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THRIVE FROM THE START

Every infant and toddler deserves a safe, stable, and nurturing start in life. That’s why Housing Is has joined forces with  Prevent Child Abuse America, SchoolHouse Connection, and ZERO TO THREE to launch Thrive From The Start—a cross-sector effort dedicated to addressing homelessness among infants, toddlers, and expectant parents. Visit thrivefromthestart.org to learn more and explore how you can be a part of the solution. 

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Housing Is Working Group 2024-2025 Calendar

Join the Housing Is Working Group to discuss special topics related to cross-sector initiatives and programmatic considerations particularly focused on the intersections of housing, health, and education.

This year’s public webinars cover topics such as child welfare and housing, leveraging Medicaid resources for housing services, out-of-school time, and digital connectivity in a post-ACP world. 

View Calendar
 
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Publication
Community:
Nov 17, 2022
Lessons for funders and social change leaders in search of the best ways to collaborate across sectors to end homelessness.

Authored by: Seyron Foo, Raji Hunjan, & Amy Kleine for the Stanford Social Innovation Review
Topics: Funding, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Supportive housing, Youth
Shared by Sandra Ware on Jan 3, 2023
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Case study
Community:
Oct 25, 2022
According to UN-Habitat, the world needs to build 96,000 affordable homes every day to address the global housing crisis by 2030. Yet, better utilizing existing housing stock—through options such as shared housing—can make a significant dent in the need to build more housing. With college students often challenged to find affordable housing and many older adults living alone in homes with spare bedrooms, these two groups are increasingly benefitting from living together. Universities are often well-suited to facilitate students living and learning with older adults in nearby communities. Intentionally fostering intergenerational engagement through places and programs can reduce loneliness, mitigate ageist stereotypes, and help both groups to thrive.

Authored by: Stephanie Firestone and Julia Glassman for AARP Equity by Design
Topics: Community development, dual-generation initiative, Funding, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Mental health, Seniors, Youth
Shared by Sandra Ware on Oct 25, 2022

Principles in Action Universities as Age Friendly Partners

Case study
Oct 25, 2022
Stephanie Firestone and Julia Glassman for AARP Equity by Design
According to UN-Habitat, the world needs to build 96,000 affordable homes every day to address the global housing crisis by 2030. Yet, better utilizing existing housing stock—through options such as shared housing—can make a significant dent in the need to build more housing.
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Report
Community:
Sep 22, 2022
New research from Urban Institute housing experts explores the characteristics of youth and young adults living in federally assisted housing and the neighborhoods in which they live. Stable housing is essential for young people as they transition from adolescence to adulthood, and public housing agencies often play a critical role in providing them with affordable homes. In 2021 alone, 755,000 youth (people ages 14 to 18) and 513,000 young adults (people ages 19 to 25) received federal housing assistance. Youth and young adult heads of household in federally assisted housing tend to have extremely low incomes. They are less likely to live in metropolitan areas, and 11 percent were experiencing homelessness at the time of their admission into housing. Little information is available about these young people and their experiences accessing stable and affordable housing, and this brief demonstrates that more work must be done to guide service providers, advocates, and policymakers to strengthen supports and services. If you have questions or would like to speak with the research team, please email me at aelsbree@urban.org.

Authored by: Olivia Fiol, Matthew Gerken, Susan J. Popkin, and Abby Boshart for THE URBAN INSTITUTE
Topics: Child welfare, Housing, Stability, Youth
Shared by Sandra Ware on Oct 4, 2022
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Report
Community:
Jun 29, 2022
Looking largely at the 2020-2021 school year, the report is chock-full of information about how schools apply research-based strategies in a variety of different contexts – from very different school systems across multiple states – to make research translate into positive experiences and outcomes for students and their teachers in three critical areas: • Instructional work, where math or English-language-arts teams, including instructional coaches, special-education teachers, and English learner/multilingual teachers, work to improve the quality of instruction within classrooms. • Early Warning and Response strategies, where grade-level or cross-functional teams work to create more supportive school environments, where young people are connected to adults, each other, and the school community. • Well-Matched Postsecondary initiatives, where school-based teams of counselors, service providers, district and school leaders, teachers, and other staff band together to implement evidence-based strategies and processes that support postsecondary application, enrollment, and persistence. At its heart, improvement is about learning. Each of these networks study their own work, and consistently and strategically make adaptations to increase their effectiveness as the organizational hub supporting schools. And they demonstrate how lessons need not fade away, but when codified, systematized, and shared, they can deepen our collective capacity to accelerate the field’s learning and growth.

