Two Birds With One Stone?: Collaborations to reduce homelessness AND prevent child welfare involvement Homelessness is not only traumatic and life-altering the moment a family experiences it; it can also have long-lasting impact on a family’s ability to stay together and keep their children out of foster care. Homelessness and housing instability often coincide with unnecessary foster care involvement and prolonged family separation for children.
This meeting will explore innovative collaborations, highlighting how to access and utilize funding resources that both prevent and end homelessness AND reunify families with their children. Discussion will include information on how to apply for FUP* as well as other potential funding sources. In addition, this session will highlight current models of collaboration between local departments of social services and homeless service providers.
*FUP (the Family Unification Program) is a housing subsidy program requiring collaboration between housing authorities, child welfare agencies, and homeless and social service providers for arranging housing to prevent or end foster care nvolvement of children separated from parents because of inadequate housing. FUP also aims to provide housing for youth without adequate resources who are aging out of foster care.
Faith Communities and Affordable Housing DevelopmentThis session will spotlight the critical role of faith communities in local and state efforts to prevent and end homelessness. It will highlight the work of Enterprise Community Partners in supporting faith communities to get involved in affordable housing development. Session participants will have the opportunity to share current faith-based initiatives including affordable housing development, involvement in the development and implementation of ten year plans to prevent and end homelessness, coordination and collaboration on housing and service delivery, and advocacy for solutions to homelessness in Virginia. The group will brainstorm new and creative methods for the faith community to continue to lead the charge to prevent and end homelessness in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Show Me The Money: Examining and Implementing Small Town and Rural StrategiesThis session will increase participant knowledge on how to attract resources to prevent and end homelessness in small towns and rural communities. Participants will then use the information presented and discussed to craft their own action plans for how to increase resources in their own communities, including HUD Continuum of Care dollars.
Virginia’s small towns and rural communities have a unique set of challenges in adequately addressing the problem of homelessness and housing instability. This session will explore these common obstacles and identify practical steps that communities can take to overcome these challenges. Participants will share and learn about small town and rural community strategies and initiatives currently underway in Virginia and from across the country that work.
Attendees are encouraged - but not required - to attend with a group of colleagues from their communities to facilitate action planning. This meeting will be divided into two parts - one held in the morning and one held in the afternoon. The second part of this meeting will include last minute tips on improving your Continuum of Care application, strategies to improve the point in time count, and ideas for how to begin planning to improve next year’s Continuum of Care application. It will feature evaluation tools to improve your performance as a small Continuum of Care.
Ladders4Youth : Housing options for youth aging out of foster care Of all the states in the nation, Virginia has the highest percentage of youth who “age out” of foster care without a permanent family. Youth who age out of foster care without a permanent family often do not access the services and supports they need to thrive, to successfully transition to adulthood, and to live stable and safe lives in affordable and stable permanent housing. The fact that over one fifth of youth who age out of foster care will experience homelessness at some time after age 18 brought FACES of Virginia, the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, and the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness together to tackle this problem.
“Ladders4Youth” is a statewide initiative to increase housing opportunities for youth aging out of foster care. This session will convene those interested in adopting housing models in their own communities for youth aging out of foster care. It will profile best practices from other communities and other states. Be ready to plan for how you can make housing for youth a priority in your community.
Building Community and Political Will Where there is a will, there’s a way. It is critical to have both the support of the larger community and the support of elected officials to truly prevent and end homelessness. We know that it is often difficult to obtain this needed support. This session will address strategies to build community and political will when it does not exist as well as how to sustain community and political will once it is in place. It will highlight the work conducted in the State of Utah in rural areas to garner the support of elected officials which resulted in new funds for homeless prevention and assistance. The session will include discussion of common challenges to building community and political will and ideas to overcome these obstacles.
The Secret To Accessing Housing Subsidies: Partnerships between redevelopment and housing authorities, homeless services programs, and other service agenciesA partnership between a redevelopment and housing authority (RHA) and a homeless services agency can and should be a mutually beneficial relationship. RHAs have expertise in providing rental assistance subsidies, and homeless services agencies can effectively deliver the services needed to help families and individuals experiencing and at risk of homelessness access and remain in stable housing.
