EVERETT, WASHINGTON. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano joined U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, and Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson in addressing nearly 100 civic leaders and citizens, including residents of the nearby Everett Gospel Mission at a rally last week to unveil the Snohomish County 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness at Everett Station.

Pictured here from left to right are Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon; Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson; Director Mangano; and Christina Brandt, VP for Operations for Volunteers of America of Western Washington and Chair of the Snohomish County Homeless Policy Consortium.

The County's plan, Everyone At Home Now, was developed over a two-year period by the Snohomish County Homeless Policy Task Force and will now move to implementation through an Oversight Committee to be co-chaired by County Executive Reardon. The Plan calls for 2500 units of permanent supportive housing, highlights the importance of discharge planning in preventing homelessness, and includes special focus on the needs of homeless youth and homeless veterans.

In his remarks, Director Mangano acknowledged Senator Murray's work in Washington with other Senators to ensure that homelessness, especially among veterans, is addressed in Congress. In her remarks Senator Murray had noted that homelessness was one of the most important things Snohomish County could focus on. Director Mangano praised County Executive Reardon for a "commitment to transparent performance measures and public accountability that makes him the ideal person to monitor the results and outcomes of your efforts."

Observing that the work of the Council in Washington involves 20 federal agencies partnered together making their resources more available and accessible to homeless people, Director Mangano noted other federal partners present including: HUD Regional Director John Meyers, Deputy Director Martha Dilts, along with Jack Peters, and Pamela Negri; HHS Deputy Director Bobby Mowrey; SSA Deputy Director Dan Farrell; and USICH Regional Coordinator Paul Carlson.

Discussing the County's 10-Year Plan, Director Mangano praised the expansive and inclusive membership of the Oversight Committee that will lead implementation of the plan and encouraged the community to concentrate available resources to create visible change. " Let these outcomes attract further investment," he advised.

County Executive Reardon spoke of his own experience as a child in being at risk of homelessness and noted that the $3 million in federal homelessness funds received by the County each year leverages an additional $6 million in local government funds and private donations.

Volunteers of America of Western Washington Vice President Christina Brandt, who led the planning effort, described the Everett Station rally " as a celebration of getting here and a commitment to the vision. Everyone will leave here believing in the cause."

THURSTON COUNTY, WASHINGTON. Less than a week after joining Snohomish County officials at the unveiling of their 10-Year Plan, Director Mangano returned to Washington State to speak at the unveiling of the Thurston County 10- Year Plan which aims to reduce homelessness in that county and its cities, including the state capital city of Olympia, by 50% by July 2015. Olympia is the 33rd state capital to commit to the 10-year planning process. The Plan was developed through the Thurston County HOME Consortium and led by County Commissioner Cathy Wolfe, Deputy Sheriff and Tumwater City Council member Neil McClanahan, and Thurston County Public Housing Authority Executive Director Chris Lowell. Even while completing development of the official plan, community leaders began work on a number of projects including the Devoe Street Shelter Project that transformed a ramshackle shelter into 50 units of permanent supportive housing, and the Homeless Backpack Outreach project, a joint effort of law enforcement and the local PATH- funded outreach program to engage long term homeless individuals "camping" in the woods.

Director Mangano took note of the presence of officials at every level and branch of government including State Representive Mark Miloscia, who sponsored the Homeless Housing and Assistance Act which is providing new state resources for 10-year planning efforts, housing, and services; Thurston County Commissioners Bob Macleod, Cathy Wolfe and Diane Oberquell; Lacey City Council Mayor Virgil Clarkson and City Council Member Nancy Peterson; Olympia City Council Members TJ Johnson and Jeff Kingsbury; Tenino Mayor Ken Jones; Tumwater City Council Member Neil McClanahan; Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham; and from the federal government, Thomas Pearson from the U.S. Department of Labor.

"And isn't this the way it should be?" asked Director Mangano. "Every level of government partnered together -federal, state, county, city - to bring an end to the national disgrace of homelessness. No jurisdictional boundaries. No 'branch of government' barriers."