Authored by:
Topics: Advocacy, Attendance, Child welfare, CLPHA, Community development, Education, Grade-level proficiency, Housing, Literacy, Low-income, Partnerships, Place-based, Supportive housing, Sustainability, Youth
Shared by Karina George on Jun 29, 2022
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Publication
Community:
Jun 17, 2021

Authored by: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Choice Neighborhoods
Topics: Attendance, COVID-19, Early childhood, Education, Family engagement, Housing, Low-income, Out-of-school time, Youth
Shared by Kirsten Greenwell on Jun 17, 2021
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Report
Community: Youth
Nov 3, 2020
As housing costs have escalated and inequities persist across the country, many young people need flexible, empowerment-based investments to get stably housed and onto a path to thriving. To this end, direct financial assistance (“cash transfers”) with other supports offer a promising solution grounded in a robust global evidence base. The circumstances of COVID-19 amplify the importance of developing and evaluating youth-informed approaches to doing things differently. This report shares results and implications of a year-long research and stakeholder engagement process that Chapin Hall conducted in collaboration with Point Source Youth to inform the development of a Direct Cash Transfer Program (DCTP) for youth experiencing homelessness. We look forward to piloting and rigorously evaluating a program based on these findings, starting in NYC.

Authored by: Matthew Morton for CHAPIN HALL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Topics: Community development, Funding, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Nov 3, 2020
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Policy Brief
Community:
Dec 4, 2019
In California, more than 3.7 million students were eligible for free or reduced priced school meals in the 2017-2018 school year. For many of those students, school meals are the primary source of regular access to healthy food. When the bell rings at 3:00 or lets out for summer break, many of those students go home to nutritional uncertainty or high-calorie, low-nutrient foods. For many low-income families, the out-of-school-time food access gap increases family stress: limited budgets are stretched further to cover food, rent, utilities, transportation, medications, and chidcare costs. For very young children, food insecurity can negatively impact brain and physical development. For children of all ages, disrupted access to healthy food can impact behavior, increase risk of obesity, make it harder to concentrate, or exacerbate existing healthy conditions like type 2 diabetes. The impact is not limited to summer, and can lead to a rocky start to the school year, negatively impacting school attendance and students’ ability to effectively participate in school. Read the full brief to learn how public and affordable housing communities can address food insecurity for children and youth with the help of out-of-school-time USDA child nutrition programs.

Authored by:
Topics: Advocacy, Early childhood, Food insecurity, Health, Healthy homes, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Nutrition, Out-of-school time, West Coast, Youth
Shared by Linda Lu on Dec 4, 2019
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Report
Community:
Jun 6, 2019
Trends in Housing Assistance and Who it Serves

Authored by: PAHRC
Topics: Community development, Disabilities, Education, Funding, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Partnerships, Research, Seniors, Workforce development, Youth
Shared by Keely Stater on Sep 10, 2019
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Webinar
Community:
Jun 11, 2019
CLPHA’s Education Working Group convened on Tuesday, June 11 to learn about one of the Housing Authority of Kansas City’s (HAKC) newest housing communities: Pemberton Park, a subsidized apartment building that serves grandparents caring for grandchildren. Representatives from HAKC and their partners discussed the process of establishing the grand-family complex, as well as challenges and successes they experienced along the way.

Authored by: CLPHA, Housing Is
Topics: Education, Family engagement, Housing, Housing Is Working Group, Low-income, Partnerships, Seniors, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Jun 11, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Recognizing that the aging of its population will reshape housing needs, the city of Washington, DC, has fostered numerous options for older residents, including some that are intentionally multigenerational.

Authored by: PD&R Edge Online Magazine
Topics: Early childhood, Family engagement, Housing, Low-income, Seniors, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Jun 11, 2019
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News Article
Community:
May 15, 2019
Other cities have combined books and subsidized housing, but the outgoing mayor, Rahm Emanuel, has embraced the concept with three striking new projects.

Authored by: Michael Kimmelman for The New York Times
Topics: Housing, Literacy, Low-income, Midwest, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on May 15, 2019
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Video
Community:
May 9, 2019
On May 9, the Brookings Institution hosted an event to discuss the subsequent report, “A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty.” The event featured comments from Greg Duncan, who served as Chair of the Committee on Building an Agenda to Reduce the Number of Children in Poverty by Half in 10 Years, as well as a panel discussion on the report, its recommendations, and barriers to implementation. A second panel highlighted national and state policy perspectives of the consensus study report.

