Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness

The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has had an eventful last few months. In addition to the hiring of Donald Whitehead as Executive Director, NCH has adopted new by-laws to energize its membership. NCH has adopted by-laws that bring coalitions and individual members across the country into the organization's decision-making process. The new structure has already resulted in greater participation in the decision-making process and significant involvement on committees and town hall meetings.

NCH has created a partnership to provide Technical Assistance in several communities. Individuals are providing technical assistance with lived experience who are paid fair market wages for their work.
Currently, NCH has 14 consultants with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) NCH is also awaiting word on three additional partnerships that will increase the number of consultants with Lived Experience. NCH has also expanded its speaker's bureau online and expanded the geographical footprint by enlisting speakers from across the country. Nch also partnered with the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness to sponsor "Hunger And Homeless Awareness Week."
NCH will prepare to release the Homeless Hate Crimes Report in early December.

The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) is renewing its support for Civil Rights, including Racial Inequities. NCH supported the introduction of the Hero's Act to address the many individuals impacted by a housing crisis that has been ignited by the COVID-19 epidemic. The Bill calls for $ 100 Billion in new housing resources and additional funds for Homeless Assistance. The Bill is critical as an economist has reported a potential 45% increase in homeless as a result of evictions caused by the pandemic.

NCH has partnered with HUD and ABt Associates to provide people who have experienced homelessness with opportunities to help shape policy directives released by HUD. NCH continues to collaborate with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty on the Housing Not Handcuffs Campaign to protect against criminalization efforts against people experiencing homelessness. The NCH, Hate Crimes report, is nearing its final stages of development.

NCH has transformed the face to face Speaker's Bureau Activities into a digital format. People experiencing homelessness present their stories as part of the "Faces of Homelessness" speakers bureau on ZOOM calls across the country.

NCH will begin monthly Town Hall meeting in August aimed at raising the voices of people experiencing homelessness and their allies Please stay tuned for more information.  Nch is also continuing to ensure participation in the voting system with the "You Don't Need a Home to Vote Campaign"

Links:

• website for NCH

We applaud Congress for passing the Families First CoronaVirus Response Act, which will provide immediate paid sick leave and paid family leave to millions of people, expanded unemployment insurance, vital nutrition aid, more Medicaid funds for states, and free COVID-19 testing.

Our unhoused neighbors are more likely to have underlying health conditions, use spaces with congregate settings (public transportation, shelters, soup kitchens), have already diminished life-expectancy, have limited ability to follow public health advice, or suffer from stigma and discrimination in accessing basic services. (Read more in the National Health Care for the Homeless Council‘s issue brief)

It is imperative that services, medical care, resources, and support for people experiencing homelessness is included in any further Federal Coronavirus response. 

We are all in this together – we must act now! 

We are asking for lawmakers to:

1. Provide $15.5 billion specifically targeted to people who are currently homeless. This should include language that adds “medical respite care” services into allowable/prioritized uses for emergency CoC funding.  
   
   
2. Cancel the 2020 NOFA: Direct HUD to automatically renew Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Funding in 2020 to programs that were recently renewed through the 2019 renewal process, as currently allowed in the HEARTH Act, so long as the Continuum of Care Entity documents that a) there is a continuing demonstrated need for the project and b) that the project continues to comply with CoC program requirements.  Use the 2020 CoC NOFA process to competitively award only additionally appropriated funding for New Projects to meet the needs of those currently on the streets, in shelters, or the newly homeless.
   
   
3. Require HUD to increase flexibility to allow communities to utilize CoC Homeless Assistance Funding to meet local needs and local priorities.
   
   
4. Call for a moratorium on all homeless encampments sweeps during the pandemic. The CDC has released guidelines saying encampments should not be displaced unless housing is available
   
   
5. Provide $50 Billion of new funding for expansion of Low Income Housing Tax Credits targeted to housing for homeless families and individuals, expansion of the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and expansion of Project Based Section 8 funding for permanent supportive housing and housing for families experiencing homelessness.

These demands are absolutely imperative to the safety, wellbeing, and care of people experiencing homelessness, and we cannot wait. Contact your Legislator below!

Housing is a basic human right. Homelessness is not inevitable. We can do better. 

Designed to reenergize local, state, and national advocacy, Housing NOW! 2020 provides a platform for advocates to come together to demand a significant increase in federal funding that keeps pace with rising local needs. 

Housing NOW! 2020 is coordinated by the National Coalition for the Homeless in collaboration with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Los Angeles Providers Alliance to End Homelessness, Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, National Low Income Housing Coalition, Sacramento Coalition to End Homelessness, and a growing list of other partners.

NCH is continuing to partner with regional,state, and local partner organization.

HOUSING NOW 20/20

Coordinated by the National Coalition for the Homeless in collaboration with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, National Health Care for the Homeless Council,  National Low Income Housing Coalition, Sacramento Coalition to End Homelessness, and a growing list of other partners.

A NATIONAL CALL TO ACTION TO END HOMELESSNESS NOW!
Thirty years ago, one hundred fifty thousand people marched on Washington as part of the Housing NOW! March for Affordable Housing to demand action to address the growing homelessness and affordable housing crisis at that time.  This led to the passage of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act in 1990, which created among other things the HOME program.  Housing NOW! followed the successful organizing and mobilization led by activists in DC and across the nation that resulted in the passage of the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act in 1987.
THE PROBLEM:    Unfortunately, the promises resulting from the activism of the 1980s were not adequately sustained, and federal investments in homelessness, affordable housing and other initiatives to address the causes of homelessness have failed to keep pace with increasing homelessness in communities throughout our nation.  Due to inadequate federal funding and budget cuts, HUD policy has moved from a focus on ending homelessness to one that manages and rations limited resources through initiatives such as: 
• Phasing out Federal funding for Emergency Shelter and Transitional Housing • Time-limited Rapid Re-housing that often leads to eviction and new homelessness • A focus on one-size fits all solutions that deny flexibility to address local needs • Prioritization policies that pit individuals vs. families, youth vs. veterans, and leave too many without access to housing and services • Limited eligibility criteria that results in too many families and individuals without housing
SOLUTIONS:   To truly end homelessness we need to re-energize and organize a movement to demand a significant increase in federal funding that keeps pace with rising local need. We need a national HUMAN RIGHT TO HOUSING! We need to Re-Build the Movement to End Homelessness NOW!  This will only happen with renewed organizing and mobilization to demand that Congress and presidential candidates:
• Immediately restore Federal funding to pre-1980 funding levels – prior to the advent of the current mass homelessness crisis • At least double the funding for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance immediately • Increase funding for community-based residential treatment for mental health and addictions • Expand eligibility for assistance so that doubled-up families, non-“chronically homeless” individuals and those at risk of homeless have access to needed housing and services
WHAT YOU CAN DO:   Join the Housing NOW! 2020 National Call to Action Campaign today.
• Sign up to obtain ongoing information and provide input to the Housing Now! 2020 Campaign. • Reach out to people experiencing homelessness, local organizations, faith communities, cities and others to urge them to join in the Housing Now! 2020 Campaign. • Participate in the Housing Now! 2020 organizing webinar series scheduled this fall.  • Join us for the Housing Now! 2020 Summit planned for April 2020 in Washington DC.
For more Information visit www.NationalHomeless.org or call (202) 462-4822.  #Housing NOW! 2020.