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Senior Program Officer at the Hilton Foundation
Los Angeles, CA
Bill Pitkin has worked in various sectors of the nonprofit sector in Los Angeles for more than 15 years, in fields as diverse as teaching, community organizing, demographic research and social planning, and philanthropy. He is currently a senior program officer at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, where he oversees the foundation’s domestic initiatives in areas such as homelessness, substance abuse, and children. Pitkin has published research articles and reports in areas such as community and nonprofit technology....
Tuesday, January, 20, 2009
What Does the Recession Mean for Homelessness?
Cities across the nation have made significant progress in reducing homelessness in recent years, especially among the chronically homeless. This success is due in large part to increased production of permanent supportive housing for the homeless.
Of course, the current economic crisis – with its daily bad news of housing foreclosures, store closures and job losses – threatens to derail this progress. Countless news articles highlight that emergency food and shelters are being overrun by new entrants into the poor and homeless. While we won’t have hard numbers for several months until after the Homeless Counts are completed later this month, several recent research reports – as well as good old-fashioned common sense – should lead policy makers to address the potential crisis as soon as possible.
According to reports from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the National Alliance to End Homelessness, rising unemployment and financial stress could lead to an additional 1.5 million people experiencing homelessness in the next two years in the U.S.
Clearly, we cannot afford to let this happen. Homeless advocates have been pushing for resources in the economic stimulus bill making its way through Congress to address and prevent homelessness; but the current draft in the House leaves out key components for which they have been asking like 200,000 additional Section 8 vouchers to help house at-risk people. The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) and other organizations are calling on organizations to weigh in.
This piece was originally published as a guest blog on LA's Homeless Blog.
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Nan Roman In 2000, the National Alliance to End Homelessness unveiled the aptly titled, “A Plan, Not a Dream: How to End Homelessness in Ten Years.” The “Ten Year Plan,” as it came to be called, presented a fresh, comprehensive, and multi-system approach to ending homelessness. It utilized data, leveraged existing support systems, promoted outreach, and focused on housing. It integrated all we knew about the most promising and proven practices to end homelessness. Now, ten years after the launch, we pause to take stock of our progress. There are now 234 completed plans to end homelessness. Of these, 185 are city or county plans, 25 are state plans, 24 are regional plans. Along the way, we’ve encountered some challenges....
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