Statement on the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness’ Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 

December 20, 2022, Washington, D.C. – The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) expresses its enthusiastic support for the newly-released U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) report, All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness

NCH has long believed that ending homelessness requires a strong coordinated effort by the US Federal government, as well as the USICH. Being led and governed by those with previous experience of homelessness, we appreciate the USICH’s emphasis on genuine partnerships with people experiencing homelessness, as well as the need to address structural racism.

We believe the initiatives outlined in All In will provide the administration a springboard for more robust condemnation of the efforts to make homelessness illegal, along with clear refocusing on the affordable housing crisis in the United States. It is past time that we focus anti-poverty efforts and solutions to homelessness on structural change instead of perceived individual failures.

USICH is the only federal agency with the sole mission of preventing and ending homelessness in America. It coordinates with 19 federal member agencies, state and local governments, and the private sector to create partnerships, use resources in the most efficient and effective ways, and implement evidence-based best practices.

Donald Whitehead, Executive Director of NCH, said, “the federal government must ensure that all citizens have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is the belief of the National Coalition that housing must be included in the fundamental rights for those living in the richest country in the history of the world.”

All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness is a well-designed strategic, measurable and inclusive plan that restores the true role of the USICH to that of a leader in federal policy to end homeless. “Homelessness is solvable. We believe that the Federal Strategic plan provides a roadmap to realize the end to homelessness that motivated our founders, including Michael Stoops, buddy grey and Mitch Snyder” said Donald Whitehead.

Dr. Rajni Shankar-Brown, President of the National Coalition for the Homeless Board and Professor and Distinguished Chair of Social Justice Education at Stetson University stated, “The USICH Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness provides a strong start to ending this humanitarian crisis. Housing is a human right. To live in one of the wealthiest nations in the world with millions of individuals, families, children and youth without housing is unacceptable. People with lived experience and expertise must be part of creating solutions. Racial equity and intersectionality must be intentionally prioritized, particularly given persistent and growing disparities — racial, ethnic, gender, LGBTQIA+, disabilities, and historically and socially marginalized communities in the U.S.. We are long overdue to be all in and to genuinely advance housing justice.”

“NCH and the Bring America Home Now Campaign strongly support Housing as a Human Right and it is critical that people that have experienced housing crises are at decision making tables in designing and implementing the responses that meet their needs and wants. To implement this plan we need the equity in resources we provide to homeowners and people’s housing needs at 30% median income and below. (Homeowners receive at least 4x’s the subsidy as people with  lowest income in our country),” added Sue Watlov Phillips, NCH Policy Committee Chair and Executive Director of MICAH (Minnesota).

The National Coalition is the oldest national advocacy organization around homelessness and is pleased to see a plan that focuses on data driven solutions and moves away from the disastrous policy promoted by the previous administration.


Let’s Talk About Homelessness in the State of the Union 

By Brian Davis

The problem of homelessness was once a prominent part of every Presidential campaign from Nixon, Carter to Reagan each released plans to house every American. It should be understood that Reagan’s plan (the last time the President was pushed to address homelessness) was rather specious in having every church and synagogue adopt “10 welfare families” until the inflation crisis was over.  There were dramatic expansions of federal housing support from the 1960s to the mid 1980s that really made an impact. In 1984, Jesse Carpenter froze to death on a bench very near the federal agency in charge of housing and everything changed.  The Homeless Persons Survival Act was written in the offices of the National Coalition for the Homeless and was passed in 1986 and began a huge escalation in federal dollars toward the emergency needs of those on the streets. 

This resulted in a huge infusion of dollars to keep people from freezing to death, and a steady decline in the construction and repair of affordable housing.  The problem of homelessness no longer was an emergency that politicians set their hair on fire to address.  It became a routine to check people in every night, process their paperwork and have them wait in a bunk bed for a month, a year, a decade for the next available unit of affordable housing. Then it became to norm to have children skipping school because they lost their housing so we set up a program for homeless children. Every city started seeing people living in their cars, and that became a problem to overcome in the short term. Talented artists, teachers, athletes lined up for shelter and our community accepted that reality as well.  Tents popped up and instead of creating housing opportunities, cities answered with tickets and arrests.  The issue also fell off the Presidential docket except for some occasional volunteering at Thanksgiving or MLK Day.  Homelessness became routine; shelter became the response and housing grew increasingly out of reach.  

