Press Room

As hints of spring raise spirits, hints of progress in pushing homelessness out of Cape Cod’s dictionary are popping up all over.

Early returns from St. Louis' every-other-year census of the homeless found no major change in the number of people who don't have a permanent place to stay. That the total number remained essentially the same is disappointing because it comes at a time in which the city has moved many homeless to permanent housing. Community service providers believe those now in housing have simply been replaced on the street by the newly homeless.

To help raise awareness about chronic homelessness, a group of 35 Maine women are taking to the airwaves. They want to let Mainers know that chronic homelessness is something that can be fixed.

When city officials announced recently that a new census had shown fewer homeless people on Fort Worth streets, it sounded like good news on several fronts: good for homeless folks and maybe also for the city, which last year put in place an ambitious 10-year plan to end homelessness here.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Friday to initiate construction of a $42 million, green affordable housing project at 625 West 140th Street in West Harlem. The 114-unit, 110,000 square-foot Fortune Academy Complex will bring permanent housing and services for formerly incarcerated men and women, slated to be ready for occupancy in mid-2010.

As the economic crisis deepens and communities across the U.S. report increases in homelessness, a $410 billion bill introduced today to wrap up 2009 federal spending commitments demonstrates Congress' commitment to ending homelessness. The 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act will fund most federal programs, including housing and homeless assistance programs for the fiscal year that ends October 1, 2009.

Three housing programs, including one in Guilford County that has worked with 79 chronically homeless residents, will run out of state funding this year.

Hundreds of thousands of homeless individuals and families will find a stable home and be offered critically needed services as a result of nearly $1.6 billion in homeless assistance announced by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.

The Toledo-Lucas County Continuum of Care has been awarded more than $3.3 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for homeless assistance.

Transitional housing money allocated to Northwest Arkansas should help combat the increasing number of women and children in the homeless population, according to local leaders.