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Using Advocacy to End Homelessness: State Advocacy Guide Lisa Stand, Senior Analyst Edward SanFilippo, Policy Fellow November 2013

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Page 1: Using Advocacy to End Homelessness

Using Advocacy to

End Homelessness: State Advocacy Guide

Lisa Stand, Senior Analyst

Edward SanFilippo, Policy Fellow

November 2013

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The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a non-

partisan, mission-driven nonprofit organization

committed to preventing and ending homelessness in

the United States. The Alliance is a leading voice on

the issue of homelessness. The Alliance analyzes

policy and develops pragmatic, cost-effective policy

solutions. The Alliance works collaboratively with the

public, private, and nonprofit sectors to build state

and local capacity, leading to stronger programs and

policies that help communities achieve their goal of

ending homelessness. We provide data and research

to policymakers and elected officials in order to

inform policy debates and educate the public and

opinion leaders nationwide.

Copyright © 2013. The National Alliance to End Homelessness.

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Introduction

People committed to ending homelessness in their communities know that, alongside familiar federal priorities like funding for HUD’s McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants, state policies and programs are vital to the work they do. However, engaging effectively in state policymaking can be a challenge, and advocacy success takes planning and organization. This State Advocacy Guide is designed to simplify advocacy at the state level and to provide you with tools you can use to make preventing and ending homelessness a state priority. Through advocacy, you can work with state partners to bring about the changes needed to end homelessness. The Guide is a companion and supplement to “Using Advocacy to End Homelessness: A Toolkit for Understanding and Conducting Advocacy,” also published by the Alliance. The Guide will add to your understanding of state advocacy and give you tools to get results in your state capital – whether from the legislature, commissions, or administrative offices. It is expected that most readers will draw on information and tools from both the Toolkit and the Guide, skimming through chapters to see what information is available and then utilizing specific sections as appropriate. Readers of the Guide should turn to the Toolkit1 to learn more on topics such as:

Rules for Nonprofit Lobbying;

Building Effective Coalitions;

Developing Relationships with Government Officials; and

Conducting Successful Meetings.

Why Does State Policy Matter in Plans to End Homelessness?

Homeless assistance and housing solutions in your community likely rely on federal resources as a foundation. However, state resources and state policy priorities can also be critical. Besides funding programs directly, state budgets and policies can powerfully drive how federal programs are accessed and implemented in communities. State-level decisions on a range of matters affect the capacity of your community to prevent and end homelessness. 1 “Using Advocacy to End Homelessness: A Toolkit for Understanding and Conducting Advocacy” can be found on

the Alliance website. Visit www.endhomelessness.org/library.

Examples of state policies that make a difference: Medicaid coverage and benefits; resources to support people with mental illness and substance use problems; tax benefits to build housing for people with disabilities and extremely low incomes; and family services that promote rapid re-housing and family unification to end a homeless episode.

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At a basic level, advocacy is the active support of an idea or cause. Generally, advocacy takes a wide array of forms, from basic education about the importance of an issue to direct lobbying where you ask a policymaker to take a specific action. So too the potential targets of your state advocacy efforts are also wide-ranging. State elected leaders, appointed officials, and influential stakeholders can all be focal points on key state policy. How you reach them, and when, are questions for advocacy planning – a topic covered in the next section. If you have any questions about advocacy or the information contained in the toolkit, please do not hesitate to contact the Alliance. Staff members are available to assist you every step of the way as you strategize your advocacy efforts.

As someone who is involved in the homelessness assistance world, you are a critical part of advocacy efforts to secure new and increased resources for ending homelessness. If you work in this field on a daily basis, you are well aware of the challenges that your community is facing and what it could do with additional resources or new or improved programs. It is up to you to communicate those needs to policymakers. They rely on constituents to understand which issues represent a priority for their community.

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Developing a State Advocacy Plan

Two key elements of your state advocacy efforts are developing an advocacy strategy and staying on target with your priorities. With your demanding work helping to end homelessness, you may find that your state advocacy efforts are limited to speaking up at the last minute as important issues arise. As a result, you miss opportunities to build strong, long-term relationships with state elected officials. Having your own set of priorities, great and small, matters a great deal. It is important to remember that the most valuable short-term successes are those that move your agenda toward its longer-term goals. Planning helps keep your efforts on track for the future. Following the steps below will help you plan effectively to meet long-term goals with measurable progress and short-term success along the way.