The day-long Dream the Dream Forum offered county and state officials, civic leaders, and community residents an opportunity to participate in discussions regarding implementation of the Plan including its call for 300 units of permanent supportive housing. After hearing opening remarks from Director Mangano, participants joined in a series of breakout groups designed to foster creative thinking in overcoming program barriers and more non-traditional partnerships and linkages. The breakout groups covered topics including homeless and high risk youth, employment solutions for the homeless, obtaining appropriate housing and services for offenders, and innovative ways to house veterans.

Pictured here from left to right are Thurston County Commissioner Bob Macleod, Olympia City Council Member Jeff Kingsbury, Olympia City Council Member TJ Johnson, Tumwater City Council Member Neil McClanahan, Thurston County Commissioner Cathy Wolfe, Executive Director Mangano, Washington State Representative Mark Miloscia, Lacey Mayor Virgil Clarkson, Lacey City Council Member Nancy Peterson, Tenino Mayor Ken Jones, Thurston County Commissioner Diane Oberquell.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA. Saying he had the "somber responsibility of reporting good news on homelessness," United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano joined San Francisco Mayor and Task Force Chair Gavin Newsom and other Mayors of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Hunger and Homelessness Task Force to report on outcomes from the National Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness and to continue the rapid dissemination of information on innovations that are achieving results.

Director Mangano reported that cities that have engaged in the 10-year planning process are beginning to see positive outcomes in their communities and on their streets including:

• Miami's Mayor Diaz reporting a 30% decrease in people on the streets
• Philadelphia reporting more than a 60% decrease
• Wake/ Durham County, North Carolina reporting a 15% reduction
• New York a 13% reduction
• Dallas a 26% reduction
• Denver an 11% reduction
• Portland a 20% reduction
• San Francisco a 28% reduction in homelessness

Director Mangano and Task Force Chair Newsom agreed that these results affirm the importance of the partnership between the Council and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which began in 2003 with an agreement to work together "in the spirit of partnership, not partisanship; planning, not posturing; and solving, not managing" to end chronic homelessness, which has its most visible manifestation on the streets of the nation's cities. 10-year planning processes are now underway in 222 jurisdictions including the nation's largest cities and some of its smallest.

A valuable part of the partnership between the Council and the U.S. Conference of Mayors are the opportunities presented for discussion among these jurisdictional leaders and the exchange of ideas on new approaches and innovations. During the Task Force meeting, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman raised an issue that has been vexing his city's efforts to end chronic homelessness, namely homeless people who seem to refuse all offers of assistance, a not uncommon challenge in cities around the nation. "I want my city to embrace homeless people, help them get the services they need, not arrest them," the Mayor said. His substantive comments resonated with his fellow Mayors and led to discussions about city experiences in responding to this population.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA. The U.S. Conference of Mayors Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness meeting offered an opportunity for San Francisco Mayor and Task Force Chair Gavin Newsom, Gastonia, NC Mayor Jennifer Stultz, and Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum to highlight for their colleagues some of the innovations in their 10-Year Plan efforts that are achieving results in preventing and ending homelessness. Mayor Newsom presented a video on San Francisco's Project Homeless Connect which, with the Council's encouragement, is being replicated in numerous cities around the nation including the first ever National Homeless Connect Day last December 8. San Francisco's next Project Homeless Connect is scheduled for June 9; St. Paul, MN on June 19; Portland, OR on July 11; and Norman, OK on July 24.

Santa Barbara City and County leaders joined together last year to begin developing a 10-Year Plan after a brief study revealed $15.6 million in annual costs associated with homelessness through incarcerations, psychiatric hospital admissions, shelter operations, detoxification services, and emergency room visits. Mayor Blum championed the planning effort to "redesign our systems of care so that people no longer fall through the cracks, so that people in our community who need help can access that help." One outcome arising out of the community's focus on persons experiencing chronic homelessness is a "restorative policing partnership". Under the initiative, local law enforcement, homeless shelters, the Mental Health Department, the District Attorney and Public Defender Offices, and Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital have trained together to engage homeless persons and facilitate access to services and treatment.

