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The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) Third Annual National Summit for Jurisdictional Leaders in Washington DC last week. More than 250 state and local jurisdictional leaders, their representatives, “community champions”, and other business and community leaders partnered in over 325 10-Year Plans and in 53 State Interagency Councils gathered in Washington DC last week at the National Press Club.

The Council’s Home for Every American Awards celebrated political will, partnership, and innovation in ending chronic homelessness. Receiving the Council’s “Home for Every American Award County Leader” this year for inspiring, innovating, and investing through research, resources, and results on behalf of our homeless neighbors was awarded to County Executive Thomas DeGise of Hudson County. Pictured left to right are Phil Mangano of the Interagency Council on Homelessness, County Executive DeGise and Dan Altilio, President of the Hudson United Way.

This is a well deserved award because of the leadership provided by Mr. DeGise in the development of Keys to Ending Homelessness in Hudson County: Hudson County’s Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. Without his leadership and the dedicated and tireless efforts of his staff the plan would never have been developed. To read a copy of the plan click here.

The following is from the ICH web site.

Partnership between government and business, and investment in Hudson County’s residents have been hallmarks of the term of Hudson County, New Jersey County Executive Thomas DeGise, who first took office in 2002. In 2007, the County Executive devoted more than 20% of his State of the County address to the topic of ending chronic homelessness, noting: “If we look inside the numbers, we can gain an insight into how we might finally address this frustrating issue properly . . . our current, haphazard approach to dealing with chronic homelessness is shockingly expensive - and ineffective.”

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Tags: Ending Homelessness, Homeless Trust Funds, Interagency Council on Homelessness, Keys-to-Ending-Homelessness-in-Hudson-County:-Hudson-Co, Tom DeGise

The Leadership to End Homelessness Audio Conference on Housing Trust Funds will be held on Thursday, November 8, 2007 at 3pm ET. This could be very beneficial to those interested in trust funds including the proposed county-based Homeless Trust Fund.

Housing Trust Funds exist in all but a few states across the country and are an important resource for developing affordable housing. This audio conference will focus on the Housing Trust Fund in the District of Columbia, specifically how it has produced units for people experiencing homelessness.

Featured Speakers
 
Angie Rogers of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute will discuss the history of the DC Housing Trust Fund, explain the mechanics of how funds are distributed, and highlight specific priorities for homeless people. Ms. Rogers will also provide tips for community advocates on how to ensure their local trust fund is serving homeless people.

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On October 15, 2007 the New York Times published an editorial on the National Housing Trust Fund. Many if not all of the same arguments could be made in support of the proposed Homeless Trust Fund.

The full editorial is reprinted below:

A New Approach to Housing

The House took an important step toward easing the affordable housing crisis when it passed a bill that establishes a National Housing Trust Fund. A companion bill, which is expected to be introduced in the Senate soon, deserves to pass speedily into law.

The trust fund comes at a time when nearly half of the country’s lowest-income families are at risk of homelessness. These families often live doubled up with friends or relatives and must spend more than half of their pretax incomes on rent. They house themselves only by cutting back on food, clothing and medical care.

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Tags: Homeless Trust Funds, Housing-Trust-Fund, Supportive Housing

On September 18, 2007, the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders unanimously approved a resolution endorsing the Homeless Trust Fund. In the photo on the left are (seated, left to right) Freeholder Deputy Director Denise Coyle, Freeholder Director Robert Zaborowski and Freeholder Peter S. Palmer; (standing, left to right) Freeholder Rick Fontana and Freeholder Jack M. Ciattarelli.

They became the sixth county to endorse the Homeless Trust Fund. They join Hudson, Mercer, Passaic, Salem and Middlesex. In addition the New Jersey Association of Counties has also endorsed the Homeless Trust Fund.

Millie Gaupp, the Director of the Somerset County Department of Human Services said “We in Somerset County are hopeful that the recent passage of the Homeless Trust Fund resolution will help to move the legislation forward”.

To read the resolution click here. To find out more about the Homeless Trust Fund click here.

Why is your organization or county not on the list? To find out how to sign on click here or send an email [Email address: rbrown #AT# monarchhousing.org - replace #AT# with @ ].

To read the list of Frequently Asked Questions click here.

To see all who have signed up click here.

On Friday September 28, 2007, New Jersey Association of Counties (NJAC) Board of Directors passed a resolution endorsing the County-based Homeless Trust Funds. The resolution resolved that the “New Jersey Association of Counties urges the New Jersey State Legislature to adopt legislation enabling our 21 County Governments to establish, fund and administer Homeless Trust Funds.” Pictured on the right is Louis N. Magazzu, Cumberland County Freeholder and President of the New Jersey Association of Counties. NJAC joins among other supporters five counties - Hudson, Mercer, Passaic, Salem and Middlesex - that have endorsed the County-based Homeless Trust Funds as a key component of an effort to end homelessness. To see the full list of those who support this important legislation click here.

The New Jersey Association of Counties serves as an advocacy group for county governments and their taxpayers, promotes federal and state legislative initiatives that advance county interests, fosters cooperation and coordination among New Jersey’s 21 counties and aids county officials in providing efficient and effective service to their constituencies. To read the full resolution click here. To get more information on NJAC click here.To find out more about the Homeless Trust Fund click here .

This is both an excellent example of how county-based homeless trust funds could be change agent needed to help end homelessness in New jersey as well as a model that might be something that could work here.

After gaining national attention, a homeless reduction model in Miami is formalizing plans to expand throughout the country, reported The Miami Herald. The Community Partnership for the Homeless and the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust operate a sophisticated street outreach effort that uses computer databases to track homeless people, and offers housing units and wraparound social services to those persuaded to leave the streets. The Miami Model has been lauded for reducing the number of street homeless from 8,000 in 1993 to 1,683 in July. Representatives from more than 60 cities have come to Miami to examine the program, with San Antonio officials selecting it from among 35 cities visited. The Community Partnership for the Homeless just created a national committee to export the Miami Model to other cities struggling to reduce homelessness. 

Miami’s Community Partnership for the Homeless is Taking Model Program Nationwide 09/21/2007 | The Miami Herald (Florida)

This was first published in KnowledgePlex.

On May 18, 2007, the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders unanimously endorsed the Homeless Trust Fund. They became the fifth county in New Jersey to endorse the Homeless Trust Fund.

Pictured on the left is Freeholder Blanquita B. Valenti who led the successful effort to secure the endorsement of the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

“The Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders is proud to lend support to the Homeless Trust Fund initiative,” Freeholder Valenti said. “The Trust Fund would establish a source of public funds dedicated to ending homelessness. It would also put decision making at the local level, meaning the people who know best where the need is would be deciding how the funds are distributed.”

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