Ending Chronic Homelessness: Strategies for Action
Description:
Each year homelessness affects 2 – 3 million individuals in the United States. For most people, homelessness is a short, one-time event. But a relatively small and visible group experiences homelessness repeatedly or for long periods and places heavy demands on available assistance. This group, persons experiencing chronic homelessness, is most often made up of single, poor adults with prevalent disabilities. Ending their homelessness requires housing combined with the types of services supported by the programs of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). To improve the response of these programs to chronic homelessness, and to address a collaboration agreed to with Secretary Mel Martinez of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Secretary established a Work Group on Ending Chronic Homelessness. The Work Group was charged to develop a comprehensive approach for the Department to better serve these persons. The Work Plan: The Work Group assigned the task of developing a comprehensive approach to an Interagency Subcommittee that focused on four tasks: 1) Defining chronic homelessness and identifying effective treatments and services
Understanding how relevant Departmental programs respond to the identified treatments and services 2) Identifying objectives and desirable outcomes that would improve responsiveness 3)Formulating a comprehensive action plan. 4)To develop a plan, eight assistance programs of the Department were identified as relevant to the treatment and service needs of chronically homeless persons. The programs were asked to enumerate barriers and opportunities on service use for this population. The eight programs were:
Medicaid
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Social Services Block Grant
Community Services Block Grant
Community Health Centers
Ryan White Programs
Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant
Community Mental Health Services Block Grant (Authors)
Type of Resource:
Report
Publication Date:
2003
Location:
Washington, D.C.