Gastonia, NC Mayor Jennie Shultz first created a Task Force on Homelessness in 2000. She has been a supporter of community policing efforts that help to create solutions to homelessness. When the City looked at the law enforcement costs for three local homeless persons over seven years, they learned the cost had exceeded $55,000. The Gastonia Police Department, downtown merchants, and other city offices have collaborated to identify and address critical gaps in services for the homeless. In one case city officials sought and obtained a special grant to pay for substance abuse treatment for eight homeless persons living on downtown streets after police officers learned from talking with them that they were willing to enter treatment.

The Council encourages communities engaged in 10-year planning processes to "commit legitimate larceny" by replicating practices developed in other communities that are having the desired results of preventing and ending homelessness. The Council recently recognized innovations in ideas and practices by 23 individuals and programs with the inaugural A Home for Every American Award at the National Summit for Jurisdictional Leaders. Each week the enews will provide an in-depth look at one of the award winners. (see related story). The Council's website, www.usich.gov, has a special Innovations section and also is another source of information about The National Summit.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA. The visibility given to homelessness issues at the U.S. Conference of Mayors by the Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness meeting (see related story) continued in the farewell remarks of USCM outgoing President and Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill and with adoption of two new policy resolutions by the Conference on Monday recommended by the USCM Housing and Community Development Standing Committee.

One of those resolutions, Endorsing Innovative Policies to Successfully End Chronic Homelessness Across the Nation, introduced by Mayors Newsom (San Francisco), Daley (Chicago), O'Malley (Baltimore), Hickenlooper (Denver), and Gonzales (San Jose) affirms the Conference of Mayors' commitment to end chronic homelessness and the value of the Council's work. In the resolution, the Mayors also urge Congress to support the President's proposed 7.5% funding increase in targeted homeless assistance programs and to take action on other initiatives including new resources for permanent supportive housing and 10-Year Plan implementation efforts to include a new innovative grants program, and to establish a Congressional Caucus on Homelessness.

The second resolution, Improving Homelessness Programs and Continuum of Care, calls on Congress to provide more flexibility in the Continuum of Care competition process to help communities combat homelessness including streamlining the application process, simplifying the match requirements, making prevention an eligible activity, and opposing any net funding reductions from program consolidation.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Mangano, invited to speak at the Housing and Community Development Standing Committee meeting, discussed the progress of the National Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness including reports of reductions in street and other homelessness by cities engaged in the 10-year planning process (see related story). U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Acting Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations L. Carter Cornick also addressed the Committee regarding resolutions under consideration.

In her farewell remarks, outgoing USCM President Beverly O'Neill, whose own community is developing a 10-Year Plan, echoed many of the themes that underpin the Council's partnership with mayors: that mayors are in the enviable position to provide leadership, hope and inspiration to make positive changes in their communities, choosing partnership over partisanship, and action, not posturing.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA. The New Cities Project brought together Mayors and senior city officials from 28 cities to Las Vegas June 1-2 in advance of the Annual Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors with the opportunity for an in-depth discussion of innovations in economic development, energy policy, and ending homelessness. Begun in 2005 by Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz in collaboration with the Madison-based Center on Wisconsin (COWS), the New Cities Project aims to change the perception of cities as sources of America's economic and social problems and instead recognizes cities as laboratories of innovation. The New Cities Project provides a forum for mayors to identify innovative solutions that put their cities on the "high road"-a path to prosperity, inclusiveness, environmental responsibility, sound management, and democratic accountability.

At the June meeting, the New Cities Project attendees heard and discussed three presentations on ending homelessness from National Alliance to End Homelessness President Nan Roman, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator John O'Brien, and San Francisco Department of Human Services Director Trent Rohrer.

In her presentation, Ending Homelessness in Our Cities, Ms. Roman discussed reasons for homelessness; the human costs of homelessness and costs to public service systems; what we have been doing in the past - emphasis on shelters and transitional housing, too little focus on permanent housing: and what needs to happen-identifying key strategies, implementing them, and ensuring that solutions are brought to scale.

"When we talk about ending homelessness, what we are really talking about is doing a much smarter, more effective, more efficient job of delivering assistance. We can - and must - reallocate resources in order to get better outcomes."

