Communities across America have made great strides in ending homelessness. Denver, Colorado has reduced chronic homelessness by 36% in just two years; Portland, Oregon by 70% in the same amount of time and Chicago by 12%. We are beginning to see the numbers go down in community after community.
The fact is that we know how to end homelessness in America. We know that adequate, affordable and accessible housing is the solution. We know that quality housing with supportive services can get our most vulnerable homeless families and individuals out of shelters and off the streets and change their lives.
Philanthropy has played a key role in helping to make that happen. Local and national funders have supported a range of efforts to help eliminate what had threatened to become a permanent feature of America’s social landscape. Rather than contribute to the seemingly endless cycle of homelessness, these funders joined together to invest in innovative research and programs that end that cycle. In the process, they have reshaped the way in which we think about and respond to homelessness.
The result is a growing philanthropic movement to end homelessness in America. This movement is supporting changes in charitable organizations and government agencies at every level to assure the smart, efficient and humane use of our grant and tax dollars and to help people move from homelessness to self sufficiency.
If you aren’t already a part of this movement, please read the following principles and strategies. If you agree with them, we welcome your involvement and support. To find out more, please read on:
- Housing is the key: Promote housing-based solutions with access to appropriate services, that are integrated into our communities, as the primary investment for ending homelessness.
- Recruit partners and make deals: Initiate and collaborate through strategic partnerships among funders, local policymakers, business leaders, and government, as well as advocacy, housing and service providers.
- Think upstream: Support effective prevention programs and strategies, such as effective discharge planning, employment training, substance abuse counseling, and family reunification efforts.
- Share the vision: Raise awareness of homelessness and existing local ten year plans to end homelessness, while building public will for long-term strategies locally and nationally.
- Build a bank of knowledge: Encourage and support research, demonstration projects, and data collection to identify and confirm effective, evidenced-based approaches for serving the homeless population.
- Be an agent for change: Promote needed systems change, including increased coordination across government departments and agencies and efforts to transition providers from shelter-based to housing first models.
- Follow the money: Work actively to leverage national policy and financial support for these efforts.
We invite you to sign on to the Funding Principles for Ending Homelessness, pledge to fund activities that promote the Principles, and work in partnership within and across our communities to end homelessness in the United States.
