2012 National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference Presentations
Description:
Presentation material from the 2012 National Conference on Ending Homelessness:
1.1 Introduction to Ending Youth Homelessness
There are approximately 550,000 unaccompanied homeless youth in the U.S. annually who may be in need of assistance to exit homelessness. This workshop will provide an overview of the Alliance’s framework for ending youth homelessness as well as overviews of the primary strategies targeted to each subpopulation of youth.
1.3 Getting to Zero: Progress on the Five Year Plan to End Homelessness among Veterans
One of the major goals in the Administration’s 2010 plan to end homelessness, Opening Doors, was to end homelessness among veterans in five years. The halfway point to this historic goal has been reached. This workshop will assess where we have been, where we are, and what steps we will need to take to end homelessness among veterans. The plan will be reviewed from a data-driven, strategic perspective with an emphasis on current and future benchmarks, and on how people working across the country can help get to the final goal.
1.5 Health Care Reform and New Strategies to Address Chronic Homelessness
Linking chronically homeless households to Medicaid and new health care resources can play a critical role in helping those households obtain and maintain stable housing. This session will discuss changes in health care safety nets, and how to leverage Medicaid to support the housing stability of people experiencing chronic homelessness.
1.6 Developing an Inclusive and Effective Emergency Shelter System
Having an inclusive shelter system requires serving the needs of diverse populations, including LGBTQ youth and families that include adolescent boys. Having an effective shelter system requires permanent housing-focused services and a commitment to move households into permanent housing as quickly as possible. This workshop will discuss how communities can start on the path of developing both.
1.7 Successful Partnerships to Serve Survivors of Domestic Violence
The importance of stable housing in the lives of survivors has been well documented. This workshop will focus on successful partnerships between homelessness assistance agencies, which often have housing resources from which survivors can benefit and domestic violence service agencies that have allowed communities to successfully address both the housing and service needs of survivors.
1.12 New Research on Housing and Homelessness
Research and evaluation are integral parts of building an effective homelessness assistance system. This workshop will present some of the newest research on the impact of stable housing and effectiveness of different interventions in preventing and ending homelessness. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to learn about the implications this research has on efforts in their own community.
2.1 Systems-Level Strategies for Ending Youth Homelessness
To truly end youth homelessness, communities will have to shift their focus from program level planning to the systems level planning. This will require the establishment of clear desired outcomes and outcome measures to evaluate progress and the implementation system-level strategies to achieve them. This workshop will examine both the essential elements of a systems’ level approach to youth, including how to use resources to a maximum effect, as well as methods for establishing and measuring impact.
2.2 Welcoming, Inclusive, and Affirming Policies and Practices for LGBTQ Youth
All youth deserve the right to equal access and non-discriminatory/non-harassment protection while obtaining shelter – regardless of their self-identified sexual orientation or gender identity. This workshop will examine ways in which programs can create welcoming and safe environments to achieve the goal of getting youth off of the street and keeping them safe while in care.
2.5 Medicaid: Enrollment and Next Steps
Medicaid can make a difference in the financing of services for residents of permanent supportive housing. In today’s changing health care landscape, supportive housing providers need to stay current about new benefits and how to get clients enrolled. But that is not all – homeless assistance providers can play a key role in transforming local safety nets to be more person-centered, service-integrated, and resource-wise. This session will focus on new health care benefits,enrollment programs, and navigation strategies.
2.6 Coordinated Assessment
Coordinated assessment provides targeted, right-sized assistance to homeless or at-risk households based on their individual needs. It will be crucial in helping systems meet the outcomes called for by the HEARTH Act. This workshop will provide an overview of successful models, as well as time to discuss more advanced issues and potential evaluation strategies.
2.7 Getting the Most out of Your System: Overseeing Homeless Assistance
Running a community’s homeless assistance system requires balancing multiple and sometimes competing priorities in order to effectively reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness. In this workshop, participants will hear about the strategies being used by nonprofit and public sector leaders to create a shared vision for ending homelessness in the community. Presenters will discuss approaches for bringing a wide range of stakeholders into the systems change movement and strategies for creating accountability for achieving outcomes, including through performance-based contracting.
2.8 Rapid Re-Housing for Survivors of Domestic Violence
Rapid re-housing is increasingly being used across the country to serve survivors of domestic violence. This workshop will cover valuable adaptations to rapid re-housing that keep survivors of domestic violence safely and stably housed, as well as lessons learned from domestic violence providers experienced in rapid re-housing.