Mr. O'Brien's presentation, Jurisdictional Leadership in Ending Chronic Homelessness, focused on the partnership the Council has developed with jurisdictional leaders across the country, and in particular the 222 mayors and county executives who have committed to 10-Year Plans. Mr. O'Brien discussed the themes outlined in the Council's publication, Good . . . to Better . . . to Great: Innovations in 10-Year Plans to End Chronic Homelessness in Your Community, an important technical assistance tool for communities in their 10-year planning efforts that is available on the Council's website, www.usich.gov. There are ten elements of great plans involving political will, a business approach, and partnership demonstrated by broad-based stakeholder participation and resources.

• Great plans are data driven.
• Great plans are configured to achieve results by incorporating the "Killer B's" --business principles, baselines, benchmarks, best practices, and budget.
• Great plans incorporate proven, evidence-based practices that deliver results such as permanent supportive housing, Housing First, Assertive Community Treatment Teams, discharge planning, and Project Homeless Connect.
• Great plans include a local cost-benefit analysis to reveal the hidden costs of chronic homelessness and identify savings opportunities.
• Great plans maintain momentum by including a schedule to monitor, review, and update the strategy on a regular basis.

Mr. Rohrer's presentation on San Francisco's Strategy to End Chronic Homelessness, included a discussion of the political environment in which the Care Not Cash program was approved by the voters and the leadership of Mayor Gavin Newsom, who made homelessness the top issue in his mayoral bid and then appointed a high profile chairperson, Angela Alioto, to develop the city's 10-Year Plan. The core strategies of the city's plan are: Client Engagement, Supportive Housing, and Prevention to "turn off the spigot." Implementation efforts for each of these strategies were described and Mr. Rohrer concluded his remarks by noting that street homelessness in San Francisco has been reduced by 41% between 2002-2005.

More information about all of these presentations can be found on The New Cities Project website.

At the recent National Summit for Jurisdictional Leaders: Moving from Good to Better to Great in Sustaining 10-Year Plans to End Chronic Homelessness, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness presented twenty-three individuals and programs with the inaugural A Home for Every American Award. This special award recognizes innovations-in ideas and practice - that are fueling results for the National Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness:

• a National Partnership that began four years ago with a marker in the President's FY 2003 budget to end chronic homelessness
• a National Partnership that now includes 20 federal agencies partnered together, 53 governors of states and territories, and 222 mayors and county executives committed to 10-Year Plans
• a National Partnership that is already demonstrating results on the streets of our nation's communities (see related story)

Over the next few weeks, the e-news will examine the contribution made by each of the persons and programs selected to receive the A Home for Every American Award which are moving us closer to achieving the goal of ending chronic homelessness.

Perhaps no question has been asked more frequently of the Council than "why a priority on chronic homelessness?" The answer to that question lies in understanding the value of research in establishing policy direction in the real world of finite resources. And it is for this reason that we begin our series of in-depth looks at each of the A Home for Every American Award winners with the work of Dr. Dennis Culhane, Professor of Social Welfare Policy and Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

The President's Management Agenda with its focus on investing in outcomes established a national policy framework for addressing homelessness that would be based on using data and research to identify permanent solutions to homelessness. The work of Dr. Culhane on the prevalence and dynamics of homelessness, and on the economic costs associated with long term homelessness, provided the policy direction to focus on ending chronic homelessness. Dr. Culhane's research showed that chronic homelessness is a finite problem that can be solved, and in so doing, will free up resources for other profiles of homelessness, including homeless families and single adults experiencing temporary homelessness.

Dr. Culhane's research identified distinct typologies of homelessness-namely that most people who become homeless do so only once or for only very short periods of time, so-called "transitional" homelessness. However, for about 10% of the population who become homeless, their homelessness is of long duration either continually or repeatedly over a number a years and that in almost all these cases of chronic homelessness, the individuals have a mental health, substance abuse, developmental or physical disability. Often, there is a co-occurrence of more than one disability.

Focusing further on this group of long term homeless by examining their use of publicly funded services, Dr. Culhane was able to determine that while the number of persons experiencing chronic homelessness were a small percentage of the overall number of homeless persons, they were consuming more than 50% of emergency shelter system resources and were disproportionate users of other publicly funded services including emergency rooms, emergency mental health and substance abuse interventions, inpatient hospital stays, jails and other correction facilities.

