Housing and Homelessness-Related Links and Recommended Reading

Non-Profit Organizations
Federal Agencies
Recommended Reading

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

National Housing Trust Fund
"The National Housing Trust Fund Campaign is working to establish a National Housing Trust Fund that would build and preserve 1.5 million units of rental housing for the lowest income families over the next 10 years.”

National Coalition for the Homeless
"Our mission is to end homelessness. We focus our work in the following four areas: housing justice, economic justice, health care justice, and civil and voting rights. Our approaches are: grassroots organizing, public education, policy advocacy, technical assistance, and partnerships.”

National Alliance Against Homelessness
"The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to mobilize the nonprofit, public and private sectors of society in an alliance to end homelessness. The Alliance represents a united effort to address the root causes of homelessness and challenge society's acceptance of homelessness as an inevitable by-product of American life.”

National Low Income Housing Coalition
"The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to ending America’s affordable housing crisis. We believe that this is achievable, that the affordable housing crisis is a problem that Americans are capable of solving. While we are concerned about the housing circumstances of all low income people, we focus our advocacy on those with the most serious housing problems, the lowest income households.”

Universal Living Wage
"This web site is sponsored by HTH, an education and advocacy organization that believes the moral premise that anyone working a 40 hour week should be able to afford some form of housing.”

MASW Affordable Housing and Homelessness Yahoo Group
"This Group serves as a forum for members of MASW's Affordable Housing and Homelessness Task Force, for agencies and people involved in the Homeless Missourians Information System (HMIS) Project, and for anyone involved in or interested in the issues of affordable housing and homelessness in the State of Missouri.”

National Low Income Energy Consortium
"For millions of low-income Americans the energy crisis is still a reality, even though the rest of society is not always aware that this problem exists. Families with energy hardships include the newly -unemployed, and those working poor who earn too much to qualify for most public assistance programs yet earn too little to meet their basic energy needs. Energy bills of low-income families can represent a much larger percentage of expendable resource than they do for middle class America - often four times that of typical families. Founded in 1986, the National Low Income Energy Consortium (NLIEC), brings together public, private, and nonprofit sector organizations and individuals for a common purpose: Reducing the residential energy hardships and crises faced by low-income consumers.”

One Economy Corporation
"One Economy is a national non-profit organization created to be a catalyst for innovation and change. We help bring access to technology into the homes of low-income people around the country. We use that technology to connect low-income people to information and tools they can use to build assets and improve their lives. Our primary market is 12 million people living in 5.5 million units of government-supported affordable housing across the US. Our secondary market is 15 million people living in non-government supported affordable housing. Together, these 27 million low-income people represent $250 billion in annual purchasing power, or about 2.5% of the GDP. …Our strategy to help low-income people use technology to build assets and join the economic mainstream focuses around four key areas: access services, online consumer content, technology-related policy initiatives, and youth leadership."

FEDERAL AGENCIES

Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) National Technical Assistance Initiative
"HUD's National Technical Assistance Initiative is designed to provide assistance to HUD and its grantees toward the goal of implementing Homeless Management Information Systems by October 2004. HUD as been directed by Congress to work with jurisdictions to collect an array of data on homelessness, including unduplicated counts, use of services and the effectiveness of the local homeless assistance systems. HUD is to collect homeless data and provide an annual report to Congress. The first Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), due in July 2005, will be based on data from both a representative sample and other communities from across the United States that have implemented an HMIS.”

National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness
"The National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness is the only national center specifically focused on the effective organization and delivery of services for people who are homeless and have serious mental illnesses. The Resource Center's activities enable the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) to facilitate service systems change through field-based knowledge development, synthesis, exchange, and adoption of effective practices.”

Interagency Council on Homelessness
"The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness is truly a vehicle of out-of-the-box thinking and creative problem-solving. Everyone deserves a place to call home, and we can make that a reality by improving access to and coordination of essential services. Through innovative partnership and leadership, I believe we can end chronic homelessness within a decade.”

HUD Supportive Housing Program Desk Guide
"This guide describes the SHP grant process from grant award onward. It will take you through the life cycle of a grant, incorporating everything from very basic information to the intricacies of grant administration. The guide is not a substitute for the SHP regulations. However, it is a practical guide to issues that arise during project implementation.”

Housing and Homelessness-Related Links and Recommended Reading

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

FEDERAL AGENCIES

RECOMMENDED READING