Administrator
Martha N. Johnson
General Services Administration

NATION’S MUNICIPAL LEADERS AFFIRM PARTNERSHIP OF ‘ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESULTS’ WITH COUNCIL AND CONSIDER HOW NEW NEIGHBORHOOD STABILIZATION PROGRAM RESOURCES CAN SUPPORT 10 YEAR PLAN EFFORTS

NOVEMBER 17, 2008.  4,000 municipal leaders including mayors, city council members, city managers, and invited guests gathered in Orlando, Florida November 11-15 for the National League of Cities 2008 Annual Congress of Cities and Exposition.  Progress in reducing chronic homelessness through jurisdictionally- led, community- based 10 Year Plans, and new challenges posed by rising numbers of mortgage foreclosures were on the agenda as US Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano was invited to speak at a plenary session on ideas and solutions to stabilize neighborhoods during this foreclosure crisis and to address meetings of the Human Development and the Community and Economic Development Policy and Advocacy Committees. Director Mangano is shown here with NLC Executive Director Don Borut.

In his presentations, Director Mangano noted the progress and results from 10 Year Plan efforts which the NLC first endorsed in a resolution adopted during its 2003 annual meeting.  650 local jurisdictional executives are currently partnered in 350 10 Year Plans across the nation. These innovation infused, research and data driven, business principled 10 Year Plans have replaced an approach to homelessness which had been ad hoc and crisis intervention driven, and for the first time in a quarter century, communities have been seeing reductions in the numbers of homeless people on their streets and living long term in shelters.  In a new resolution adopted last week, the NLC affirms this partnership "of accountability and results" with the Council and encourages the adoption of cost benefit analysis and the targeting of resources toward field tested, evidence based national  innovations including Housing First/Rapid Rehousing, private sector Community Champions, and Project Homeless Connect. NLC delegates also adopted a resolution calling for expansion of the HUD-VASH permanent supportive housing program for homeless veterans.

PLENARY SESSION ON STABILIZING NEIGHBORHOODS

The current foreclosure crisis presents new challenges for the municipal leaders who were encouraged by Director Mangano to utilize resources being made available to them through the new Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) to create housing for homeless and at risk individuals and families. $3.92 billion is available under the new Housing and Economic Recovery Act's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). The NSP funding, which is being distributed via the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), is directed to the frontline of communities to purchase foreclosed homes at a discount and to rehabilitate or redevelop them in order to respond to rising foreclosures and falling home values at the local level.  

Director Mangano joined Stan Gimont, Director of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Block Grant Assistance, and Jim Hunt, NLC Past President and Clarkesville, WVA Council Member in the plenary session on Foreclosure Crisis: Neighborhood Stabilization. He noted that “as someone who has relentlessly advocated that federal resources be delivered directly to jurisdictional leaders who have been elected by their communities and are accountable to citizens, the Neighborhood Stabilization funds make policy sense. . .  The Federal Government makes resources available. Local community leaders create an inductive plan for the investment of these resources subject to community review. The plans are expeditiously reviewed by the federal agency and the resources are expeditiously sent to the community for local impact. The federal agency monitors the investments and quantifies results.”

Director Mangano encouraged the municipal leaders to consider how the new Neighborhood Stabilization Program resources can be part of their larger strategic plan to reduce and end homelessness.  “The Neighborhood Stabilization Program offers the opportunity to acquire housing units at bargain prices compared to 5 and 10 years ago. The 25% of NSP that needs to go to households at 50% of median and below is an opportunity to reconstitute much needed rental housing. Targeting that housing to your 10 Year Plan strategies makes common sense and dollars sense. We know that housing intervention works. That it stabilizes lives and communities.  In 65 cost studies from around the country we’ve learned that the cost of managing and maintenancing chronic homelessness is more expensive than solving the problem by providing a place to live and services to support the tenancies. $35,000-$150,000 in per year costs to communities to maintain the random ricocheting through public health and law enforcement systems of care of a person experiencing chronic homelessness vs. $13,000-$25,000 a year to house and stabilize the same individual.”

He also noted that research is showing that when families are de-stabilized by falling into homelessness, the cost to public services also can go up dramatically. Moreover, numerous studies by the United Way, by the Internal Revenue Service, by communities and academics demonstrate that communities derive economic benefit from doing a better job of helping at risk and homeless families access consumer driven entitlement benefits including Food Stamps, TANF, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Targeting NSP resources to create housing opportunities for these families provides the stability needed to access these entitlement resources which in turn are spent in the community. Helping communities to empower low and moderate income families to achieve long term financial stability has been a core work area of the NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education and Families. More information about this effort can be found on the NLC web site including an Action Kit for Municipalities on Promoting Family Financial Stability.

MORE SIGNATORIES TO AMERICA'S ROAD HOME STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND ACTIONS

In Orlando, 28 jurisdictional officials became new signatories to the America's Road Home Statement of Principles and Actions, the unprecedented 12-point agreement on ending chronic homelessness that originated at the November 2007 Summit convened by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, and Melville Charitable Trust President Robert Hohler. Over 435 city and county jurisdictional leaders have signed this Statement of Principles and Actions in just one year.  

BOISE, IDAHO’S ‘CATCH’ PROGRAM RECOGNIZED 

Each year the NLC in collaboration with CH2M HILL recognizes eight city programs in 4 population categories that embrace collaboration and innovation with an Award for Municipal Excellence. At this year’s conference, Boise, Idaho’s Project CATCH  (Charitable Assistance to Community’s Homeless) received the silver award for cities of 150,000-500,000.