The United States is at the tail end of a crisis that caused thousands of deaths in the homeless community and did not discriminate based on your housing status or your income.  We need to come together to repair the social safety net and commit to never again keeping a segment of the population in an extended state of emergency.  The human body can only deal with so much stress; so much sleep deprivation; and only so much trauma. We have learned that stuffing as many people as possible into a gymnasium is not healthy and we know that periods of homelessness reduce the life expectancy of a segment of the population.  While the growth of shelter in the late 20th Century has saved the life of hundreds of thousands of people, it has also extended the time the average person spends without stability by months if not years.  

We need the President and Congressional leaders to regularly talk about homelessness again.  We need to get back to a time when the federal government takes the lead in providing a plan to house everyone residing in the United States.  We need to re-prioritize housing as a key piece of infrastructure in every community.  Here are some things the President could say during the State of the Union address to get back to a time when we prioritized housing for voters:

  • As I campaigned on, I want to see homelessness end in the United States. The first step down payment on that promise is universal access to a housing voucher coupled with a national prohibition on landlords not accepting the federal assistance program.  If you can’t afford housing, the federal government will provide a hand up to those struggling. 
  • With the Omicron variant on the rise in the United States, we need to recommit to safety protocols for those without safe, secure housing that offers privacy.  No city or local government should be engaged in any activities that disrupt those who are forced to live outside unless it is offering them a housing unit. Congregate shelters are not a safe alternative at this time until we have near universal vaccination rates. 
  • As we come out of the pandemic, dust ourselves off and put our minds to fixing all the holes left from this national emergency, one of the glaring issues is that the American system for meeting the emergency housing needs of the community does not work during a health emergency.  We need to completely re-think shelter in the United States and focus on healthy alternatives to meet the needs of those with long term chronic health conditions including behavioral health issues. 
  • Why does the federal government have multiple definitions for the word “homeless”?  This makes no sense and can be confusing the mom attempting to enroll her child in school and has to interact with multiple federal agencies all with a different definition of homelessness.  We need to adopt the Department of Education definition as the standard for all federal, state and local jurisdictions.  This is the easiest definition to understand and will make it a lot easier to provide services. 
  • The Housing First model is a proven success, and it needs to be adopted for every single individual seeking help with their lack of a safe place to sleep.  We should prioritize preventing homelessness with legal representation, rental assistance and mediation services.  If those fail, then how do we get the family back into housing within 24 hours of their seeking help?  This should be the standard and every community needs to construct systems to engage every level of government to make this a reality.  
  • The United States needs to value the work of every single citizen who puts in 40 hours of work so that they can afford at least a one bedroom apartment in every single community.  If a business cannot pay a living wage, then the government should provide a monthly tax credit to get the individual up to a living wage for their household.  The businesses not able to pay living wages should be asked to pay a higher tax rate to subsidize these lower wage workers.  
  • Healthcare should not be tied to a job because that disproportionately leaves out those in the service sector and those who change jobs frequently.  As I campaigned on, I want to expand Medicaid to include those who cannot find healthcare in the market.  We may not be able to move toward universal health care, but we should be taking steps toward that goal every year.  Coming out of a pandemic is the perfect time to move toward an expanded Medicaid program. 
  • If you cannot work because you are disabled in the United States that should not mean that you will live in poverty for the rest of your life.  We need to reform the disability assistance to encourage those who can contribute in a meaningful way have that opportunity, and not face penalty for receiving some limited income.  We also need to raise the standard of living of everyone on full disability so that their income translates into a living wage in the community in which they reside. 
  • Local jurisdictions are receiving millions of dollars from the federal government to serve those without housing and those with extremely low incomes, and they are turning around and harassing, arresting and threatening those very same people that the federal government is showering them with funding to serve.  This is hypocritical to take the assistance and then punish those individuals the city has pledged to help.  It stops now! If you want federal funds to feed, educate, house, and provide health care for, each city, county or local jurisdiction will have to certify that they are not using law enforcement as social workers to deal with behavioral health issues, homelessness, or poverty related complications.  

