HUD Helps Fund Youth Homelessness Programs in the U.S.
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) distributed grants to help fund a wide range of housing initiatives, including rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and host homes in 11 communities across the U.S., through its Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program. In total, HUD awarded $43 million to programs in San Diego, California; Louisville, Kentucky; Boston, Massachusetts; Northwest Minnesota; Nebraska; Northern New Mexico; Columbus, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; Vermont; and Washington, working to end youth homelessness. Over the next four months, these communities will develop and submit a coordinated community plan to prevent and end homelessness among youth to HUD.
Read the article here.
St. Mungo’s: Housing Women After Imprisonment
Ruth Legge from St. Mungo‘s Offender Services explains how the organization works with women in prison and after their release to help them find permanent housing. According to Legge, any individual exiting incarceration is at risk for homelessness, but women face a unique set of challenges. After losing custody of their children while imprisoned, many women can only regain custody if they have adequate accommodation following their release. However, their need for housing assistance may not be prioritized without the custody of their children. St. Mungo’s works alongside social services, statutory authorities and Reunite programs to support women in finding accommodation, with or without the custody of their children. Domestic violence can also affect a woman’s housing situation. Many women have a permanent residence upon release, but are unwilling to return because a violent partner still resides there. In addition, because women sometimes choose to live on the street rather than with a violent partner, they are deemed ‘”intentionally homeless”. In these cases, St. Mungo’s works with domestic violence teams to connect women to shelter if they will not return to their residence and assists them in appealing claims of intentional homelessness. The organization suggests that there be clear and consistent links between female offending, rough sleeping, and domestic abuse in order to improve efforts to support the women affected.
Read the article here.
Australia’s National Homelessness Conference 2018: Ending Homelessness Together
The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), in partnership with Homelessness Australia, will host the National Homelessness Conference 2018 – Ending Homelessness Together, in Melbourne, Australia. Attendees will convene at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday, August 6 and Tuesday, August 7, 2018. The convening will provide policy makers and practitioners from across Australia the opportunity to learn, engage, and network. According to AHURI, the conference program will address a broad range of issues related to homelessness including housing models that end homelessness; responding to the causes of homelessness; specialist support, mental health issues; people experiencing homelessness after incarceration; outcomes reporting; and more.
Register here.
Japan Sees Decline in Street Homelessness
According to the most recent homelessness count conducted in Japan, the number of people living without shelter is the lowest it has been in over a decade. According to Kyodo of the Japan Times, in January, the Welfare Ministry reported that nearly than 5,000 people were experiencing street homelessness. In Tokyo, Japan’s largest city, there were a reported 1,242 people observed on the city’s streets at that point in time. In several prefectures, including Aomori, Akita, Yamagata, Nara, Shimane and Nagasaki, no homelessness was reported. An official from the Ministry said that support measures from the government have helped to address the issue.
Read the article here.
Child Separation among Families Experiencing Homelessness
This brief is the seventh of The Homeless Families Research Briefs series commissioned by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The briefs build on HUD’s Family Options Study. It provides a detailed analysis of factors that may affect a child’s risk of being separated from their family while experiencing homelessness. Nearly 40% of families involved in the study reported that their child was separated from them before or during their stay in an emergency shelter. The study suggests that housing instability, both before and after a stay in emergency accommodation, is correlated with child separation.
Read the brief on the IGH Hub.