Opening Doors represents a dramatic shift in the federal government's approach to homelessness in this country. It's based in part on the recognition that solving homelessness requires that people access the mainstream resources available to them - including income supports, health insurance, and housing assistance - both efficiently and sufficiently to meet their needs. Targeted homeless assistance programs always have been and likely always will be a significant part of the solution - but they are not the entire solution.

 

As communities across the country are certainly all too well aware, HUD McKinney-Vento resources are largely tied up in renewals of existing programs, limiting the ability to create new units and new housing opportunities. A comparison of communities' Housing Inventory Charts (HIC) with their Point in Time (PIT) figures confirms that significant unmet need remains. While Continuums of Care will need to continue to find ways to improve the performance and efficiency of existing programs, we must, at the same time, identify ways to increase the country's permanent supportive housing pipeline and improve targeting of housing subsidies. Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) are central to this effort.

 

This USICH webinar will include presentations from several PHA directors and a Q and A session with participants.  Please register for the webinar here.