This session will profile and recommend creative partnerships between RHAs and services agencies. It will help participants understand the rules and regulations governing the use of housing subsidies and how service agencies can help RHAs keep tenants stably housed.
Where the Two Can Meet: Adding and Transitioning to Rapid Re-Housing Many emergency shelter and transitional housing programs are struggling to understand what the focus on rapid re-housing means for their current programs and services. It turns out that rapid re-housing strategies can be combined with current programs and services to create better outcomes for clients and increased competitiveness for new and current funds, including McKinney-Vento Continuum of Care dollars. This session will provide concrete tools for agencies and / or community planners to (1) transition their emergency shelter and / or transitional housing programs to rapid re-housing, and/or (2) incorporate or refine rapid re-housing strategies within current programs. Emergency shelter / transitional housing and rapid re-housing are not mutually exclusive!; you can retain the best qualities of your current programs while including new strategies that will increase access to permanent affordable housing for your clients.
Emergency shelter / transitional housing and rapid re-housing are not mutually exclusive!; you can retain the best qualities of your current programs while including new strategies that will increase access to permanent affordable housing for your clients.
Get Ready to Apply: New resources for housing subsidies and for veterans
There are numerous new funding opportunities at the federal level that will become available very soon. The more you know now and the more you prepare, the more likely you will be to access these funds. There is a proposal to set-aside section 8 housing choice vouchers for those experiencing chronic homelessness and for families experiencing homelessness. In addition, there is tremendous advocacy to fund the National Housing Trust Fund which would provide funds to build, rehabilitate, preserve, and operate affordable housing.
The commitment to end veteran homelessness in five years on the part of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) has resulted in an influx of new VA funds and programs for homeless prevention and assistance. The DVA’s official technical assistance provider will outline these new programs and resources, the eligible activities, and how to be better prepared and therefore more competitive for these funds. This session will include a dialogue on how to collaborate with local VAs as well as best practices in serving veterans.
A Public-Private Partnership Lessons Learned: The Dragas Homeless Children’s Initiative in South Hampton RoadsIn 2008, the George and Grace Dragas Family Foundation established the $1.5 million Dragas Foundation Homeless Children’s Initiative, one of the largest private grants for ending homelessness ever given in Virginia. It was made with the cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk and Virginia Beach for the following purposes: to ensure a better future for children who experience homelessness; to provide funding to the cities to enhance programs and services - including rapid re-housing, case management, and children’s services - in order to positively impact the self-sustainability/stability of families experiencing homelessness; to improve children’s educational achievement; to provide assistance so that children will have higher potential for economic improvement and well-being as they enter adulthood; to provide focus and funding for a regional approach to programs for families experiencing homelessness; and to provide an impetus for sustainability of innovative, private funding.
This initiative provides a case study on both outcomes-focused rapid re-housing and children’s services. The panel will highlight the outcomes of this initiative, program sustainability, critical program components, and lessons learned.
High Performing CommunitiesIs your Continuum of Care (CoC) a high performing community? What does it mean to be a high performing community? What are the benefits of becoming a high performing community? The 2011 Continuum of Care, as reauthorized by the HEARTH Act (Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing), will challenge communities to be high performers. “High performing communities” must meet specific outcomes and will have increased flexibility with CoC dollars if these specific outcomes are met. This session will include a dialogue on what it means to be a "high performing community" beyond the HEARTH Act. It will also provide performance management tools to assist CoCs and communities to evaluate and improve their community-wide efforts.
Life After HPRP: Sustaining and Expanding Rapid Re-Housing Programs
The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) created the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) which provided a large infusion of funds - $25 million - to 13 local governments and the Commonwealth of Virginia to implement homeless prevention and rapid re-housing programs. For many communities, these funds were used to begin programs called for by local ten year plans to end homelessness. Federal law requires that the funds must be expended by September 2012; many communities will have expended their funds way before that date.
What happens after HPRP runs out? Do you have a plan for sustaining rapid re-housing? What did we learn from HPRP that will guide future policy decisions? Join this session for an open conversation on these questions and on community plans for sustaining and increasing rapid re-housing (whether or not it is currently funded by HPRP).