National Alliance to End Homelessness

Congressional Briefing | March 24, 2010

Files: XCL | 40 KB | 1 page PDF | 380 KB | 2 pages

On March 23, the Alliance and the Corporation for Supportive Housing co-hosted a congressional briefing, "Policy Solutions to Chronic Homelessness." Staff from 25 Congressional offices and 5 Administration agencies were in attendance. Panelists discussed ways in which their communities were making progress in ending homelessness and the role of federal resources in that progress. Panelists included:

• Nan Roman, President and CEO, National Alliance to End Homelessness, Washington, DC
• Paul Lambros, Executive Director, Plymouth Housing Group, Seattle, WA
• Thomas Gregory, Director of Supportive Housing, Office of City Manager, Worcester, MA
• Katrina Van Valkenburgh, Director, CSH Illinois and Indiana Program, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Chicago, IL
• Phillip Colbert, Resident, Pathways to Housing DC, Washington, DC

Below are the materials from the briefing.

A new policy brief, Chronic Homelessness: Policy Solutions, was released at the briefing. An Interactive Tool on the cost savings of permanent supportive housing was also released in conjunction with the brief.

Click here to read the testimony of Mr. Colbert, a current resident of Pathways to Housing DC's permanent supportive housing program.

The policy priorities presented at the briefing included:

• Provide $2.4 Billion for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants in FY 2011
• Authorize the Services for Ending Long-Term Homelessness Act (SELHA), S. 1523/HR 3636
• Provide $120 million in FY 2011 for SAMHSA homeless services programs
• Fund the Administration’s Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration in FY 2011
• Increase access to affordable housing for extremely low-income families by:
  • Funding 200,000 new Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers in FY 2011
  • Authorizing a $1 billion capitalization of the National Housing Trust Fund this year
• Provide $75 million in FY 2011 for the HUD-VA Supportive Housing program