White House Photo by Pete Souza
Last week, President Obama signed into law the Economic Recovery act which included $1.5 Billion to prevent millions of Americans from becoming homeless. These funds can be used for interventions related to prevention, shelter diversion, and rapid re-housing.
“I think it’s a giant step in the right direction to have the President pushing for programs that prevent homelessness,” said Phyllis Ryan Jackson, Director of the Philadelphia Committee to End Homelessness.
This major investment of resources provides the opportunity to transform the existing homelessness system to focus on housing rather than shelter.
Preventing homelessness by following a housing-first model has proven to be an effective and affordable way of keeping families and individuals off the streets and out of shelters. Since 2005, SafeHome Philadelphia has an 85 percent success rate in preventing homelessness by locating and securing private market housing for families.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, an estimated 1.5 million additional individuals will experience homelessness over the next two years simply due to the economic crisis.
“People assume there is no decent, affordable housing,” said SafeHome Philadelphia housing advocate Ruth Holland. “but I have found over 50 landlords who are willing to rent safe and decent to the families we work with.”
For more information on the Homelessness Prevention Fund, see the National Alliance to End Homelessness prevention and re-housing toolkit: http://www.endhomelessness.org/section/tools/prevention/.