1. Build Relationships As You Go Whether you work in a coalition with others or not, successful advocacy depends upon establishing strong relationships with your local representatives and top administrative and legislative leaders. When they trust you and know that you are a credible and reliable partner, they will be more likely to respond positively to your advocacy requests. Developing and maintaining these relationships takes time and effort. In many states, there are term limits and other reasons for turnover in key positions. Therefore, it is a good idea to consider relationship-building as an ongoing element of your plan.

2. Include Policymakers Closest to Home Communicate with your local elected officials, even if they do not sit on key committees and even if they have not made ending homelessness a priority. They are nevertheless most interested in what their own constituents have to say. If constituents do not tell them why it is important to make ending homelessness a state priority, policymakers may never know they need to do so. Just as it is their job to listen to you, it is your job to tell them what your community needs. And remember – today’s state senator may be tomorrow’s U.S. Congresswoman.

3. Work from a Menu of Objectives Advocacy strategy can have more than one approach, depending on the audiences you most need to reach. You might be planning a lengthy campaign, e.g., a drive to end chronic homelessness in 5 years. To meet this goal, you need to reach the broad public, in your locale or across the state, as well as policymakers. Or you may have a single policy request in a given year, such as increased housing assistance for homeless youth.

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The benefit to setting a big goal—such as ending homelessness in 5 years—is that it helps to energize supporters in the field of homeless assistance, as well as community partners and the public at large. By explaining the long-term vision for your advocacy activities, you increase your network’s’ desire to participate in the movement as well as an understanding of how the actions they take now can help to shape long-term change. Big goals are helpful to steer long-term planning and generate support. Meanwhile, concrete, immediate advocacy requests are best when working directly in the policymaking process. These requests are your short-term objectives. Your direct appeals to elected officials to take action are more likely to be successful if they focus on pragmatic requests that are realistically achievable in the immediate future. This way, policymakers are more likely to view your organization as a practical, credible partner. With advocacy efforts, the objective is usually to increase resources or pass new legislation. Unfortunately, sometimes factors beyond your control (such as the economic or political climate) may make it hard to reach those ends. As a result, it is very important to use additional measures to define success, including milestones such as getting your elected official to take action or securing support and commitments from a new stakeholder.

4. Map Out a One-Year or Two-Year Advocacy Plan With immediate and longer-term goals in mind, your coalition should work out a timeline that makes the most sense in your state policymaking environment. A basic, short-term timeline often tracks with the legislative calendar. However, achieving success on a state initiative can take several years. Therefore, your immediate objective for a year is not necessarily bill passage. It may be creation of a study commission, or having a bill passed out of a committee, thereby gaining momentum for enactment at a later time. These three factors will help your coalition define objectives for a state legislative session:

Opportunity – What is the likelihood of success? Perhaps your issue has a new champion in the legislature or the governor’s office, or perhaps there is momentum to build upon from the prior session. An improved budget forecast often creates an opportunity. On the other hand, it also means you will face more competition for the attention of key leaders in position to affect the budget.

Potential impact – Of all the initiatives you are considering, which would result in the most gain? You could view this question in terms of the number of homeless people who would be served or permanently housed next year. For the long run, being able to sustain support for a new program is a factor in assessing impact.

Strategic planning is an ongoing activity. Periodically assess the public policies most important for you or your coalition. Consider the issues and proposals most relevant to your overall mission and the people affected, as well as the policymaking environment.

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Capacity – With limited resources, what level of effort is reasonable to expect from your coalition? In addition to direct costs, think of training needs, availability of experts and leaders, and whether you may have to respond to opposition or competing proposals.

5. Select Your Targets

After your coalition has set its objectives, you will be able to decide targets. “Targets” refers to the people or groups you need to take a specific action, e.g., introduce or vote on a bill, or hold a hearing. A target is usually a legislator but sometimes it is also worthwhile to focus on opinion leaders, influential media, or the broader public. In target selection, be sure you understand which individuals and groups are in a position to take the action you need.