Authored by: The Brookings Institution
Topics: Early childhood, Funding, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Research, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on May 13, 2019
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Publication
Community:
Moving Health Care Upstream (MHCU) is based on the belief that health systems can address persistent and costly health inequities by moving “upstream”—beyond the walls of hospitals and clinics and into the communities, collaborating with community-based organizations to address the root causes of disease. The various areas of work within MHCU share a common focus-supporting hospitals and community stakeholders in testing and spreading strategies to move upstream, and sharing “what works” to inform the field and accelerate the upstream movement in the field as a whole. Policy Learning Labs are one example of MHCU’s work to spread knowledge and accelerate action in the field.

Authored by: Nemours, Moving Health Care Upstream, and Change Lab Solutions
Topics: Child welfare, Early childhood, Food insecurity, Green, Health, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Nutrition, Partnerships, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on May 1, 2019

Policy Learning Lab Compendium of Research & Technical Assistance Memos

Publication
Nemours, Moving Health Care Upstream, and Change Lab Solutions
Moving Health Care Upstream (MHCU) is based on the belief that health systems can address persistent and costly health inequities by moving “upstream”—beyond the walls of hospitals and clinics and into the communities, collaborating with community-based organizations to address the root causes of di
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Webinar
Community:
Apr 10, 2019
Advocacy is everyone's job and it is essential to the children and communities we serve. CLPHA’s Education Working Group hosted a webinar to learn about advocacy efforts to build support and investment in housing. Representatives from Partnership for Children and Youth (PCY) – a California-based advocacy organization that promotes and supports learning opportunities for underserved students – discussed strategies for providing, sustaining, and increasing access to Out-of-School-Time services in housing. PCY also touched on a range of advocacy strategies and preliminary results from the Save After School Campaign in California.

Authored by: CLPHA
Topics: CLPHA, Education, Housing, Housing Is Working Group, Legislation & Policy, Out-of-school time, Partnerships, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 10, 2019
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Publication
Community:
Mar 26, 2019
As Wilmington’s Riverside community embarks on an extraordinary revitalization effort, Christiana Care Health System is making an impact on health with a $1 million gift to REACH Riverside Development Corporation that will support community health and youth development programs.

Authored by: Christiana Care News
Topics: Community development, Health, Housing, Low-income, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 4, 2019

Christiana Care advances community health with $1 million gift to Riverside revitalization

Publication
Mar 26, 2019
Christiana Care News
As Wilmington’s Riverside community embarks on an extraordinary revitalization effort, Christiana Care Health System is making an impact on health with a $1 million gift to REACH Riverside Development Corporation that will support community health and youth development programs.
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Policy Brief
Community:
The Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2019 (H.R. 2001) is a bipartisan bill that removes barriers to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homelessness assistance for children, youth and families in the following ways.

Authored by:
Topics: Early childhood, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 4, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Oct 1, 2018
When children get sick from poor living conditions inside their rundown apartments, they miss school. And when 95 percent of students of one school live in the same apartment complex—where evictions are routine and black mold is rampant—classrooms are often left empty.

Authored by: Jamie Hwang for the American Bar Association Journal
Topics: Attendance, Child welfare, Education, Health, Housing, Low-income, Partnerships, Place-based, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019

Atlanta pro bono proram expands to resolve elementary school students' housing issues

News Article
Oct 1, 2018
Jamie Hwang for the American Bar Association Journal
When children get sick from poor living conditions inside their rundown apartments, they miss school. And when 95 percent of students of one school live in the same apartment complex—where evictions are routine and black mold is rampant—classrooms are often left empty.
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Publication
Community:
Education Leads Home’s State Partnerships on Student Homelessness Project brings together policymakers and practitioners from with the goal of overcoming child and youth homelessness through education. Through the partnership, each state is committed to researching and implementing replicable best practices that address the most urgent needs of their unique homeless student populations. The State Partnerships on Student Homelessness Project is a nonpartisan effort to develop best practices that can be replicated by communities and states nationwide. In its inaugural year of the project, Education Leads Home (ELH) awarded six states – California, Kentucky, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington – small grants through a competitive process. ELH will provide ongoing technical assistance.

