Blog: Homelessness Ends Here

Welcome to our second weekly summary of timely, breaking news analysis and observations from the homelessness blog world. We’ve gathered here highlights from various blogs and e-newsletters that we follow, which we thought might be of interest to those in our network. Let us know in the comments section if we missed any important news this week – or if you have any favorite sources (secret or otherwise) you think we should be following – we’d love to hear from you!

And now for this week’s highlights…

• A significant leadership gap has been filled in Washington, where Barbara Poppe, former head of the Community Shelter Board in Columbus, Ohio was introduced on Monday as the new the new Executive Director of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness. Ms. Poppe will take over daily management from Acting Executive Director, Pete Dougherty. In that role, she will spearhead the Council's efforts to improve coordination across the federal government; assist state and local governments, advocates, service providers, and consumers; and provide technical assistance for preventing and ending homelessness.
• In its first full week of operation, the Huffington Post’s new Homelessness Impact Blog featured a variety of commentary from advocates for the homeless, including those experiencing homelessness themselves. Two of the most relevant commentaries came from the leaders of Funders Together’s two national implementing partners, the Corporation for Supportive Housing and the National Alliance to End Homelessness. In “Supportive Housing can end Institutionalization and Homelessness,” CSH President and CEO Deborah DeSantis weighs in on the implications of a recent ruling handed down by federal court in New York “that individuals with mental illness should have access to housing and services that enable them to thrive in the communities where they live.” In “The Homelessness Connection in Health Care,” Alliance President Nan Roman describes the cyclical and devastating relationship between homelessness and health care: "poor health can lead to homelessness, and homelessness can aggravate poor health. And both can be a burden on our health care system."
• Alliance Online News, the weekly e-news from the National Alliance to End Homelessness featured updates on the Zero Tolerance for Veterans Homelessness Act of 2009 and the Reduce Emergency Department Utilization through Coordination and Empowerment (REDUCE) Act . According to a summary paper developed by CSH and the Alliance, the REDUCE Act, S. 1781, would “create a demonstration program that would allow service providers to reimburse Medicaid for coordinated care management and community support services. The program targets Medicaid beneficiaries with complex medical and behavior health conditions who frequently rely on emergency health care services.”
• Also making the rounds this week were conversations regarding legislation to capitalize the National Housing Trust Fund: Both Barney Frank and Senator Jack Reed have introduced bills to use TARP money to provide an initial capitalization of the Trust Fund. Those interested in learning more about this can contact Jordan Press from the Corporation for Supportive Housing.
• And on the new InforUmUSA blog – billing itself as a “nationwide dialogue about housing, poverty and homelessness” – guest blogger David Henderson talks about the dangers of believing that “personal intuition and observation supersedes data analysis and statistical significance” in his post, “Listen to the Data.”

Twitter Highlights

Funders Together has also been hard at work in Twitter-land, and we wanted to pass along some of our most interesting posts from the past week.  We’re well aware that Twitter isn’t for everyone – but if you like what you see below, we’re always welcoming new followers! To sign up to get these in real time, simply follow us @Funderstogether.

• RT @OpenSociety: How US health-care reform could keep people out of prison http://bit.ly/20G3N6
• CSH President Deb DeSantis on Huff Post: "Supportive Housing can end Institutionalization and Homelessness": http://bit.ly/Sr5YM
• A wonderful story, Logan Place in Portland, Maine: "A Clean, Well-lighted place" from Down East magazine: http://bit.ly/ItZxV
• Robert Wood Johnson Fdn, Pew Charitable Trusts Launch National Initiative to Advance Policies That Promote Health: http://bit.ly/3I4diH
• NY TImes Ed: "Justice for the Mentally Disabled." Better natl standards re: housing options for the mentally disabled: http://bit.ly/15ji8m
• Congrats to Barb Poppe, for her new appointment to lead US Interagency Council on Homelessness: http://bit.ly/yXFvQ
• RT @PSCtweets: Don't leave out low-income renters, Partnership for Strong Cmty's Randall tells Senate Banking Cmte.: http://bit.ly/3mI3of
• RT @bhmagazine: NY supportive housing service responds to judge's ruling in New York, NY re: ADA compliance: http://bit.ly/t2wnY
• HUD Secy Shaun Donovan highlights Funders Together in speech at 2009 Fall Conference for Community Foundations: http://bit.ly/4xc46F
• RT @pivot_housing: Homelessness costs taxpayers nearly $1 billion a year, far more than providing supportive housing: http://bit.ly/aM5f3
• REDUCE Act responds to "the economic consequences of frequent users of emergency services": http://bit.ly/2mmc0F
• REDUCE Act (S. 1781) introduced to address Emergency Room overuse, improve quality of care, and save taxpayers' money: http://bit.ly/2mmc0F
• RT @mottfoundation: Mott grants CBPP $600,000 for the State Fiscal and Low-Income Initiatives Project http://bit.ly/3VEArI
• RT @EnterpriseNow: RT @povertynews Affordable-housing advocates see opportunity for policy change amid foreclosure crisis: http://ow.ly/v4wO
• Supportive housing in the Southeast (Charlotte, NC). A very good sign: http://bit.ly/2R6OrC
• The Homelessness Connection In Health Care: "If we want to tackle health care reform... we must tackle homelessness." http://bit.ly/TuJrH