Dr. Culhane's research provided substantiated data on the extent of the economic costs of long term homelessness to the community, and reductions in public service costs resulting from placement in permanent supportive housing. Dr. Culhane's study of nearly 5000 homeless persons with severe mental illness in New York City revealed that the cost of providing permanent supportive housing was nearly offset by the savings in reduced utilization of emergency shelter and other public services.

It is now apparent from the research that persons living long term on the benches and corners of community streets are not only a community's most visible homeless and among its most vulnerable citizens, but also some of the community's most expensive citizens. More recently famous is the case of "Million Dollar Murray" whose cycling in and out of public services in Reno was documented by two Reno police officers and cited in an article by that name authored by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker Magazine.

Dr. Culhane has also been actively involved in the development and national rollout of the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) that will provide valuable data for 10-year planning efforts.

As reported at The National Summit for Jurisdictional Leaders, we are now beginning to see the first outcomes from this National Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness and the outcomes are good. Mayors from geographically and demographically different cities are reporting reductions in the chronically homeless population.

As a 10-year regional plan to end chronic homelessness in King County, Washington was nearing county approval in 2004, a planning committee member told United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, "I want what is best for my community and we want real solutions for homeless people." During his recent trip to Washington State (see related story), Director Mangano had an opportunity to visit one of the " real solutions for homeless people" that has been implemented in King County-the 1811 Eastlake supportive housing project in Seattle's Denny Triangle neighborhood, owned and operated by the Downtown Emergency Service Center.

Residents of the 75-unit 1811 Eastlake project are long term homeless men and women with chronic alcohol addiction, sometimes referred to as chronically homeless public inebriates, who have been referred to the project by County human service and health officials because of their high utilization of emergency, criminal justice, and other publicly funded services. Once admitted to the project, residents have access to daily meals, laundry facilities, a registered nurse, case management and payee services, and state licensed mental health and substance abuse treatment. The location of the project adjacent to downtown facilitates access to a variety of supportive services that can complement the onsite services. Residents sign a lease and are required to pay rent based on income. While sobriety is encouraged but not required to maintain tenancy, residents who repeatedly break the "good neighbor" provision of their lease may be evicted.

The unique housing model at 1811 Eastlake includes 49 fully furnished studio apartments and semi private cubicle housing for 26 persons arranged in a congregate style setting facilitating interaction between case managers, counselors and the resident. A private donation of Native American artwork helps to create a welcoming atmosphere. Explaining the congregate setting, Downtown Emergency Center Director Bill Hobson describes how the setting permits monitoring and allows case managers to easily interact to develop trust with the residents and try to " encourage, cajole and coax " them into treatment. Generally, residents at 1811 Eastlake had been homeless, addicted to alcohol for at least 15 years, and had failed to remain sober even after participating in as many as six abstinence-required treatment programs.

It's much cheaper to have them in housing like 1811 Eastlake than in emergency rooms. according to the King County Department of Community and Human Services Department. In 2000, the top 20 utilizers of drug and alcohol crisis services cost the County in excess of $1 million in crisis response. If associated costs of police time, legal services during court appearances, and inpatient hospital stays were factored in, the costs were about $100,000 per person in that one year.

Construction and operating funds for the $11.2 million, 4-story project, which opened in December 2005, was provided by the City of Seattle, King County, the State of Washington including low income housing tax credits through the state housing finance agency, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development- Supportive Housing Program, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle. As residents begin to access emergency systems of care and the criminal justice system less frequently, city and county officials expect savings to those systems will accrue eventually offsetting the costs of operating 1811 Eastlake, thus providing not only a humane response to their homelessness but also reducing the economic consequences on the community.

A grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is funding an evaluation of the first three years of the project's operation, examining the relationship between residing in such a supportive housing arrangement and variables related to quality of life and reduced use of crisis services. The comprehensive evaluation is a joint project of the Downtown Emergency Service Center and the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington with data support from the County.

For More Information: Nicole Macri, Director of Development, Downtown Emergency Service Center