Blog

A Year in Review: 2015 Advocacy Highlights

Last year was a challenging year for homeless assistance and affordable housing advocates. Despite plenty of uphill battles against budget restraints, congressional gridlock, and competing policy priorities they persevered and achieved some very impressive gains in 2015.

SSVF Grant Funding Brings New Opportunities

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently announced that it will make $300 million in competitive grant funding available for nonprofits renewing their SSVF grants to work with homeless and at-risk Veterans and their families. Several pieces of the announcement highlight opportunities for providers to improve the services they offer to program participants, and ways to enhance their program's effectiveness and reach.

New Budget Bill Supports Youth

The eleventh hour budget bill passed at the end of 2015 does more than increase funding for homeless assistance. It makes specific investments to end youth homelessness.

Here’s How You End Veteran Homelessness: Employment, Housing, and Health Care

In 2009, Congress authorized a three-year demonstration program to explore ways to increase the housing stability of homeless and at-risk veterans and their families.

Now, here we are at the tail end of 2015, and a lot has changed in the years since. The nation has reduced veteran homelessness by 35 percent using many of the same methods first employed in that program, known as the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Demonstration (VHPD). It was one of the first steps in the Obama administration’s initiative to end veteran homelessness by 2016.

PAGE: 1 114 115 116 117 118 141