Monthly Archives: June 2006

From A Hole To A Home: How “Housing First” Is Working Across America

“Arthur Sena spent years living in a hole that he had dug near the railroad tracks. He would probably still be there, defying offers of help from social workers and using cardboard to ward off the chill, if Denver had not adopted a radical strategy of putting homeless people into apartments of their own, no strings attached.”

“The ‘housing first’ policy that this city adopted last year is part of an accelerating national movement that has reduced the numbers of the chronically homeless — the single, troubled men and women who spend years in the streets and shelters — in more than 20 cities.”

>> continue reading “New Campaign Shows Progress for Homeless

This article was emailed to me with no name attached and I didn’t recognize the email address, but to whomever sent it, thank you!! :)

Task Force to End Homelessness Meets Again

The Guilford County-Greensboro-High Point Task Force to End Homelessness met again on Thursday, June 22. This was just the third meeting of the Task Force, which was announced in February. Further meetings had been delayed as leaders sought to add additional members who could assist the Task Force in meeting its goal of developing and implementing a Ten Year Plan to end homelessness in our community. But it looks as though we’re really on our way this time, and we’ll meet monthly in the future.

Some of the new faces I saw this time were Andy Scott from the City of Greensboro and Ed Kitchen, representing the Bryan Foundation. There were also reps from churches, non-profits, foundations, and businesses. Martha Are, from NC DHHS briefly recapped her presentation on homelessness and the Ten Year Plan, and reemphasized the need for our plan to be a business plan vs. a social services plan. It has be data-driven, focus on best practices and include: a baseline, benchmarks, a budget, cost/benefit info, and an evaluation component.

In addition to our monthly meetings, our Task Force will now begin meeting in working groups, which will focus on specific areas relevant to the plan, including research, outreach and housing, and implementation.

Ten Year Plan: Winston

The draft of Winston Salem’s Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness is available on the web, as well as their public forum presentation and research. Go here. (Scroll to bottom of page for TYP links.)

Thanks to Tim West for the link. :)

Original post 03/23/06. Updated 06/22/06.