While this is broader than strictly a homeless issue, we would be negligent if we did not mention that you need to tell us how you are going to re-institute voter protections especially for those who move frequently because of poverty issues.  This is the most important issue to restore free and fair elections and remove all barriers to get every citizen to vote. We urge the President to address the path to passing the two voter protection laws that the House of Representatives already passed. 

The collapse of the Build Back Better shows that Congress is hopelessly broken and needs significant reform.  We need to tear down the current model for our democracy back to the studs and start over so that we can work together on a future national crisis and not have to lose 600,000 Americans unnecessarily.  We need to restore representative democratic principles to force more universal participation in governance.  We need to remove propaganda from tipping our governmental leaders to more authoritarian tendencies, and we need to protect a free and fair independent media.  National crisis such as the pandemic can destabilize a government and in the blink of an eye a “savior” can come to power and crush the opposition.   

by Kelvin Lassiter

As the country emerges from the shutdowns surrounding the pandemic, Americans have become inpatient. Promises made regarding voting rights, paid time off, and tax hikes on the wealthy to pay for much needed infrastructure have not come to pass. 

Now, after several months of negotiations, the president’s original $3.5 trillion-dollar spending measure for the infrastructure bill and the social spending package has now been reduced in price tag to $1.75 trillion dollars (read the text of the Build Back Better bill). Some of the highlights of the bill include:

  • 150 billion in housing investments
  • Extension of the Child Tax Credit for one year
  • 100 billion to reduce immigration backlogs
  • Expansion of health care coverage that will save nine million Americans $600 a year on their premiums

Things left out of the final framework:

  • Paid family leave
  • Clean Electricity Performance Program
  • Ability for the government to negotiate with drug companies for Medicare also won’t be allowed.

While the American people appreciate the efforts for the things that will remain in the bill, it is severely underfunded, and will affect our housing insecure population for generations. The cities of New York and Los Angeles combined need at least 150 billion alone to being their public housing infrastructure up to code. Also, eliminating the ability for the government to negotiate drug prices is damaging. Who wants to make the choice to pay for medicine, or pay to survive without medicine?

In his latest remarks, President Biden reminded the country that this bill is historic, and an investment in the American people. Not everybody got everything they wanted including me, but that’s what compromise, and democracy is. While his remarks are true, the American people counted on lower drug prices, lower housing costs, clean air, and paid family leave to survive. Are the American people getting what they voted for? It remains to be seen, stay tuned.

Bring America Home Now Campaign Supports the Build Back Better Act

Bring America Home Now: A Comprehensive Grassroots Campaign to End Homelessness in the U.S. is led by people who have themselves experienced homelessness and is focused on the passage of federal legislation aimed at addressing the interconnected solutions to the decades-long epidemic of homelessness in the United States. 

Bring America Home is focused on six key policy areas: 

  • Housing
  • Health
  • Livable incomes 
  • Education/Training 
  • Civil Rights 
  • Racial Equity

Bring America Home, therefore, supports Build Back Better as it includes important provisions within many of the Campaign’s core elements. Specifically, if passed, the Build Back Better Act would help move us toward the goal of preventing and ending homelessness by making significant investments in Housing Choice Vouchers, the Housing Trust Fund, rural rental housing, HOME, and CDBG programs. Additionally, the Act contains important provisions around zoning, fair housing protections, and addressing homeownership disparities through a down payment fund. Beyond housing, Bring Back Better further seeks to secure broader economic security, as envisioned by the Campaign, through job training and workforce investments, an expansion of the child tax credit, extending family leave, and increasing childcare options. 

