the FY2010 THUD Report 
• Subcommittee Members 
• Non-Profit
• Service Providing
• National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty:The mission of NLCHP is to prevent and end homelessness by serving as the legal arm of the nationwide movement to end homelessness. To achieve its mission, the organization pursues three main strategies: impact litigation, policy advocacy, and public education. NLCHP strives to place homelessness in the larger context of poverty. By taking this approach, the organization aims to address homelessness as a very visible manifestation of deeper causes, including: the shortage of affordable housing;insufficient income;inadequate social services. NLCHP addresses the causes of homelessness, not just its symptoms. The organization was established in 1989 by Maria Foscarinis, a lawyer who has been working to end homelessness at the national level since 1985. ^[10]
• Pathways to Housing :The mission of Pathways to Housing, is to end homelessness for people who suffer from psychiatric disabilities by providing housing first and giving support and treatment for their recovery and integration into the community. We end homelessness and support recovery by: providing immediate access to permanent independent apartments without requiring treatment or sobriety as a precondition for housing; providing support and treatment with a philosophy that is founded on the principles of consumer choice and harm reduction;conducting research to find new and effective approaches to recovery and community integration for people with psychiatric disabilities.^[11]
• Advocacy/Membership/Network
• Funders Together to End Homelessness: Funders Together to End Homelessness is a national network of foundations and corporations supporting strategic and effective grantmaking to end homelessness.    
• National Coalition for the Homeless:  The National Coalition for the Homeless is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission. That mission, our common bond, is to end homelessness. We are committed to creating the systemic and attitudinal changes necessary to prevent and end homelessness. At the same time, we work to meet the immediate needs of people who are currently experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of doing so. We take as our first principle of practice that people who are currently experiencing homelessness or have formerly experienced homelessness must be actively involved in all of our work. Toward this end, the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) engages in public education, policy advocacy, and grassroots organizing. We focus our work in the following 4 areas: housing justice, economic justice, health care justice, and civil rights.
• National Alliance to End Homelessness:The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States.
• National Housing Trust Fund: The National Housing Trust Fund was established as a provision of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush. The passage of National Housing Trust Fund legislation is a major victory for low income housing advocates and the lowest income people in our country with the most serious needs. The housing trust fund will, once capitalized, provide communities with funds to build, preserve, and rehabilitate rental homes that are affordable for extremely and very low income households. 
• Foundation

• Butler Family Fund:The Butler Family Fund is a private family foundation established in 1992 and funds non-profit organizations that facilitate progressive social change in the areas of homelessness, criminal justice and global warming. The Board is particularly interested in supporting organizations that are committed to addressing these problems through systemic change, advocacy, policy reform, and innovative direct service programs.0

• The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation: To date, the Foundation has awarded $20 million to the  Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) to address the needs of mentally ill homeless people through supportive housing in Los Angeles and nationally. The Los Angeles initiative has stimulated the creation of nearly 1,100 units of supportive housing for individuals and families, many of whom have been homeless for years and suffer from serious mental illness. With the Foundation’s $1 million program-related investment as the initial funding, CSH also established the Los Angeles Supportive Housing Loan Fund. Due in part to the Foundation’s convening local government and financial institutions in order to spark interest, the Loan Fund has grown to $30 million. Nationally, a central priority for CSH is engaging leaders from all levels of government, philanthropy, and the private sector. The Foundation’s support enabled CSH to hold the third annual Supportive Housing Leadership Forum, where nearly 200 delegates from 28 states shared ideas about how to coordinate resources and make supportive housing easier to develop, fund, and operate. 

• National Realtors Homeless Foundation: The National Realtors Homeless Foundation was created to provide additional support to the over taxed infrastructure already in place. The NRHF works with food banks across the nation, placing barrels for food donation in local real estate, mortgage, escrow offices and other businesses. These barrels are picked up by food banks for local distribution.^[12] 

• The Melville Trust: The Melville Trust concentrates its efforts on finding and fighting the causes of homelessness. We support service and housing programs in Connecticut that can serve as models throughout the country. The Trust also funds educational, research and advocacy initiatives in Connecticut and on a national level. We collaborate actively with a growing network of individuals and groups, public and private, to build communities where every adult and child has a place to call home.^[13] 

• William S. Abell Foundation: Our Strategic Mission: The Foundation has committed up to $10 million to help end and prevent homelessness in the Washington, D.C. area.

• Campion Foundation: We have joined the growing movement to end homelessness in Washington state. Our strategy is to leverage limited resources by investing in systemic change and supporting advocacy efforts to make homelessness a rare and temporary hardship.

• Other

•  

Bibliography  web sites, reports, articles, and other reference material 

• Homeless Study Looks at 'Housing First': Shifting Policies to Get Chronically Ill in Homes May Save Lives, Money, Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2008 http://www.aegis.com/news/wsj/2008/WJ080302.html 
• Mercer County Alliance to End Homelessness, http://merceralliance.org/hfdi.htm 
• San Fransisco Government Website, http://www.ci.sf.ca.us/site/mayor_page.asp?id=29925 
• "Housing First effort pays off for Denver: Getting homeless off streets can save millions, study says", Stuart Steers, Rocky Mountain News: Dec. 11, 2006 
• National Alliance to End Homelessness, Policy Guide 2008, p. 7
• http://www.pathwaystohousing.org  

Footnotes

1. http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/general/detail/1623 ▲
2. Houghton, Ted, A Description and History of The New York/New York Agreement to House Homeless Mentally Ill Individuals. ▲
3. National Alliance to End Homelessness, Policy Guide 2008, p. 7. ▲
4. National Alliance to End Homelessness, Policy Guide 2008, p.25. ▲
5. http://www.yourdictionary.com/finance/low-income-housing-tax-credit ▲
6. http://www.hsd.state.nm.us/isd/ga.html ▲
7. http://www.nlihc.org/doc/SEVRA-fact-sheet.pdf ▲
8. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services ▲
9. http://appropriations.senate.gov/index.cfm FY210 THUD Report ▲
10. http://www.nlchp.org/about_us.cfm ▲
11. http://www.pathwaystohousing.org/Articles/Mission.html ▲
12. http://www.thenrhf.org/ ▲
13. http://www.melvilletrust.org/about_us.aspx ▲