Campaign Joins South Carolina Partner’s 2024 Mid-Fall Conference
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The campaign participated in the 2024 Mid-Fall State Conference held in South Carolina by state partner South Carolina Association of Community Action Partnerships, Inc. (SCACAP) in partnership with South Carolina Head Start Association. The conference brought together hundreds of community action, weatherization, and Head Start staff, along with experts and community partners to learn about the latest developments in their fields. During the event, Julie Walker, Campaign Coordinator, shared insights into the national affordable housing crisis, its impact on South Carolina, and available NLIHC advocacy resources. She also discussed the national multi-sector campaign and detailed how state partners work to grow their coalitions and advance federal housing solutions.
Julie joined the “Partners and New Resources Panel” held during the second general plenary session on the opening day of the conference. In her remarks, she provided an overview of NLIHC’s mission, the national affordable housing crisis, and national and state specific data from NLIHC’s publications The Gap and Out of Reach. She also discussed the campaign’s founding in 2018, the campaign’s national Steering Committee and Roundtable, and its policy agenda. She highlighted the work of the campaign’s 31 state partners, including SCACAP, in diversifying their states’ housing coalitions to other sectors and working to engage national policymakers on OSAH’s policy priorities. She concluded with a call to action for attendees to engage with NLIHC and SCACAP’s state housing campaign, asserting that “this crisis can’t just matter to housing advocates. It needs to matter to everyone, because housing impacts pretty much every outcome that matters.”
The panel was moderated by Karen Brackett-Browning, Executive Director of Carolina CA, Inc. Additional panelists included Michelle Medeiros, Deputy Director of HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, and Viva Webb, Share the Light Program Manager at Duke Energy. Ms. Medeiros and Ms. Webb shared information about the grant opportunities available through their organizations. The panel concluded with questions from the audience. |
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New Podcast Episode Reflects on Six Years of Building Multi-Sector Partnerships Nationwide
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The campaign released a new podcast episode featuring a recording of the multi-sector panel discussion held during the campaign’s Roundtable event, “Opportunity Starts at Home: Six Years of Building Effective and Robust Cross-Sector Partnerships.” Listen to the new episode here.
In the episode, Julie Walker, Campaign Coordinator, moderates an insightful panel exploring the powerful partnerships at the heart of the campaign. Joining her are leaders from key areas including domestic violence prevention, early childhood development, food security, and education, including Dfox from the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), Patricia Cole from ZEROTOTHREE, Robert Campbell from Feeding America, and Barbara Duffield from Schoolhouse Connection. Together, they share why their organizations joined the OSAH Roundtable and reflect on six years of collaborative advocacy to address housing insecurity across America.
The OSAH podcast takes a deep look at how housing shapes opportunity across the nation. Campaign staff interview research experts, advocates, and policymakers to explore the intersections between housing and other issue areas. |
Study Finds Temporary Financial Assistance Effective in Reducing Veteran Homelessness
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A new article in the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC), “Cost Effectiveness of Temporary Financial Assistance for Veterans Experiencing Housing Instability,” finds that U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) housing programs – such as the HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) and Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) programs – are essential to efforts to reduce veteran homelessness and support housing stability.
The article reviews the current trends in veterans experiencing homelessness in the U.S., including the 7.4% increase in veterans experiencing homelessness that occurred between the 2022 and 2023 HUD Point-in-Time (PIT) counts. Despite this increase, there has still been a downward trend in veteran homelessness overall, with a 4% reduction in veterans experiencing homelessness over the last three years. According to the article, the reduction can be attributed in part to VA housing programs for veterans and their families, including HUD-VASH. This program, run collaboratively by VA and HUD, combines housing vouchers with supportive services to help veterans experiencing homelessness find and sustain stable housing. Another VA program, SSVF, provides supportive services and case management to very low-income veterans to prevent homelessness.
Temporary Financial Assistance (TFA) is part of the SSVF program, and the study published in JAMA Network Open found that it is a cost-effective strategy for providing housing support to those experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless. TFA is a short-term monetary benefit that can be used toward payment of rent, security deposits, utilities, and other housing-related expenses. Previous studies have found that TFA, along with higher rates of stable housing, is associated with lower health care expenses. For this study, the researchers used a cost-effectiveness analysis and found the TFA program to be cost effective, enhancing stable housing days and lowering overall program costs. The researchers recommend a cost-effectiveness analysis of larger, nationwide housing interventions, as the study results may not be generalizable to the non-VA population. |
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Center for American Progress Analyzes Impact of Immigration on Affordable Housing
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The Center for American Progress, a Roundtable member, published an article examining the relationship between immigration and the affordable housing crisis. The article disputes the claim that immigration is a primary cause of the crisis and instead emphasizes the need for affordable housing policies that address both supply and demand challenges.
The article compares data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on the foreign-born labor force and CoreLogic National Home Price Index and finds that there is no correlation between increases in housing costs and increases in the number of foreign-born workers. The article also compares data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics with data from the New Tenant Rent Index and finds that immigration does not lead to increased rents on new apartment leases. The article goes on to highlight the importance of immigration in the creation of affordable housing, as foreign-born workers make up about one-fourth of the construction workforce, and this workforce is critical in efforts to increase the supply of housing. For many generations, immigrants have also helped to revitalize and stabilize communities throughout the country by spurring economic growth, preserving important industries, and increasing local tax bases. The article concludes by sharing concrete federal policy actions that can make housing more affordable, including expanding funding for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program and expanding funding to state and local governments toward the construction of more affordable rental units. |
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Fact of the Month: National Postsecondary Student Aid Study reveals that over 213,900 parenting students are experiencing homelessness.
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