Alliance Online News: Registration Opens for 2015 National Conference

Alliance Online News View in browser www.endhomelessness.org Tuesday, April 21, 2015 spotlight on... Registration Opens for 2015 National Homelessness Conference Early registration has opened for the Alliance's 2015 National Conference on Ending Homelessness, which will take place at the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel from July 15 to 17, with early check-in on July 14. The Alliance encourages you to register by 3 p.m. EDT on May 15 to ensure your spot and take advantage of the early rate of $525 per person. On that date, the registration will open at the regular rate of $575. Look for future updates and additional information about the conference on the conference website and in upcoming issues of Alliance Online News. Register for the conference » hill update House Committee Spending Bill Would Allocate $55 Billion for HUD and Dept. of Transportation On Friday, April 17, the House Appropriations Committee released a Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 spending bill that allocates $55.27 billion for the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) Subcommittee. That funding level represents a small $1.5 billion increase over the funding level Congress appropriated in FY 2015. At this point in the budget process, the House Appropriations Subcommittees will begin marking up spending bills.The Senate has yet to determine its funding allocation for HUD.  For further information on this and more, including: House Holds Hearing on the Future Role of the Private Sector in Affordable Housing See our legislative update page, WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE HILL. First Lady Lauds New Orleans’ Progress on Ending Veteran Homelessness At an event in New Orleans on Monday, April 20, First Lady Michelle Obama praised the city for achieving the goal of ending veteran homelessness by the end of last year, more than a year ahead of the national goal. "And with the whole city behind this effort, in January, you knocked that goal right out of the park,” she said at the event, where she was joined by Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Dr. Jill Biden. The appearance was part of the “Joining Forces” initiative, a national initiative launched by the First Lady and Biden to rally support for service members, veterans, and their families. This month Joining Forces is celebrating its 4th Anniversary. You can follow the conversation on social media using the following accounts and hashtags: Twitter: @JoiningForces @FLOTUS @DrBiden Instagram: @MichelleObama Facebook: facebook.com/joiningforces First lady Michelle Obama applauds New Orleans Remarks by the First Lady from the blog Ending Homelessness Today the official blog of the national alliance to end homelessness A Letter from a Former Rapid Re-Housing Skeptic by Kay Moshier McDivitt Over the past year, I have spent a lot of time conducting Rapid Re-Housing Clinics for communities across the county. Rapid re-housing is an intervention that provides temporary financial assistance and services to homeless people to return them to permanent housing quickly. Many communities around the country are already using it to house people. But it’s a relatively new idea. At the clinics I conduct, which are designed to help communities implement their own effective rapid re-housing programs, it’s not uncommon for people who are new to the idea of rapid re-housing to view it with some skepticism. It makes sense. They have been doing things one way for years, and now they’re being asked to change. Who wouldn’t question the wisdom of that? Read more » comments » | Here's One Way You Can Show Support for Ending Veteran Homelessness by naehblog Have you heard of the #WithTheseHands campaign? It’s part of a national initiative to raise awareness of the issue of veteran homelessness and the fight to end it. (The campaign takes its name from the final verse of the Bruce Springsteen song, “My City of Ruins.”) The people behind the campaign are Give US Your Poor, which is a group dedicated to bringing together homeless organizations, celebrity advocates, and people like you to end homelessness. With this latest campaign, they’re using music and art to dispel myths, show support, and foster action on veteran homelessness. Read more » comments » | The State of Homelessness in America 2015: Trends in Veteran Homelessness by Liza Doran Sadly, if you have served in the military, you’re more at risk of experiencing homelessness. Why? A variety of factors are at play, so there is no one fast and easy answer for why veterans experience consistently greater rates of homelessness than the general population. But one major factor is combat-related disabilities like traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which are among the most significant risk factors for homelessness. Read more » comments » | homelessness in the media The Shockingly Simple, Surprisingly Cost-Effective Way to End Homelessness These devastating videos shatter every stereotype about the homeless The U.S. Spends Far More on Homeowner Subsidies Than It Does on Affordable Housing