HFH Update 7/2005
Progress Report: Ten-Year Plans to End Homelessness
This week's bulletin, the second in our series reviewing the progress made in cities nationwide on the implementation of ten-year plans to end homelessness, highlights Indianapolis and Chicago. Our series began with the June 22 Bulletin on New York City's five-year plan. In July 2000, the National Alliance to End Homelessness wrote "A Plan: Not a Dream," a guideline of steps for communities nationwide to develop strategies to end homelessness in ten years, based on the needs of their individual populations. Since then, 190 rural, suburban and urban cities have developed ten-year plans that range from targeting primarily chronic homelessness to the overall homeless population. In 2002, Indianapolis became the first city in the nation to adopt a ten-year plan. Praised by federal and local officials, the plan took a year to develop and involved approximately 450 people and over 150 organizations from the public, private and nonprofit sectors. The plan includes recommended policy strategies, government actions, and a timeline for the first five years, with the main goal of developing 1,700 permanent supportive housing units. Alisha Valentine, Director of Development at the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, a nonprofit in charge of implementing the plan, estimates that 270 supportive housing units had been built as of June 2005. Chicago, another Midwest city that has developed a ten-year plan, has made great progress despite difficulties in quantifying its homeless population. Chicago's ten-year plan, written by the Chicago Continuum of Care, an inclusive network of over 200 public and private organizations and individuals, focuses on ending homelessness by 2012 by promoting housing stability and self-sufficiency for the homeless and by providing affordable housing with supportive services. The Department of Housing has committed over $70 million in resources to support 3,000 units of multi-family affordable rental housing, which represents 57% of the multi-family housing unit goal for the year. Chicago's goal is to commit $208 million in resources by the end of 2005 to support over 5,600 units of affordable rental housing. In addition, in March 2005, Chicago's Department of Human Services and Department of Housing called on 300 faith-based leaders to host furniture drives, donate to prevention funds, sponsor formerly homeless families, and to serve as educational and motivational ambassadors to their congregations to assist with the ten-year plan to end homelessness. For more information on Ten-Year Plans, please see: City of Chicago, Department of Human Services City of Chicago, Department of Housing Indianapolis: The Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) The National Alliance to End Homelessness United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
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