# Presentation: 461065

## Listening Session: Key Federal and State Barriers and Potential Approaches

**National Learning Meeting**
**Oct. 7-8, 2004**

## Key Action Items

- Increase Collaboration Among Federal and State/Territory Partners
- Engage Partners In Solutions
- Create and Support Different Approaches to Meet Varying Need
- Address Gaps In and Supply Of (Affordable) Housing Stock
- Increase Access to Significant Mainstream System Resources
- Integrate Data Systems And Reporting Requirements

## Increase Collaboration Among Federal and State/Territory Partners

- Help States/Territories collaborate
- Share what people have done in relation to the Policy Academy
- Broadly distribute Policy Academy materials/promising practices regarding systems integration and coalition building
- Hold focus groups with States/Territories to understand issues
- Enhance coordination at local level – provide contact information Federal programs, who is accessing funds, create strategic plan about providing funding
- Create a self-assessment tool about accessing resources
- Connect with States/Territories experiencing similar (specific) issues

## Increase Collaboration Among Federal and State/Territory Partners

- Create common definitions across Federal agencies
- Chronic homelessness (to include families)
- Disability
- Race and ethnicity
- Defining people leaving institutions as homeless if they are
- Defining affordable housing to target people in the lowest income brackets
- Defining homelessness within cultural contexts

## Increase Collaboration Among Federal and State/Territory Partners

- Increase coordination between Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) and Policy Academy process at Federal and regional levels
- Provide more guidance and models about how to integrate multiple plans and councils at the state level
- Provide funding for a staff person to coordinate plan implementation (State/Territory match is okay)
- Re-evaluate Federal goals in the context of lessons learned throughout this process: “modeling yourselves the collaboration you suggest to us”
- Create Federal interagency strategic plan related to homelessness

## Increase Collaboration Among Federal and State/Territory Partners

- Pool all Federal resources on homelessness and tie them to the approved state/CoC/ICH plan
- Integrate Federal funding
- Blend funding from key federal agencies into true super NOFA
- Better align Federal funding to match Policy Academy goals
- Involve all Federal agencies in determining and integrating data reporting requirements
- Create a more reasonable response time for grant applications and a shorter award timeframe
- Create a major focus on prevention (especially within the Continuum of Care)

## Engage Partners in Solutions

- Understand that good theory can’t become good practice fast
- Involve additional partners
- Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration, Department of Labor – may be good support at Federal level but may not always translate down to local level
- Involve Departments of Justice and Corrections and legislative people
- Create a  waiver of compliance to get the local Workforce Investment Boards (WIB) to table
- Help community-based organizations to develop diverse and sustainable funding streams
- Support strategies for engaging faith-based communities

## Engage Partners in Solutions

- Work with Governors
- Provide TA to state agencies and Governor’s to help educate changing State/Territory administrations or legislatures
- Work with the National Governor’s Association to get the issue on the table
- Enhance work at regional level to lessen the impact of changes in Governors
- Coordinate regional homeless summits to bring States/Territories together
- Disseminate materials on how to mount a public awareness campaign and measure the effectiveness

## Support Different Approaches to Meet Varying Need

- Tailor assistance for rural areas to:
- Conducting research to document effectiveness of rural models
- Help with transportation
- Regionalize funding, planning and delivery
- Provide resources for planning and capacity building
- Tailor assistance for Territories to:
- Address differential funding levels
- Add senior level liaisons in Federal agencies
- Build relationships with regional Federal representatives
- Provide proposal support for translation and grant-writing
- Provide funding to start programs

## Address Gaps In and Supply Of (Affordable) Housing Stock 

- Increase funding for housing for SROs, youth under 18, special needs including mental health, etc.
- Provide funds for operation and supportive services, not simply housing
- Invest in provider capacity to access resources and develop housing
- Plan strategically for housing by integrating all HUD mainstream and homeless planning and reporting functions into one plan

## Address Gaps In and Supply Of (Affordable) Housing Stock

- Engage Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) in the change process
- Have HUD encourage them to be at the table
- Reinstitute preferences for homeless
- Provide incentives  for working with forensic populations, people with disabilities, people who are homeless, etc.
- Institute tighter requirements so they have to accept people
- Provide education to local PHAs to force access
- Use HOME program funds to allow PHAs to provide bridge subsidies or other innovative ideas

## Address Gaps In and Supply Of (Affordable) Housing Stock

- Fully engage Section 8
- Maintain or increase Section 8 as major resource for affordable housing
- Look at improving project based Section 8
- Fully engage the Continuum of Care process
- Use CoC as organizing force
- Take the renewals out of the CoC* *and decrease reliance on competitive process

## Increase Access to Mainstream System Resources

- Enhance coordination and institute policy changes
- Create universal application and eligibility process for all Federal programs using common definitions
- Expand use and access to presumptive disability for people who are homeless
- Create State/Territory to mandate to set aside resources for homelessness
- Forbid publicly-funded institutions from discharging to homelessness and put funding behind the mandate
- Change the paradigm and let the funds follow the client by creating client-level adequate benefits that match housing and living costs

## Increase Access to Mainstream System Resources

- Expand capacity
- Provide income supports and housing options for people with primary substance abuse diagnosis (both substance- free and relapse tolerant)
- Institute a Medicaid waiver to serve homeless people
- Work with internal VA regulatory issues to broaden access
- Disseminate SSA best practices for this population
- Provide models for involuntary representative payees
- Provide funds for life skills training
- Provide universal health insurance coverage

## Integrate Data Systems and Reporting Requirements

- Create uniform data collection across federal agencies
- Mandate mainstream services to collect data on housing status
- Enhance compatibility of Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) with mainstream data systems
- Provide funding and staff support for HMIS
- Pay for translation across HMIS software packages being used within states
- Provide a cost estimate for software to interface with HMIS and other state and federal systems
- Develop performance measures to evaluate whether access to mainstream resources is increased; do this collaboratively with states
- Create statewide data warehouses

## Integrate Data Systems and Reporting Requirements

- Improve use of data as a planning tool
- Think strategically about use of technology and potential barriers – internet-based SSI application is creating access; need high speed internet access for HMIS
- Create a cross-walk of all Federal programs and funding offered by state
- Help States/Territories assess goals for units of affordable housing – How many units of housing it would take to end homelessness in each state and what it would cost
- Share strategies for using data - identifying needs, making a case, showing cost savings