WASHINGTON — Better coordination among the many agencies that try to help homeless people find employment and health care as well as stable places to live is central to reaching the Obama administration’s ambitious goal of ending homelessness.
A proposal called “Opening Doors” suggests a major shift in the federal approach to homelessness. The effort would be driven mainly by integration of support services and applying state and local models at the federal level, according to the federal Interagency Council on Homelessness.
The effort calls for ending chronic homelessness and homelessness among military veterans in five years, and for ending homelessness among families and children by 2020. The plan aims to eventually end all types of homelessness.
Vouchers for more than 2 million low-income families and affordable rental units for another 1 million low-income households are planned or are already being implemented.
In addition to finding better employment opportunities for the homeless, services are offered specifically for homeless women who are veterans.
Officials have simplified applications for students seeking financial aid for college and have improved the ability to quickly identify homeless people with disabilities. A streamlined homeless program in HUD, now with a hot line, will focus on providing permanent housing.
Volunteers counted 643,000 homeless people, sheltered and on the streets, during one given night in January 2009, according to the HUD’s annual report to Congress. The report released last week also showed that while the number of homeless people dropped in 2009, the number of families spending at least one night in a shelter increased to about 170,000.
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