National Alliance to End Homelessness Responds to the Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness

“We welcome this first-ever, comprehensive federal commitment to end homelessness. The plan has a timeframe and clear, measurable national goals; these will help to drive an organized and committed federal response,” said Nan Roman, President of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

<...>

What we need now is action,” said Roman. “Communities that are able to show real progress are those that have not only created a plan, but harnessed the political will and public support necessary to commit real resources to implementation. These communities now have a federal partner to stand alongside local stakeholders in the effort to prevent and end homelessness. Together, we can all turn this plan into real action.”

Integrating services a key to homelessness plan

By ILEANA MORALES, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Better coordination among the many agencies that try to help homeless people find employment and health care as well as stable places to live is a central component for reaching the Obama administration's ambitious goal of ultimately ending homelessness.

A proposal announced Tuesday at the White House by Cabinet officers, called "Opening Doors," suggests a major shift in the federal approach to homelessness. The effort would be driven mainly by integration of support services and applying state and local models at the federal level, according to the federal Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The effort calls for ending chronic homelessness — where people cycle through shelters and hospitals — and homelessness among military veterans in five years, and for ending homelessness among families and children by 2020. The plan aims to eventually end all types of homelessness.

Funding for the effort includes some of the $2 billion in stimulus money allocated last year to the 19 federal agencies in the council. The money, used for a variety of services related to the homeless, is in addition to $3.79 billion budgeted for such services in 2010.

The Obama administration is seeking $4.2 billion for the council's agencies in the 2011 fiscal year, including money specific to the new plan's initiatives, said Jason Kravitz, a council spokesman.

more