It is urgent to act. To ensure the inclusion of these critical investments in Build Back Better, it is necessary your Senator and Representative hear from you immediately. Call Now and express your support for these provisions within the Bring Back Better Act. To find your representative and Senators, click here: GovTrack.us: Tracking the U.S. Congress or call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121

For more information on Bring America Home Now

National Coalition for the Homeless Bring America Home NOW! – National Coalition for the Homeless (nationalhomeless.org)

Bring America Home NOW logo

Our April Town Hall (click here for more on the Town Hall Series) featured a look at the American Rescue Plan passed by the 117th US Congress and signed into law on March 11, 2021 by President Joe Biden.  The first speaker was Janne Huang, Outreach Campaign Strategy Manager at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (www.cbpp.org).  Huang has worked over the last year to assure that low income and especially homeless people have access to direct financial assistance provided in the three COVID Relief packages passed over the last year.  She began her discussion by describing the $1,400 stimulus funds and the additional resources for families as life changing for many, and so it was critical for groups to help people access to those dollars.  Ms. Huang wrote an article for CBPP last year which is still relevant for the March COVID relief package:

https://www.eitcoutreach.org/blog/outreach-tips-to-connect-people-experiencing-homelessness-to-stimulus-payments/

The easiest way to help those without income access these funds are to file an IRS tax return for 2020 tax year.  Those incarcerated individuals are also eligible, and you should claim everyone residing in your household to get the full benefit.  The American Rescue plan also offers an advance on child tax credit that can be as much as $3,000 per child as part of your refund in 2021.  The local 2-1-1 system has lists of local programs which can help individuals file their taxes for free.  Agencies can get a tool kit from the IRS to help people file their taxes and can answer some common questions about the COVID relief funds.  Huang described the IRS Get-My-Payment website, which can help with filing and tracking those checks. https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

There is also a process in which an agency can be trained to be a local assistance center to offer tax filing assistance.  The agency can then work with clients to answer some questions, securely upload income and banking documents then the IRS will take over and assure the client gets their recovery funds.  Individuals do not need a bank account either to receive the help, they can get debit cards or actual physical checks.  Those just add time to the processing.  The IRS has even made it possible to receive assistance through phone peer to peer payment apps like Venmo.  We learned at the Town Hall that shelters in which many people are using as an address sometimes slows down the processing.  Local shelters can register with the local IRS office to clear up the confusion.  Also, the use of PO Boxes sometimes will slow down the processing of these payments. 

Other resources for assisting someone with, or obtaining EIP payments:

The other presenter was NCH Board President and Minnesota advocate, Sue Watlov Phillips who provided a broader look at the American Rescue funds and how they can be used for creating programs to assist with housing and support services.  Huang’s presentation focused on the benefits for the individuals while Watlov Phillips focused on the funds available to non-profit agencies.  Some of this is up in the air since the rules for use of these funds will not be released until the fall, but these are assumptions based on the past two emergency allocations from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  The big difference in these funds is they do not rely on the limited definition of homelessness HUD uses in most of their programs because it includes those at risk of homelessness, domestic violence victims including those fleeing an abuser who is stalking them and veterans who may not be able to be served by the VA.  Click here to find out how much your community is receiving here is the HUD site with the dollar figures for the $5 Billion in HOME program for people experiencing homelessness.

The important message here is that there is a great deal of money coming to the local community for reducing the impacts of homelessness and you need to be involved in how that money is distributed.  Advocates, including people who have experienced homelessness and/or housing crises in the local community know how to best utilize these dollars, and they need to be at the table. Nearly every big city and larger metropolitan county/parish has a “continuum of care” committee which will most likely oversee how these dollars are spent.  Some are managed by a local governmental body while others have a private company or non-profit which oversees the committee.  There are typically social service providers, children’s programs, legal assistance programs, housing entities, advocates and typically a couple people with lived experience.  They typically have public meetings and other community input.  For rural communities the states take the lead in managing these funds in what is typically called “the balance of state” advisory boards.  Again, these are typically public entities like housing development agencies who coordinate these groups.  Get involved and push for housing over shelters.  Push those entities to think broadly about the problem and do not push people down only one path.  Give people experiencing homelessness dignified programs that can quickly and safely move them back to stability.  We need your voice at the state and local levels to advocate for effective alternatives.  

There will also be $5 Billion in Emergency Housing Vouchers which will also include a broader definition of homelessness.  Public Housing Authorities will be receiving notification of this in the next 4-5 weeks, which will hopefully be facilitated on an aggressive technical assistance model. 

Finally, there is a proposed 15% increase in the HUD budget for fiscal year 2022 which would hopefully be in place by October 2021.  

