In my 30 years fighting to end homelessness, I have never witnessed a week quite like this. And while we had a victory this week in terms of restoring access to critical funding, it is clear from the now-rescinded OMB memo (M-25-13) that homeless assistance funding continues to be at risk. The road ahead will undoubtedly be filled with obstacles. But this week reminded me what an incredible community we have and how powerful we can be when we use our voices as a collective.
As we close out this week, I want to offer a few reminders and share some things you can anticipate from the Alliance over the next week as we continue to monitor the actions at the federal level.
Keep Doing What You Do Best: Serving the People in Your Communities.
Amid all the talk of policies, grants, memos, and Executive Orders, our mandate in this work is to serve our fellow human beings. Until there is direction from HUD that says otherwise, CoCs – and recipients of CoC and ESG funding – should continue to use evidence-based approaches in your work to serve people experiencing homelessness or who are housed in your programs. At the same time, stay vigilant and continue to move forward with the recommendations for immediate next steps that we shared earlier in the week.
Survey of Potential Impact
If you have not already done so, please take a few minutes and complete our survey on how disruptions in federal funding would impact your work. This will help gather insights from CoCs, homeless services providers, landlords, and other impacted entities that the Alliance can lift up in our advocacy to Congress and the administration, when and if there are future actions by the administration that could disrupt federal grant funding. Please submit any responses by 5:00pm PST/8:00pm EST tonight.
Continue to Spread Critical Information.
Outward-facing media from federal agencies (websites, social media accounts, trainings, etc.) may be shut down tonight if they “inculcate or promote gender ideology,” per an OPM memo. Please make sure that members of your community have awareness of and access to important resources like domestic violence hotlines, LGBTQ+ hotlines, and other local programs that provide support for people who may be impacted by removal of specific information from federal sites. The Alliance’s How to Get Help If You’re Experiencing Homelessness page lists related national resources.
Continue to Take Action
This week gave us a proof point of what we can do when we unify our voices. And we are just getting started!
- Make sure that you are signed up for the Alliance’s Advocacy Alerts so that you can stay informed and be ready to act. Consider including a link to the sign up in your e-mail signature so that others in your community can sign up too! It has never been more important that we build a broad and engaged base of advocates to push back on future threats to our work.
- If you have not already done so, take a few minutes this weekend or next week to reach out to your members of Congress regarding your FY2024 funding!
- Next week, be on the lookout for a new blog post from the Alliance all about advocacy, which will also include a summary of the potential threats we are closely monitoring.
In the coming weeks, you can expect timely information and guidance from us as the environment evolves. Our aim is to be a consistent and disciplined voice with the field and to our nation’s elected officials.
No matter what lies ahead, the Alliance will stand behind you.
With your help, we will inspire faith that ending homelessness is possible. We will lead with love and equity in our work. We will continue to bring people home.
Take care,
Ann Oliva
CEO, National Alliance to End Homelessness
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