National Trends in Homelessness Funding

This is one small part of a great series, published in Philadelphia . . . and if you check out some of the other ten or twelve stories in this three day series, it will be worth your while, but here's the money quote (literally) in the most germane piece of the bunch:

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http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/20080225_The_new_mandate__First__find_them_a_home.html

In Philadelphia, this new philosophy has challenged how things are done and created tension between social-service agencies as well as more intense competition for federal funding.

The city, which spends $98 million in federal, state and city funds on homelessness, works with more than two dozen social-service agencies that promote what was once the standard in care: Bring the homeless into shelters, treat them, train them, and eventually move them into a permanent and affordable home.

But five years ago, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development began placing a premium on programs that offer housing to the most chronically homeless: those living on the streets or rotating in and out of shelters for years.

Those people represent from 10 percent to 20 percent of the nation's overall homeless population, but consume 50 percent of the spending on homelessness, said Philip Mangano, executive director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness, the agency established by Congress to oversee federal initiatives for ending homelessness.

"They're the most visible, most vulnerable, most disabled, most likely to die, and most expensive," Mangano said.

In 2006, Philadelphia lost 40 percent of its HUD funding for homeless programs because its bid - made collectively for all social-service agencies - sought too much for services and not enough for permanent housing for the chronically homeless.

In December 2007, the city regained its funding after every homeless agency cut its budget for services by 25 percent. Reflecting the new national focus, the project that got the most federal funding was a planned facility for permanently housing 79 homeless inebriates or addicts living on the streets of Center City.