From USICH Regional Coordinator Bob Pulster:
In case you did not see this new tool recently released by the USICH, the USICH Housing First Checklist is a practical way to assess whether and to what degree a particular housing program is taking a Housing First approach. This easy-to-use tool allows you to look at both the program level and at the community level that will help ensure that Housing First is a core part of your community’s approach to ending homelessness. I hope you will inform your partners of the tool and encourage them to share with community leaders.
Also, here are additional resources that are available through the USICH that I am pleased to share.
- USICH and the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans co-hosted a discussion on how Housing First practices can improve client outcomes in a transitional housing setting and help our nation’s Veterans and others who experience homelessness move more quickly into permanent housing.
- SNAPS Weekly Focus: Adopting a Housing First Approach Last week, HUD SNAPS encouraged communities to adopt a Housing First approach and will release further guidance and resources in the future. HUD SNAPS noted that communities should shift away from a traditional housing ready approach, which puts more barriers to housing in place, to the more proactive identification, outreach, and engagement approach of Housing First.
- USICH Solutions Database The USICH Solutions Database is a searchable source of up-to-date information drawn from around the country that federal, state, and local partners can use to further their collaborative efforts to end homelessness. Look here for our Housing First section.
As always, to stay updated on resources that are coming out of USICH, please sign up for our newsletter, check out our blog, and share the resources from www.usich.gov with your colleagues. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Thank you for all your support.
Robert Pulster
Regional Coordinator
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
409 3rd Street, Washington DC 20024
(202) 754-1584
Robert.Pulster@usich.gov
