May 11| Martinsville Bulletin article features VCEH and the upcoming 1,000 Homes initiative taking place in Martinsville later this month.
May 4| Registration now open! NAMI VA & VCEH Housing Stability and Mental Illlness Summit: Creating Housing for Hope and Recovery. July 22-23, Crowne Plaza, Richmond, VA.
May 4| Funding Opportunities for Rapid Re-Housing Initiatives:
The Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness is partnering with the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the Freddie Mac Foundation to support community shifts to rapid re-housing for serving children and families experiencing homelessness. As part of this initiative, two Requests for Funding Proposals (RFPs) are available to support shifts to rapid rehousing at the organizational and community levels. For Community Change Grants, click here. For Organizational Change Grants, click here. A Q&A webinar about the grants will be held on Thursday, May 10 at 11 am ET. To register for the webinar, click here.
April 30| Improvement of Employment Opportunities for People with Criminal Histories?: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued updated enforcement guidance on employers’ use of arrest and conviction records when making employment decisions. In its guidance, the EEOC cited that hiring policies that include blanket exclusions of people with criminal records have a disparate racial impact, and therefore violate Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. While this does not necessarily mean that employers cannot exclude people with criminal records from employment, it does mean that we have additional opportunities to make the case that people with criminal records need a second chance.
April 26| Article in the Virginian-Pilot highlights the 1,000 Homes campaign in South Hampton Roads--"Early death threatens a third of region's homeless."
April 11| See the recent article in the Washington Post: Arlington Launches Homeless Housing Fundraising
March 26| Provide Input on Possible Uniform Outcome Standards for Rapid Re-housing Programs. VCEH, along with our partners the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development and the National Alliance to End Homelessness, will promote the adoption of uniform outcome expectations to track statewide progress on rapid re-housing programs. These outcome measurements are aligned with new federal requirements for the Continuum of Care programs as dictated by the HEARTH Act. We have received input on these proposed outcome measures from more than 230 people who attended seven events in November and December 2011 and from our Rapid Re-Housing Advisory Committee. Click here for the document. We welcome additional comments and feedback by April 13 by contacting David Bresnahan at
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.
March 26| According to Out of Reach 2012: America's Forgotten Housing Crisis, released this month by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Virginia in the ninth most expensive state in the nation for renters; last year it was the twelfth. Working at the minimum wage in Virginia, a family must have 2.8 wage earners working full-time--or one full-time earner working 112 hours per week--to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.
Housing is the solution to homelessness, and we must fight for increased affordable housing options for the families and individuals who experience homelessless across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
March 23| Richmond Times-Dispatch article cites decreases in homelessness in Richmond attributed to 1,000 Homes for 1,000 Virginians campaign!
March 21| Check out Sunday's media attention in the Virginian-Pilot of South Hampton Road's 1,000 Homes for 1,000 Virginians Campaign!
March 15| SNEAK PEEK! Preview the materials for the upcoming Rapid Re-housing workshops taking place this month and in April. The materials can be found here! These FREE workshops will involve a mix of presentation, interactive activities, and community planning. To register now--click here.
March 14| Housing and Urban Development announced today that it awarded $2,079,651 for new local homeless programs across Virginia. Continuums of Care awarded include Richmond, South Hampton Road, the Peninsula, Fredericksburg, Arlington, Fairfax, and Alexandria. Congratulations to our partners!
March 9| The 100 Homes Arlington Campaign, as part of the statewide 1,000 Homes for 1,000 Virginians Initiative, announced today that 15 people have been housed as a result of their Registry Week efforts in October. Congratulations Arlington!
March 6| New report from the Center for Housing Policy and National Housing Conference: nearly 1 in 4 working households in America spends more than half its income on housing costs. In Virginia, nearly 250,000 working households are paying more than 50 percent of income for housing.
February 28| Charlottesville's new permanent housing facility, The Crossings, is billed as a game-changer for chronic homelessness. See article here about the first permanent supportive housing facility in Charlottesville!
February 27| An article in The Christian Science Monitor cites Norfolk and four other cities as leaders in permanent supportive housing.
February 21| VCEH is pleased to announce the inclusion of $1.5 million in funds for permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing for FY2014 in the Senate Finance committee budget report. There were no funds in the House Appropriations committee report for item 108#1 and the Supportive Services amendment was not proposed by either the Senate or House committees. The budget amendments and accompanying language can be viewed here.