More resources on the FY22 budget here

The National Coalition for the Homeless congratulates Marcia Fudge on her appointment as the 18th Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Xavier Becerra on his appointment as Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)! See below for more about Secretaries Fudge and Becerra.

Marcia Fudge is as tough as her hometown of Cleveland

If you live in Cleveland for any length of time, you have to develop a thick skin to be successful.  It is tough union town with snow in May, people have no problem telling you how bad you are doing your job and the city has been in the top five poorest communities in the United States for the past two decades.  Marcia Fudge, the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio serving as the former mayor of one of the surrounding suburbs and Cleveland’s Congresswoman.  

Marcia Fudge started out her political career as mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, which is best known as the cut through to somewhere else. This small suburb of Cleveland features 90% African American residents and is only 4 square miles.  This experience gave her a great background to chair the Congressional Black Caucus during her years as a Representative for the East Side of Cleveland.  Fudge is especially sensitive to the disparity that exists in the United States for minority populations with development and investments going to predominately white suburbs of Cleveland with majority minority suburbs left behind. 

She was often unopposed in her election to 11th Congressional district in Ohio after the sudden death of her friend Stephanie Tubbs Jones.  This seat is historic in Ohio going back to the first African American nominated to Congress from Ohio, Louis Stokes who served for 30 years.  The seat was gerrymandered to include African Americans in Akron by the racist Ohio legislature in 2012.  This was to limit African American representation in Congress from Ohio to just 2 out of 16 total seats, and so Fudge understands institutional racism.  This will prepare her to rebuild her new agency and its commitment to fair housing after a rough couple of years in which the previous administration focused more on the failings of individuals instead of the systems built to keep people living in poverty.  

Thought during her tenure in Congress, Fudge did not take the lead in supporting people experiencing homelessness, she could be counted on to speak up when seniors or veterans were involved.  These two populations are the third rail of Ohio politics and will get a response if there is a scandal or potential problem with federal funding or bureaucratic entanglement.  When there was a threat to a senior housing property her office was involved, and she was supportive of expanding affordable housing locally.  

Locally, Fudge has been a champion of expanded food stamp benefits, education and voting rights. She was a person who showed up and put in the work everyday to put forward ideas of racial equity and access for low income and minority members of her constituency.  She was not brash about wielding her power, but behind the scenes there was no doubt who was the Mayor of Northeast Ohio.

Fudge will be a huge champion for fair housing and should be good at expanding opportunities for affordable housing in the United States.  She will not criticize people who need help or struggle with housing like some of her predecessors at HUD.  Fudge will be a lot more open to innovative programs and working toward solutions.  She will work for equity in the distribution of resources and access to essential services.  Don’t let her quiet and reserved demeanor fool you. Marcia Fudge is as tough as turning one of those giant container ships down the winding Cuyahoga River of Cleveland. 


Xavier Becerra Takes on the Biggest Health Challenges in the History of the US

Congratulations to the new Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra! Becerra is facing the biggest health challenges to ever face the US and probably a more difficult job than every single one of his predecessors combined. While HUD receives all the attention in the federal response to homelessness because of the obvious link to housing, HHS has more of an impact on the daily lives of homeless people. The first priority for Secretary Becerra is to oversee the huge outlay of funds in the American Rescue Act and ushering the United States through the final push to defeat Covid19.  The HHS Secretary has a huge amount to administer under the American Rescue Plan including:

  • Covid 19 vaccinations for those covered by Medicaid and those uninsured.
  • A re-opening of the Obamacare marketplace with expanded eligibility
  • An expanded role for the CDC in planning, promoting and tracking vaccine distribution.
  • $7.7 billion for state, local and territorial health departments to establish public health workforce
  • An expansion of funds for alcohol and drug treatment and community mental health services to the local community.
  • Additional funds to prevent overdoses, syringe services, and other harm reduction programs. 

Becerra is a previous member of the US House of Representatives from the heart of Los Angeles. He spent the last four years regularly challenging the Trump administration as Attorney General for the State of California.  He has the challenge of getting 200 million Americans vaccinated so that we can reach herd immunity and finally be able to gather without masks for Thanksgiving. Then after the pandemic, he still has to lead the second largest of the federal bureaucracies behind the Defense Department.  He will need to restore faith in the Center for Disease Control and return science based research and guidance to many of the departments under his purview.  Becerra will have to reform the internal structure of the Department and take the muzzle off the HHS Inspector General.  The efforts to strip away regulations during the previous administration hit HHS especially hard and demoralized the workforce.  The National Coalition for the Homeless want to see HHS take a more prominent position within the federal government to eradicate homelessness in the United States. 