6. Map Out Action Steps After clarifying objectives and identifying targets, you can begin to brainstorm the actions that will motivate your targets to advance your agenda. These actions, sometimes also referred to as “tactics,” really describe the specific steps you plan to take to reach your objectives. Examples of tactics include:

Hosting a site visit for an official whose support you need;

Meeting as a group with your elected officials to ask for their vote on a specific bill;

Mobilizing volunteers and supporters to contact legislators with phone calls and email, and write letters to the editor.

Some tactics are more time-intensive, while others require less effort but may have less impact. Determine how much work is needed to reach the objectives you set, and then choose which tactics will be most effective. Careful planning of your activities will help you achieve your objectives without expending unnecessary resources on the effort. Again, the more time you put into an advocacy strategy, the more likely you are to be able to affect the outcome positively. Aiming for specific numbers of concrete actions will help your coalition structure and evaluate its efforts. Following specific strategies will help your coalition to be more goal-oriented and focused on results. Be realistic, but ambitious. Aim high and push your coalition to do its best in its efforts, but do not set yourself up for failure by choosing impossibly high outputs for your efforts.

Be very focused with your tactics. Instead of aiming to “send letters” or “get media attention,” aim to “get the community to send 20 letters” to an elected official or “place one op-ed and three letters to the editor in the local paper” about a certain piece of legislation.

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Tips for Successful Communication ■ Use helpful media attention as a springboard. Forward news items on homelessness to local legislative offices, adding a note about state policies that make a difference. When your coalition releases a new study or has new outcomes data, pass that information along, too. ■ If a staff member seeks you out with questions, respond promptly and thoroughly. Being a staff member’s “go-to” person is a sign of a strong relationship and puts you in one of the best positions you can have as a constituent. ■ Getting on the phone with a government official? Take a few minutes first to plan out exactly what you want to say. This will help you to be more concise and to better structure your remarks. ■ Suggest a concrete action step a government official can take, such as sending a letter or voting for a specific bill at an appropriate time. Be clear about what you want to be done. Asking for something vague, such as to “express their support on the issue of homelessness,” does not always leave them with a clear sense of what you want them to do and is therefore less likely to result in any action at all.

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State Advocacy Planning Toolkit

Contents

Making a Point with Data................................................................................................................ 9

Worksheets ............................................................................................................................... 10

Homeless Subpopulations in Your Community ..................................................................... 10

Community Health ................................................................................................................. 10

‘Talking Points’ Templates ........................................................................................................ 11

Medicaid Health Homes State Interagency Council Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Planning Your Action Steps ........................................................................................................... 18

Goals and Objectives ................................................................................................................. 19

Timeline..................................................................................................................................... 21

Policy Environment ................................................................................................................... 22

Meeting with Policymakers ...................................................................................................... 23

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Making a Point with Data

The tools in this section will help you think and talk about state and local data in a way that tells a story:

Worksheets that provide an organized way to collect and compare local data about homelessness and vulnerability, with step-by-step guidance on finding the relevant information. Completing these worksheets will help with initial advocacy planning, as well as later conversations with key stakeholders and policymakers.

Templates for talking points about three issues important at the state level: Medicaid Health Homes, State Interagency Council on Homelessness, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Each template includes space for you to incorporate your state and local data. These templates can be customized for meetings with appropriate audiences, from potential allies to state administrators.

Alliance staff can help you navigate these forms and data sources. Consult with a Policy Team member for assistance.

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Worksheets

Homeless Subpopulations in Your Community [Year] Last PIT Count Year Before PIT 5 Years Ago PIT

Total homeless population

Chronic

Substance Abuse Disorder

Severely Mentally Ill

Source: This info can be searched for at: http://www.hudhre.info -- under CoC/GranteeInfo/Coc Reports

Community Health [Year]

Health and Health Care Information Your

County

Next

County Over

Your

State U.S.

How healthy are people?

countyhealthrankings.org - health

outcomes ranking

Can they get what they need?

countyhealthrankings.org - clinical care

ranking

What is the rate of disability?

statehealthfacts.org

Do people lack health insurance?

countyhealthrankings.org

Are people on Medicaid?

statehealthfacts.org

Do people have high housing costs?

countyhealthrankings.org (Find your state,

then click on ‘Measures,’ then ‘Additional

Measures,’ and then ‘High Housing Costs’)

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SAMPLE WORKSHEETS

Homeless Subpopulations in KC Continuum of Care 2012 PIT Count 2011 PIT 2010 PIT

Total homeless population

2,479

2,789

1,938

Chronic

339

373

528

Substance Abuse Disorder

643

650

437

Severely Mentally Ill

616

524

452

Source: This info can be searched for at: http://www.hudhre.info -- under CoC/GranteeInfo/Coc Reports

Community Health 2012

Health and Health Care Information Jackson

County

Lafayette

County MO U.S.

