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Alliance Publishes Q&A with HUD Secretary Donovan
In the Alliance's latest Take Five! Q & A, Secretary Shaun
Donovan of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) shares his insights about the
state of homelessness in the country. In his
interview, he highlights the current economic
challenges that the country is facing, the response of
the Administration to the economy, and how his own
interest in public policy and public service arose.
Donovan states, "The people of this great nation do
care about their neighbors, including the least among
us." The Take Five! series highlights emerging
issues, new research, and personal stories from
experts and leaders in homelessness and housing
policy. Past
interviewees have included Missouri Senator Kit
Bond, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, and
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.
Hill Update
House Passes Homes for
Heroes Act Today
Today, June 16, the House is voted 417-2 to pass
H.R. 403, the Homes for Heroes Act of 2009. The
legislation would direct HUD to assist nonprofit
organizations in expanding the supply of housing for
veterans. The bill would authorize $200 million for a
new HUD program specifically to develop permanent
housing for low-income veterans. It would also
provide a floor of 20,000 vouchers for the HUD-VASH
program for homeless veterans. The legislation now
heads to the Senate.
House Appropriations Committee Approves
Commerce, Science, and Justice Spending
Bill
Last Tuesday, June 9, the full House Appropriations
Committee approved the fiscal year (FY) 2010
Commerce, Science, and Justice Appropriations Bill.
The legislation includes $100 million for Second
Chance Act programs, as requested by President
Obama. This represents a $75 million increase over
FY 2009, but $14 million less than the Commerce,
Science, and Justice Appropriations Subcommittee
requested. The legislation also included $12 million
for the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment Program and
$18
million for transitional housing grants for victims of
domestic violence. The full House is expected to vote
on the Commerce, Science, and Justice
Appropriations bill today.
Last Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee
also released FY 2010 subcommittee allocations,
which will determine how much funding each
subcommittee has under its jurisdiction. Click here to view the allocations. The
Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development
Subcommittee received $68.8 billion in discretionary
budget authority, an increase of 25 percent over FY
2009. House leaders hope to pass all 12
appropriations bills by the end of July.
Senate T-HUD Appropriations Committee
Holds Hearing
Last Thursday, June 11, the Senate Transportation,
Housing, and Urban Development (T-HUD)
Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing on FY
2010 budget request for HUD. HUD Secretary Shaun
Donovan testified. Among other topics, he discussed
Section 8 voucher program, the Veterans' Affairs
Supportive Housing (VASH) program, and the
passage of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and
Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, which
reauthorizes McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
Programs. Click here to watch
a webcast of the hearing. Senate Appropriations
subcommittees are expected to begin marking up
their appropriations bills in the coming weeks.
Márquez Approved by Committee for
Assistant Secretary at HUD
Last Wednesday, June 10, the Senate Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs approved
President Obama's nominee for Assistant Secretary
for Community Planning and Development (CPD) at
HUD, Mercedes Márquez. CPD oversees most of
HUD's homeless programs. No date has been set yet
for a confirmation vote by the full Senate. Since 2004,
Ms. Márquez has served as General Manager for the
City of Los Angeles Housing Department.
New Hotel Block Added for Conference
The Alliance's annual National Conference on Ending
Homelessness will be held July 29-31 at the
Renaissance Washington, DC Hotel. The conference
hotel no longer has sleeping room availability over the
entire length of the conference. The Alliance has a
room block at a nearby hotel, the Washington Plaza, at
a special rate of $139 (+ tax) a night. For further details
on how to book your reservations by the cutoff date of
June 29, please visit the hotel section of the
conference website.
Among other featured content, the conference will
include a workshop entitled "Using Research to Drive
Local Policy." Increasingly, local governments are
using research to design and redesign their local
homelessness policies. This workshop will examine
how research, including cost studies, efficiency
studies and the like, are being used to revamp efforts
in ending homelessness. Featured speakers include
Arturo Bendixon, Iain De Jong, and Maura McCauley.
Please note that if you need to cancel your
registrations for any reason, all conference
cancellations must be made in writing and
received on or prior to June 22. A
$100 processing fee
will be deducted for cancellations received
after June 22 and before July 24, at which
point no part of the registration fee will be deducted.
NHC, NLIHC Release New ARRA Resources
The National Housing Conference (NHC) and the
National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) have
recently released new documents to help
communities use resources from the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). NHC recently
published an analysis of
housing-related funding opportunities in ARRA.
This document divides ARRA programs into
categories based on who will receive the funds. NHC
has also created an Executive Summary of this
document. In addition, NLIHC has created
a "Recovery Act Clearinghouse" with
numerous resources related to ARRA programs,
including HPRP, the Neighborhood Stabilization
Program, Community Development Block Grants, and
several other ARRA programs. Under each program
are several resources that may be helpful to providers,
public officials, and other key stakeholders.
HUD Releases Minor Updates to HPRP Notice
Last Tuesday, June 9, HUD released a correction to
the HPRP notice, which was originally released in
March, clarifying and correcting six issues from the
original release. Among other changes, the updated
Notice provides a correction stating that housing
relocation and stabilization services may only be
provided to any program participant for up to 18
months. Visit the Homelessness
Resource Exchange for more information. The
correction is entitled "Notice of Corrections to the
Notice of Allocations, Applications, Application
Procedures, and Requirements for Homeless
Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Programs (HPRP)
Grantees under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009."
Street Soccer USA to Host 2009 Soccer Cup
This summer, Street Soccer USA (SSUSA) will host its
annual Street Soccer USA Cup on July 31 to August 2
at the Washington Kastles World Tennis Team
Stadium in Washington, D.C. The SSUSA Cup 2009
will occur the same week as the Alliance's Annual
Conference and will take place directly across the
street from the conference venue, the Renaissance
Hotel. This national event will feature 16 teams from
across the country and will culminate in the selection
of the U.S. National Team to represent the U.S. at the
56 Nation Homeless World Cup in Milan, Italy in
September. SSUSA is a non-profit organization that
works with homeless services providers to use the
power of sports to enhance existing services and to
pioneer new opportunities connecting homeless
youth and adults.
Admission is free. To register to volunteer or to
attend, click here. For further
information, please contact Jeremy M. Goldberg, COO
of Street Soccer USA, at jeremy@streetsoccerusa.org
or 202-577-6322.
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