Live-Blogging from the National Conference on Ending Homelessness

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-07-29 07:50:00 UTC
Topics:

Today I will be live-blogging from the National Conference on Ending Homelessness in Washington, DC. This is Woodstock for homeless advocates, the mother of all homeless conferences, if you will. Over the next three days, it will be frenzy of workshops on housing, prevention, 10-year plans, policy, advocacy, and everything in-between.

Although the conference happens every year, there's a different feeling in the air in 2009. First, it's the volume. Over 1,200 people have made the trip to DC for this conference. Bear in mind that it's no small feat to find the time and money necessary to attend, especially when budgets and personnel are stretched thin these days. The strong showing is telling of the need for information, collaboration, and interest in new solutions to combat homelessness.

At the same time, $1.5 billion dollars in HPRP money is finally being released to communities. There's a lot of hope attached to this cash, depending on who you ask. It's supposed to help curb a crisis, fund a paradigm shift in the way homelessness is handled, and improve a lot of lives. Phew.

Needless to say, it's bound to be an interesting few days, so stay tuned for frequent updates. (And if you're at the conference, please say hello!)

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Poverty: The Elephant (or Giant, Bloodthirsty Rat) in the Room
NEXT STORY:
Is the NCAA Putting Student Athletes at Risk?

COMMENTS (1)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.