How healthy are people?

countyhealthrankings.org - health

outcomes ranking

Ranks 71st

of

115 counties

Ranks 23rd

of

115 counties

Can they get what they need?

countyhealthrankings.org - clinical care

ranking

Ranks 13th

of

115 counties

Ranks 58th

of

115 counties

What is the rate of disability?

statehealthfacts.org

14.1%

12.1%

Do people lack health insurance?

countyhealthrankings.org

17%

15%

15%

11%

Are people on Medicaid?

statehealthfacts.org

18% (2010)

Do people have high housing costs?

countyhealthrankings.org (Find your state,

then click on ‘Measures,’ then ‘Additional

Measures,’ and then ‘High Housing Costs’)

34%

23%

29%

Prepared by NAEH

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TALKING POINTS - TEMPLATES

Meeting Health Care Needs of People Experiencing Homelessness.

X percent of homeless people in our state are chronically homeless, meaning they

are disabled and have frequent or lengthy periods of homelessness. [Source: This

info can be found in “State of Homelessness,” NAEH publication, naeh.org]. Solving

their homelessness is an important part of addressing their health status, because

stable housing is shown to be the first step in self-direction and appropriate use of

behavioral and physical health care services.2

Chronically homeless people tend to struggle with mental illness, often with co-

occurring substance use problems and severe medical issues – all of which are

exacerbated by the experience of homelessness.3

Health Care Financing

People who are chronically homeless may have access to Medicaid, if they are able

to demonstrate their conditions meet disability criteria set by the state.4 Without

access to supportive housing, Medicaid coverage may fall short as a solution for

homeless people with the highest needs. Without a stable platform from which to

access care and recover, they receive delayed, uncoordinated health care in

emergency rooms and jails – the most costly way to deliver services.

Vulnerable homeless people who do not have Medicaid coverage are also treated by

federally qualified community health centers, if they are accessible. They may also

receive some care in local jails. Otherwise, they are eventually treated in hospital

emergency rooms, and often released to the street.

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicaid will gradually reduce payments to

hospitals for safety-net services provided to uninsured patients. In the long run,

hospitals and communities will need a strategy to make up for the shortfall of

federal compensation for uninsured people who are treated in emergency rooms.

2“ Supportive Housing Cuts Costs of Caring for the Chronically Homeless,” Journal of the American Medical

Association, July 4, 2012. 3 Supportive Housing Research FAQs: Who Lives in Supportive Housing, CSH, January 2007

4 In most states, these criteria are met if a person receives federal disability benefits, usually Supplemental Security

Income. States with their own criteria are: Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia.

Medicaid Health Homes

The Ask: Prioritize advocacy for Medicaid health home models with strong housing focus Audience: Health Care Coalition

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Supportive Housing in the Health Care Equation

Communities in our state are actively engaged in strategies to help chronically homeless

people, with resources from federal housing programs, as well as state programs. The

approach, called permanent supportive housing (PSH), combines subsidized housing

with services needed to stabilize a person in their own home. [Describe an example of

PSH ending chronically homelessness in your state].

For the most vulnerable homeless populations, PSH can be cost-effective for health care

systems as well as public services like crisis intervention and public safety. Cost-

effectiveness for Medicaid has been proven most clearly in Chicago, through a housing

and health care partnership that addressed homeless people who were frequent users

of Medicaid services. A key component of the project is case management to coordinate

the array of services needed to support health outcomes.5

Health Home Solutions

Our state should access new federal resources for health homes separate from the ACA

Medicaid expansion. The optional Medicaid health home benefit is very well suited to

finance care coordination across housing and health care silos. The ACA criteria are

flexible enough to support a health home design that can serve people experiencing

homelessness and recognize the role of PSH in positive health outcomes.6 For instance,

our state could adopt a health home model for Medicaid with the following features:

Eligibility for enrollees who have severe and persistent mental illness;

PSH providers qualified to be health homes;

Housing specialists on care teams;

Case loads and payment methods that account for nature and intensity of

services that support housing stability.

