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Out of Reach 2007-2008

This week, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released Out of Reach, their annual report on the affordability and availability of housing at the national, state, and local level. The report's primary measure of housing affordability is the Housing Wage, which is the hourly wage a worker must earn to afford a two-bedroom apartment in their community. Since the release of Out of Reach 2006 in December 2006, NLIHC found that the housing wage has increased 36 percent from $16.31 to $17.32. This is higher than the national average hourly wage of $16 for all workers and well above the average hourly wage of $13.94 for all renters. The report also finds that in 2008 there is no jurisdiction in the country where a full-time worker earning minimum wage can afford a one-bedroom apartment.

Additionally, Out of Reach provides side-by- side comparisons of rents and wages for each state, metropolitan area, and combined non-metropolitan area in the United States. For each region the report provides the housing wage for a 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedroom housing unit. The states with the highest housing wages are Hawaii ($29.02), DC ($25.46), and California ($24.01). The lowest housing wages are found in South Dakota ($11.19), West Virginia ($10.85), and North Dakota ($10.40).

Out of Reach 2007-2008

Hearing on Homeless Veterans
On Wednesday, April 9, at 10 AM, the House Veterans Affairs Committee, chaired by Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), will hold a hearing entitled, "Ending Homelessness for our Nation's Veterans." The hearing will be held in Room 334 of the Cannon House Office Building. A

Last November, the Homelessness Research Institute of the National Alliance to End Homelessness released the report, Vital Mission: Ending Homelessness Among Veterans, which found that far too many veterans are homeless and many are paying too much for rent, leaving them at risk of homelessness.

Senators Circulate Sign-on Letter
Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Mel Martinez (R-FL) are circulating a sign-on letter among their colleagues to be sent to Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Christopher Bond (R-MO), the Chair and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Senate Transportation- HUD Appropriations Subcommittee. The letter requests a funding level of $2 billion for McKinney Homeless Assistance Grants for fiscal year (FY) 2009. This amount is $364 million above the President's budget request and $414 million over the FY 2008 level for this program.

In the House of Representatives, 85 members of Congress signed on to a letter supporting $2 billion in funding for McKinney Homeless Assistance Grants for FY 2009.

SAMHSA Releases Treatment Systems for Homeless Grant Opportunity

Last week, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) released a request for applications for grants targeting people experiencing homelessness with substance use and mental health disorders. Programs specifically helping runaway and homeless youth, veterans, chronically homeless people and chronic inebriates will receive priority. SAMHSA has made $10 million available, of which $4.5 million is designated for permanent supportive housing programs. With each grant being a maximum of $400,000 per year for five years (dependent on available funding), SAMHSA expects to fund at least 25 programs.

Upcoming Audio Conference: HIV/AIDS Housing Strategies

On Thursday, March 13, the Alliance will host "HIV/AIDS Housing Strategies," an installment of the Leadership to End Homelessness Audio Conference Series. Recently, the National AIDS Housing Coalition (NAHC), in collaboration with the Department of Health, Behavior and Society of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, hosted the third National Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit. Leaders in health, housing, and social service research and policy discussed current findings on housing as a factor in HIV prevention and treatment and the effect supportive housing has on health.

This audio conference will present highlights from this summit and discuss the opportunities for increasing access to housing for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Featured Speakers:

• Moderator: Nancy Bernstine, Executive Director, National AIDS Housing Coalition
• Art Bendixen, Programs Director, AIDS Foundation of Chicago
• Ginny Shubert, Consultant, Shubert Botein Policy Associates

Thanks to Captiol Connection, those with Internet audio capability can participate in this conference call free of charge via the web. For details on how to listen to the call through the webcast and submit questions by email,

Call for Submissions: StreetSense's First Annual David Pike Awards

On June 12, StreetSense will give out the first annual Excellence in Journalism Awards in memory of its late board member and journalist David Pike. The awards honor print journalism that changes perceptions about homelessness, draws attention to the factors affecting homelessness, and influences social responses to homelessness. Subsmissions must focus on the Washington, DC metropolitan area and have been published during 2007 in a local or national print media outlet. Submissions must fit into one of the following categories: investigative reporting, editorial writing, breaking news, feature stories, or photography. Submissions are due April 30, 2008.

KnowledgePlex Live Chat: Maxwell Award Winners

The Fannie Mae Foundation and the Partnership to End Long Term Homelessness recently announced the winners of the 17th Maxwell Awards of Excellence. This year's awards recognized the outstanding efforts of organizations that provide permanent supportive housing to homeless individuals and families. This Thursday, April 10, at 2 PM EDT, there will be a special KnowledgePlex Live Chat to learn more about the best practices of these four organizations working to end homelessness.