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With Secretary Jackson’s resignation at HUD on March 31, 2008, it was enjoyable listening to a driveway moment on NPR’s All Things Considered. Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post discussed how the Department of Housing and Urban Development has handled the crises brought on by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita through the subprime mortgage meltdown. This report is definitely worth listening to. To listen now click here and then select the file in the playlist. To go to the full report click here.

On April 10th, KnowledgePlex will host an online chat with “the four winners of the 17th Maxwell Awards of Excellence to answer these questions and more. This online chat will provide details about what it takes to create and sustain a successful, innovative, and replicable homeless housing project.” To join the conference online click here. The following information is form KnwledgePlex.

Expert Chat: Housing for the Homeless: A Conversation with Winners of the 17th Annual Maxwell Awards

Thursday, April 10 at 2:00 p.m. ET
Organizations around the country are working to provide effective and permanent housing options for a variety of homeless populations. But what should housing for homeless youth and families, veterans, and the chronically homeless look like? What level of staffing and services are required, and does a Housing First approach work for each of these diverse populations?

In this Expert Chat, KnowledgePlex presents leaders from each of the four winners of the 17th Maxwell Awards of Excellence to answer these questions and more. This online chat will provide details about what it takes to create and sustain a successful, innovative, and replicable homeless housing project.

The four Maxwell Awards winners all serve different homeless populations: youth, veterans, families, and the chronically homeless. The projects are from rural and urban areas and vary in size and intensity of supportive services. Housing developers, case managers, program directors, and funders will all be able to gain knowledge from lessons learned by these four housing providers.

Created in 1988, the Fannie Mae Foundation’s Maxwell Awards program seeks to encourage and recognize the outstanding work of nonprofit organizations that develop and maintain affordable housing in urban, metropolitan, and rural communities across the country. The 2007 awards were the first to focus exclusively on homeless housing and were co-sponsored by Partnership to End Long Term Homelessness.

Panelists:

Sol Flores, executive director, La Casa Norte, Chicago, IL
William Hobson, executive director, Downtown Emergency Service Center, Seattle, WA
Mike Fieldman, executive director, Umpqua Community Action Network, Roseburg, OR
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Save the Date: The Alliance’s Annual Conference July 2008 will be held on July 28-30, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Capital Hill. More information coming soon.

For more information click here.

Pathways to Housing, the innovative Housing First technology pioneered by Dr. Sam Tsemberis and which has achieved housing stability and recovery for persons experiencing chronic homelessness, has been named an evidence-based practice by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The Pathways program was highlighted recently in a CBS News story.

To read the full online study which focuses on residential stability, consumer choice, cost and utilization click here. To read posts on this blog about Housing First click here.

The following is the abstract of the online study.

Housing First, a program developed by Pathways to Housing, Inc., is designed to end homelessness and support recovery for individuals who are homeless and have severe psychiatric disabilities and co-occurring substance use disorders. Pathways’ Housing First model is based on the belief that housing is a basic right and on a theoretical foundation that emphasizes consumer choice, psychiatric rehabilitation, and harm reduction. The program Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Ending Homelessness, Housing First, Pathways, Sam Tsemberis, SAMSHA

A recent study Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy indicates that inclusionary zoning does not reduce the number of homes built or drive up prices. As reported in the NY Times on march 29, 2008, “If there are jumps in prices, they are minimal.” The report said “there is no evidence” in the San Francisco area that inclusionary zoning affects “either the prices or production of single-family houses.” In suburban Boston, the policy “seems to have resulted in small decreases in production and slight increases in the prices of single-family houses.”

According to Vicki Been, the Furman Center’s director inclusionary zoning however does not “is not a panacea for a community’s affordable housing challenges.” Inclusionary zoning only creates a “modest number of units.”

To read the full report click here.

Once upon a time being 62 and older meant retirement. However, a recently, Shelter Partnership, Inc., a Los Angeles nonprofit, released the first-ever study of the region’s elderly homeless population, which it concluded was between 3,000 and 4,000 people. The study found that at least a third, and perhaps as many as half, of those people are chronically homeless; that more than two-thirds are male; and that 62 percent have a physical or mental disability. In addition, the study’s findings show that almost two-thirds of the elderly homeless population are receiving some income, either from Social Security or Supplemental Security Income. However, this income has not been sufficient to keep many of them housed. The study defined an elderly homeless person as 62 years of age or older. To read the full report click here.

Is this happening in NJ?

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