5 “Comparative Cost Analysis of Housing and Case Management Program for Chronically Ill Homeless Adults

Compared to Usual Care,” Health Services Research, February 2012. 6 “Medicaid Health Homes: Emerging Models and Implications for Solutions to Chronic Homelessness,” National

Alliance to End Homelessness, November 2012.

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Revised July 2013.

Homelessness in Our State

At a point in time last year, X people were homeless in our state.7 In the previous year, this

figure was Y. This chart shows a snapshot of the characteristics of homeless people.

[Year] [Prior Year]

Total

Chronic

Substance Abuse

Severe Mental Illness

Regions or localities with the most concentrated homeless populations in the state are [add

info on specific CoCs]: [Source: This info can be searched for at: http://www.hudhre.info --

under CoC/GranteeInfo/CoC Reports]

What Does Homelessness Cost?8

The human costs of experiencing homelessness are incalculable – trauma, despair, loss of

family, job and community, illness and injury. Homelessness is also costly for the state and local

governing bodies and taking steps to address the problem is fiscally wise. In communities that

have engaged actively in ending homelessness, public costs have been reduced – often

substantially – in the areas of crisis response, public safety, and emergency services.

Community agencies – both public and private-sector – deliver services every day to people

experiencing homelessness, including services to help them find and stay in housing. An

example of a community working to collaboratively to implement a plan to end homelessness is

[Briefly describe a well-coordinated effort in your state].

Coordination and Targeting of Resources

7 Homelessness is defined as living in an emergency shelter, transitional housing, or in a place not intended for

human habitation. An individual or family is considered chronically homeless if a disabling condition present and

episodes of homelessness are lengthy or frequent. 8 For more detailed information, the Alliance website provides a summary and cites references.

http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/cost_of_homelessness.

State Interagency Council

The Ask: Revitalized state-level interagency council on homelessness Audience: Governor’s Office

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Partnerships and collaboration in communities cannot go the whole distance to end

homelessness. In an era of strained public budgets across all layers of government, effective

interagency coordination is required to make progress on ending homelessness. Improved

cooperation at the state level is needed to streamline and target resources to achieve a shared

goal of re-housing people and offering the right amount of the right type of interventions to

keep people housed. In our state, all of the following departments administer programs that

respond to the needs of people experiencing homelessness: [name departments or programs,

e.g., housing finance authority, veteran services, family support and child welfare offices, jobs

training and employment services, mental health and substance abuse treatment programs,

adult protective services and domestic abuse response, prison re-entry, Medicaid and health

care safety-nets.]

Access to Federal Resources

Increasingly, our state’s capacity to access scarce federal dollars for housing assistance depends

on its interagency strategies. An example is HUD’s Section 811 disability housing

demonstration. This program awarded new federal rental assistance to states that agreed to set

up memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between their housing officials and Medicaid

programs. Other initiatives provide opportunities to leverage federal and state programs,

depending on states to drive policy priorities and coordination efforts. Examples are:

Using Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) money to help poor homeless

families find and keep permanent housing.9

Implementing Medicaid program changes to improve behavioral and physical health

care delivery in supportive housing.10

Training state personnel dedicated to Social Security determinations that benefit the

most vulnerable homeless people. 11

Solution

A state interagency governing body should be created, and held accountable at the highest

levels, with the purpose of leading efforts across agencies and programs and the goal to

prevent and end homelessness.

9 “Making Effective Use of TANF,” National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2013.

10 “Can Medicaid Reform Make a Difference for Homeless Individuals,” National Alliance to End Homelessness,

2011. 11

“SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery (SOAR): An Overview,” Substance Abuse and Mental Health

Services Administration,” accessed with additional resources at http://www.prainc.com/soar/.

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At a given point last year, X families were experiencing homelessness in our state, including many who are TANF clients or eligible to receive TANF benefits. [Source: This info can be found in “State of Homelessness,” NAEH publication, www.naeh.org] A great majority of homeless families who enter shelter are able to quickly exit with little or no assistance and never return. The remaining group consists of families needing a varying degree of help to become stable in housing again.12 Under the strategy known as “rapid re-housing,” communities direct short-term assistance to homeless families in the form of brief rental assistance. Once their homelessness is addressed, families are often able to find work that pays enough to support their families on their own.