2.9 Partnering with Child Welfare Agencies to Serve Highly-Vulnerable Families
Child welfare involved families often face housing challenges that increase the risk of children being placed into foster care and delayed family reunification. This workshop will examine opportunities for child welfare agencies and homeless service providers to work together to promote the safety, well-being, and housing stability of vulnerable families.
2.12 Sustaining HPRP-Funded Rapid Re-Housing
This workshop will discuss strategies for maintaining your rapid re-housing activities even as the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program winds down. It will examine learnings from communities that have obtained new funds from private and public sources, as well as communities that have reallocated resources from other homeless programs.
2.13 Effective Strategies for Working with Undocumented Immigrants
Identifying and providing homeless assistance to undocumented immigrants is complicated by legal and cultural barriers. Presenters will discuss the legal restrictions and options available to programs serving undocumented immigrants experiencing homelessness and will present promising practices and program models.
3.2 Enhance Data to Improve Program Outcomes and Opportunities for Youth
Data is used to tell an under-told story of the numbers, needs, and experiences of homeless youth. Communities can improve data by conducting targeted youth counts and using Homeless Management Information Systems. Attendees will be provided with emerging practices in conducting youth counts and ways that youth-serving providers can benefit from using HMIS. Also discussed will be new ways to report outcomes.
3.3 Helping Veterans Access Benefits
Veteran benefits are often overlooked as a key piece for maintaining housing and self-sufficiency. The Veterans Benefit Administration is an important partner in helping veterans file for and obtain a wide variety of benefits, including: medical care, homeless assistance, service-connected disability payments, and veterans’ pensions. By combining these veteran-specific income sources and benefits with mainstream resources targeted to low-income families and individuals, veterans can be lifted out of homelessness or avoid it entirely.
3.5 The Federal Budget: Update and Impact on Ending Homelessness
In the past year, Congress has made a number of decisions about the federal budget that may greatly impact efforts to prevent and end homelessness. This workshop will update participants on the status of housing and homelessness funding. Presenters will discuss the timeline and outlook for key program funding levels, in addition to describing the effect of broader deficit reduction efforts on affordable housing and homelessness resources. An overview of the decision making process for program funding will also be provided.
3.6 Health Home Models
The “medical home” concept is taking hold in mainstream health care systems. This translates to new opportunities to make supportive housing a key component in the care and recovery plan of someone who has experienced chronic homelessness. Presenters will share knowledge and experience from communities that are updating their service strategies with coordinated-care approaches.
3.7 Retooling Your Transitional-Housing Program
If you are planning to make significant changes or redesign your transitional-housing program, this workshop will help you identify the steps to consider and provide tools for taking those steps. Transitional-housing providers who have retooled their programs will share experiences in areas of planning, staffing, contracts, and working with their Boards.
3.8 Chronic Homelessness: Getting to Zero by 2015
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) met this past spring to discuss the country’s slowing progress on chronic homelessness (USICH) and – based on new data analysis – to identify steps needed to “finish the job” by 2015. This workshop will be led by USICH staff, who will share their recent analysis and discuss what it will take to bend the curve to reach this goal. The session will also feature presentations from communities that are continuing to make progress on chronic homelessness despite the challenging economic times.
3.9 Effectively Allocating Homeless Assistance Resources to End
As more and more communities look to data and performance outcomes for information on how to redesign their systems, they are seeing the need to shift available funding between different homelessness interventions. This workshop will provide information on how communities can begin the process of determining what shifts need to be made in order to create the most effective system and information on the mechanics of moving funds around.
3.11 Service Models for Aging Populations
In addition to housing needs, elderly people who experience homelessness later in life have high health care and home care needs. This workshop will discuss how to design service and housing models to address the challenges of this growing, high-need population.
3.13 Beyond the City Limits: Ending Homelessness in Rural and Tribal Areas
What progress has been made in ending homelessness in rural and tribal areas? This interactive workshop will explore the successes rural and tribal communities have had in implementing strategic plans, prevention and rapid re-housing strategies, and other best practices, as well as new funding opportunities available through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rural Housing Stability Program.
Type of Resource:
Conference/Presentation
Publication Date:
2012
Location:
US