Congress Passes Spending Bill, Increases Homelessness Funding

Alliance Online News View in browser www.endhomelessness.org Tuesday, December 22, 2015 spotlight on... Congress Passes Spending Bill, Increases Homelessness Funding On Friday, Dec.18, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law a spending bill that will fund all discretionary federal operations through Fiscal Year 2016, including homeless assistance and affordable housing programs. The bill provides $2.250 billion for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants program, which represents a $115 million or 5.4 percent increase over FY 2015 funding, but is $230 million less than the Obama administration requested in the President’s budget proposal earlier this year. More information » Here’s What the New Spending Bill Means for Ending Homelessness in 2016 » Alliance Newsletter on Hiatus during Holidays The Alliance would like to extend a warm holiday greetings to everyone and remind you that during the holidays the newsletter will be on a hiatus. The Alliance newsletter will return Jan. 5, 2016. Please enjoy your holidays with your friends and family and keep in your hearts and minds the 560,000 people who will be without homes on Christmas day. alliance events Upcoming Webinar: Transforming Homeless Services in Pierce County, Wash. Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016, 1 to 2 p.m. EST On Tuesday, Jan. 26, at 1 p.m. EST, the Alliance will host a webinar on the transformation of the Pierce County, Wash. homeless system. Speakers will discuss how the county reallocated its transitional housing to rapid re-housing and the impact it has had on housing investments, the number of families served, and in overall implementation of coordinated entry and prioritization. Speakers will also highlight an example of how the county has used rapid re-housing to serve the unique needs of domestic violence victims. Register » Deadline Fast Approaching for Transatlantic Practice Exchange Are you a midlevel professional working in the homeless assistance field? If so, here’s your chance to visit the UK for professional development. The Alliance is still seeking applicants for the Transatlantic Practice Exchange. The deadline to apply for the program, which offers homeless assistance professionals the opportunity to learn best practices from their counterparts overseas, is Wednesday Jan. 6. More information, application » Call for Proposals for the 2016 Zarrow Mental Health Symposium Community Solutions is calling for workshop proposals submissions for the 2016 Zarrow Mental Health Symposium – Read for Zero: Innovative and Sustainable Solutions for Housing and Recovery. The conference will take place in Tulsa, Okla. from Sept. 28 to 30, 2016, and the workshops will explore tools and strategies for ending homelessness and promoting long-term success in housing. The deadline to submit a proposal is Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. More information » from the blog Ending Homelessness Today the official blog of the national alliance to end homelessness Congress Passed a Spending Bill. Here's What it Means for Ending Homelessness in 2016 by Steve Berg Last week, just in time for the New Year (and to avert another government shutdown), Congress passed a final $1.1 trillion spending bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 that will fund all federal discretionary programs through next fall. President Obama signed the bill into law Friday, Dec. 18. The bill includes all federal agencies’ discretionary spending: big ticket items like the military, veterans’ health care, education and law enforcement support, medical research, and virtually all of the budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including all its major homeless programs. Read more » comments » | Today We Remember Those We Lost to the Street by Lisa Stand The date Dec. 21 has meanings both ancient and new. Communities in every era have paused in awareness of waning daylight and the promise of the sun’s return; in our era, some will pause to look for assurance that the world keeps turning. It is appropriate that National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day is Dec. 21. For people living on the street, the darkest day of the calendar is especially dark; for a person to die on the street is an ending that should be unthinkable. Homeless advocates, today, will pause to honor the neighbors and fellow citizens who passed away in 2012 without a home. Read more » comments » | Here's What You Need to Know about HUD's New Chronic Homelessness Definition by Jayme Day After years of trying to nail down a definition of chronic homelessness, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) finally released a new definition earlier this month. The new definition incorporates comments submitted over the years by a wide variety of stakeholders, including the Alliance. Now that HUD’s definition is finalized, communities will need to make adjustments to their homeless systems in order to implement the new definition and use it to help end homelessness. We think the new definition will lead to improvements. But to understand fully why it’s good for ending homelessness, you need to first understand what the new definition changes. Read more » comments » | About Us The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to solving the problem of homelessness and preventing its continued growth. Join Us The Alliance is online: on Facebook, on Twitter, on our blog, and on our website! Join the Alliance's online community, and stay up-to-date with homelessness and housing information. www.endhomelessness.org Forward to a Friend Need Technical Assistance? Visit the Center for Capacity Building to learn more about the ways the Center can help your community end homelessness. Sign The Statement Sign the Never Another Homeless Veteran Statement! » National Alliance to End Homelessness 1518 K Street NW, 2nd Floor, Washington, DC 20005 (Tel) 202.638.1526 (Fax) 202.638.4664 © Copyright 2015 All rights reserved.