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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2009)
g £ z .£ bratzng 10 « Street r o o t a l B Education * Dialogue ♦ Independence NATIONAL hopes for the future H UD Secretary Shawn Donovan cut his teeth on homeless issues with the National Coalition for the Homeless. Now, homeless advocates want to hear how he will apply what he’s learned. PH O TO CO URTESY .ident O bam a an d T are.co n v in ced th a t__ n n m h e r of available re n ta l v o u ch ers. We any recovery must be sustainable and based on real growth, not only on the jobs front, W ashington, D.C.— . haun Donovan, named secretary of the but in the housing market as well. And this US Department of Housing and Urban absolutely must indude1 a more concerted Development served’ as an intern at effort on the part of the fédéral government the National Coalition for the Homeless to encourage the production of more when his career in Washington was just affordable rental housing. getting started. Here are his reflections of that time: T.T.: WZwzf steps have the Congress and “As an undergraduate I'was volunteering your administration taken thus far that will at a homeless shelter in Cambridge and prevent more people from becoming homeless went to hear Robert Hayes, founder of and help put people experiencing homelessness Coalition for the Homeless, speak. His back into homes? powerful words moved me to ask if there was any work I could do with the coalition S. D.: The American Recovery and in Washington as I was moving there to Reinvestment Act provides $1.5 billion in intern for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. grants to rapidly re-house families who fall Robert Hayes directed me to Maria into homelessness or to help prevent them Foscarinis and the National Coalition for from becoming homeless in the first place. the Homeless. I interned for the Coalition HUD’s new Homeless Prevention and Rapid at the same time as working in Senator Re-housing Program allows us to fund Moynihan’s office and conducted research homeless prevention activities as never federal housing policy at both places. I ■ before. President Obama and the Congress remember staying up all night to set up an recognized that too many families are exhibition of photographs from Stephenie { experiencing a sudden economic crisis and Hollyman’s book “We the Homeless” in the are at extremely high risk of becoming Senate Rotunda. “ - Shaun Donovan 1 homeless. The Recovery Act is just one way we’re hoping to offer the land of short- and Tony Taylor: At a recent news conference, medium-term help to put them on the path President Obama was asked to comment on to self sufficiency. the growing crisis of family homelessness. The president responded by'acknowledging that the, T. T.: For many years, low-income families homelessness problem, in this country "was bad arid individuals in our nation have, faced a even when the economy was good, ” and cited severe shortage of affordable housing. How will the importance of creating quality jobs to help the Department of Housing and Urban homeless families and individuals afford Development address this, problem under your shelter. While job creation is certainly an leadership? important component of a federal response to homelessness, it is only part of the solution. S.D.: The prior administration lost sight What would you add to the president’s of how the housing boom, as beneficial as it response? may have been for homeowners, placed much of our available rental housing Stock Shawn Donovan: For many Americans, well beyond the reach of many lower income the previous economic prosperity was families. In particular, families liyiug in high- largely fueled by the artificial growth in cost areas continue to face à hard choice - home values. This put tremendous either move to a lower cost area or live in pressure on the rental marketplace as lower substandard housing. income families Struggled-to find a home or We must take a more balanced approach apartment they could afford. They to our national housing policy. This is why experienced none of the benefits of a we are seeking to create $1 billion Housing booming housing market and all of the Trust Fund to stimulate the production of negative consequences. affordable housing and to increase the S also intend to increase funding to our standing Community Development Block Grants and HOME programs that will go a long way toward investing in the affordable rental market. I believe the president’s proposed 2010 budget returns the federal government to its leadership role as a catalyst for expanding the availability of decent and affordable rental housing. T.T.: What role do you believe scattered-site public housing should play in your Departments response to homelessness? S. D.: Housing First projects have shown I that homeless persons, Including chronically homeless ¿persons, can be stably housed in scattered-site housing, with appropriate support. Ofcritical importance is-the ability of the families and service providers to be reliably in contact. Placing homeless families in locations that are distant to important service providers may add a layer of complication to the provision of services. Placing homeless families in Scattered- site public housing is a local decision based on thè type of housingavailable, and the type, and locationof the services being provided. I encourage public housing authorities to connect with their community’s local continuum of care to secure services and to assess what the best housing option might be for homeless families. T. T.: What is your vision for the U.S,. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) ih the coming years? . . S.D.: The focus of the previous Interagency Council was to end chronic homelessness. We learned from that experience that if we assess research and then clearly define a policy objective, target- resources to meet that objective and then measure results that we can .make a real difference. HUD, a member of the USICH, played a key role in this initiative. It’s nów - time to use that same process and see what can be done not just for the chronically See HUD, from page 11 > Above, Housing, arid Urban Development Secretary Shawn Donovan at an Earth Day Event earlier this year.