Authored by: Education Leads Home
Topics: Child welfare, Education, Funding, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Partnerships, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 5, 2019
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Publication
Community:
Feb 25, 2019
The 2019 state legislative season is in full swing, and SchoolHouse Connection is hard at work on 12 bills in 7 states (IN, KY, ME, NV, TN, TX, UT). We’re also supporting legislative advocates in 4 additional states (AZ, CA, MD, WA), and anticipate additional bills to be filed in LA, MO, NJ, and NC.

Authored by: SchoolHouse Connection
Topics: Child welfare, Education, Funding, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Feb 28, 2019

A Dozen Bills and Counting to Help Youth Experiencing Homelessness

Publication
Feb 25, 2019
SchoolHouse Connection
The 2019 state legislative season is in full swing, and SchoolHouse Connection is hard at work on 12 bills in 7 states (IN, KY, ME, NV, TN, TX, UT). We’re also supporting legislative advocates in 4 additional states (AZ, CA, MD, WA), and anticipate additional bills to be filed in LA, MO, NJ, and NC.
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News Article
Community:
Feb 26, 2019
In a typical year, Cincinnati and Hamilton County have about 600 young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 staying in local homeless shelters, said Bonita Campbell, vice president of homeless youth services for Lighthouse Youth & Family Services. The KEYS plan aims to cut that number in half by 2020 and continue to reduce it from there, she said. To reach those goals, the plan is focused on the specific needs of young adults and how they differ from the needs of older people experiencing homelessness, Campbell said.

Authored by: Lucy May and Emily Maxwell for WCPO Cincinnati
Topics: Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Feb 28, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Feb 21, 2019
Homelessness among students enrolled in schools from kindergarten through 12th grade has increased 70 percent over the last decade.

Authored by: Lauren Camera for U.S. News and World Report
Topics: Child welfare, Education, Homelessness, Housing, Research, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Feb 25, 2019
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Podcast
Community:
Feb 14, 2019
John King served in President Barack Obama’s cabinet as the 10th U.S. Secretary of Education. Secretary King is one of the most prominent voices on the connections between housing policy and education policy, particularly with respect to pervasive socioeconomic and racial segregation. We sat down with Secretary King in Los Angeles to discuss the state of modern-day school and housing segregation, why he prioritized integration while in office, promising practices on both the education and housing fronts, and why education advocates must also be housing advocates. “As citizens, we need to be engaged on the issues that affect the kids and families that we serve,” said Secretary King. “We have to be engaged on housing…We have a responsibility as educators to be engaged across a range of issues.”

Authored by: Opportunity Starts at Home
Topics: Child welfare, Education, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Partnerships, Youth
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Feb 19, 2019

Opportunity Starts at Home Interview with Former U.S. Secretary of Education John King

Podcast
Feb 14, 2019
Opportunity Starts at Home
John King served in President Barack Obama’s cabinet as the 10th U.S. Secretary of Education. Secretary King is one of the most prominent voices on the connections between housing policy and education policy, particularly with respect to pervasive socioeconomic and racial segregation.
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Interactive
Community:
More tan 1.3 million homeless students K-12 have been identified in America's public schools.

Authored by: SchoolHouse Connection, Civic Enterprises, America's Promise Alliance, and Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness
Topics: Child welfare, Education, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Youth
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Feb 14, 2019
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Report
Community:
This report marks the thirteenth school year for which the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has collected annual performance data from all states for the Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program. The EDFacts Submission System allows for the collection of unduplicated data on students who experienced homelessness and were reported as enrolled in public schools, even if they attend more than one local educational agency (LEA) during the school year. This report draws from that data to provide the only publicly available compilation of unduplicated data for the EHCY program.

Authored by: National Center for Homeless Education (UNC Greensboro)
Topics: Education, Homelessness, Housing, Research, Youth
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Feb 14, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Jan 30, 2019
FRESNO COUNTY, California - Research shows that a child's enviornment, where they live, can have a huge impact on the outcome of their education. We take a look at how Fresno County's philosophy about public housing is having a positive impact on families.

Authored by: Juanita Stevenson for yourvalley.com
Topics: Broadband, CLPHA, Education, Housing, Low-income, Out-of-school time, Research, Youth
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Feb 11, 2019

Inspiring the Valley: Positive changes in public housing creates a 'transformative' environment

News Article
Jan 30, 2019
Juanita Stevenson for yourvalley.com
FRESNO COUNTY, California - Research shows that a child's enviornment, where they live, can have a huge impact on the outcome of their education. We take a look at how Fresno County's philosophy about public housing is having a positive impact on families.