The National Coalition for the Homeless will urge the new Secretary to take a lead role in ending homelessness in America with a health care related “continuum of care” distributed to local communities targeting homeless people and programs for the 2022 federal budget. Imagine if a federal agency forced the local community to take responsibility for making homelessness a healthcare issue. Think of the resources saved if local communities were given an incentive to take responsibility for all those who lose their housing as a result of their mental health, addiction (including gambling) issues, or just general healthcare debts as well as chronic health conditions.  They could pay for these services with a tax on prescription drugs, alcohol, smoking, and the gambling industry.  If all those with a health related emergency were removed from the shelters and homeless services, we could actually see a light at the end of this long American nightmare of homelessness.  

NCH believes we need treatment on demand that goes beyond just AA and is forgiving of relapses.  We need a mental health system that takes responsibility for life long care in much the same way as the developmentally disabled community provide life long wrap around services.  The HHS Secretary needs to force a complete overhaul of the foster care system nationwide to eliminate the urge for the local community to remove (mostly minority children) because a mother is poor.  We need to push for guaranteed basic income to replace the broken welfare system including childcare, unemployment, and cash assistance. We need HHS to assure that no one loses their housing because of medical debts and that a doctor can prescribe housing as a solution for the guy at the emergency room with a chronic health condition.  NCH believes that psychiatrists and mental health professionals should be available to every single person who becomes homeless and that the industry should be required to volunteer their time in much the same way as attorneys represent indigent clients.  Finally, none of the health care facilities that receive even $1 of federal funds should ever discharge a person to the shelters or the streets. 

Congress has voted to enact the American Rescue Plan and President Biden signed it into law today! The legislation includes nearly $50 billion in essential housing and homelessness assistance, including over $27 billion for rental assistance and $5 billion in new funding for states and cities to provide housing stability for tens of thousands of people experiencing homelessness.

The $27 billion for rental assistance, combined with the $25 billion provided by Congress last year and a separate $5 billion for utilities in the American Rescue Plan, can eliminate the over $50 billion of rent and utility arrears that renters have accrued during the pandemic and will enable longer-term housing stability for some renters. This success would not have been possible without your incredible advocacy and the unwavering leadership of congressional champions!

The $1.9 trillion relief package provides broad based relief. This new law will: 

  • Extend enhanced unemployment benefits through the summer. 
  • Give millions of people a desperately needed cash infusion of $1,400. 
  • Expand the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit to help low- and middle-income people. 
  • Fully fund vaccine distribution. 
  • Extend nutrition assistance for hungry children and families. 
  • Provide housing and utility assistance to keep people in their homes. 
  • And deliver aid to states, communities, tribes, and territories to cover safe education in the pandemic, maintain critical services and prevent job layoffs. 

This new law will cut childhood poverty in half. This new law will provide a critical lifeline for millions of people and families who have lost jobs and wages during the pandemic. And, it is vital to fully vaccinating the U.S. population. 

The executive directors and policy staff representing many of the nation’s leading homeless advocacy organizations met yesterday as the Homeless Advocates Group (HAG) to set policy priorities for 2013. Each member organization of HAG has set its own independent set of issues. The goal of this meeting was to reach consensus around a set of common policy priorities that collectively the group could both support and promote within and among each organization’s own allies.

The policy priorities chosen were:

     1)       National Housing Trust Fund

     2)       Criminalization of Homelessness

     3)       Affordable Care Act Rollout and Implementation

     4)       Preservation of Federal Funds Targeted to and for Those Experiencing Homelessness

The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) lobbied hard for the Criminalization of Homelessness to be made a top priority and are very pleased with the progress made during this prioritization process. NCH was represented by Neil Donovan, executive director and John Harrison, NCH Speakers Bureau and the Washington DC based Homeless Peoples Advocacy Network (HPAN) group SHARC.