Rapid re-housing is well suited as a TANF method. Helping homeless families get quickly re-

housed and back on their feet with a stable job promotes the goals of long-term self-sufficiency

of low-income families with children.

In New Jersey, Mercer County re-housed nearly 200 families in less than a year, in a

coordinated strategy to leverage multiple resources, including TANF. The number of

families living in shelter on a given day was reduced in the county by 20 percent over

two years.

There are several specific ways TANF can partner with community efforts to help families

experiencing homelessness.

The TANF program [name specific state department] has discretion to make short-

term, non-recurrent benefits available to homeless families and local providers

helping to rehouse them. Because federal monitoring and reporting rules are more

flexible for short-term assistance, this approach is easier and less costly to administer,

compared to ongoing help like cash assistance.

An example of this approach is found in Idaho. There, the Department of

Health and Welfare partners with a non-profit rapid-rehousing provider,

providing four months of rental assistance along with case management, to

help families quickly exit homelessness.

TANF in our state can also streamline access to job-finding assistance, optimizing

families’ opportunity to succeed in rapid-rehousing. For instance, to help rehoused

families find a reliable income stream as soon as possible through working, the TANF

12

“Ending Family Homelessness: Local Trends and National Systems Responses,” CSH and National Alliance to

End Homelessness, October 2012.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

The Ask: Prioritize TANF resources to stabilize homeless families Audience: State TANF director and local administrators

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program [name specific state department] can expedite employment assistance, and

even waive pre-application requirements.

In Utah, the Department of Workforce Services, which administers TANF for

the state, assigns staff to a homeless service agency in order to help rapidly

re-housed families connect quickly to employment.

Some homeless families are simply unable to get a foothold in gainful work due to a

disability of an adult or a child. In these cases, can play an important role connecting

the family with longer term income supports, specifically Supplemental Security

Income or Social Security Disability Insurance. In partnership with TANF and state

benefits enrollment efforts, communities can identify and leverage resources of

multiple systems to support this small subset of families needing long-term solutions

to end their homelessness.

The authority of the TANF program [name specific state department] to support

efforts to end homelessness is clarified and reinforced by federal policy and

implementation.

Congress supported rapid re-housing with stimulus funding to communities

addressing homelessness in the early years of the economic crisis. Although

extra funding for Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing (HPRP) has

expired, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

encourages rapid re-housing through its competitive homeless assistance

grants.

With the success of HPRP as an example, the Administration for Families and

Children explicitly cites use of TANF short-term assistance to help qualified

families escape homelessness.

Solution

State and local TANF leaders should establish policies, as permitted by federal guidelines, to

direct TANF and related state resources toward goals of rapidly re-housing families

experiencing homelessness.

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Planning Your Action Steps The planning tools in this section will help you organize your coalition’s activities in a deliberate and coordinated manner. The first worksheet provides a template for identifying your goals and potential strategies, while the second worksheet includes a year-long timeline to map out the activities your coalition will engage in to achieve these goals. By filling out the third worksheet, your coalition can begin to identify important government and community officials, and strategies for building relationships to move your message forward. Finally, the last worksheet will help you organize and prepare for meetings with elected officials and policymakers.

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Goals and Objectives

GOAL OBJECTIVES STRATEGIES ACTIVITIES

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Timeline

MONTH ACTIVITY LEAD

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

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Policy Environment

State

Political Climate

Governor/Political Party:

Majority Party in State Legislature:

Overall Climate:

Key Players in Homelessness

1.

2.

3.

Key Players in Healthcare

1.

2.

3.

Possible Champions

1.

2.

3.

Grassroots Tactics

Effective Language

Medicaid Expansion

Timeline:

Progress:

Opportunities:

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Meeting with Policymakers

Meeting with:

Name:

Position:

District/Agency/Office:

Political Affiliation:

Why them?

Purpose of meeting:

Key Asks:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Questions to expect:

1.

2.

3.

Resources/evidence

to bring:

1.

2.

3.

Coalition Attendees:

1.

2.

3.

4.

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