After the mayor’s recent tirade against the “drifter” homeless people (psssst, men all ran out of shelter time at the end of March, that is why you are seeing more “new” people) its a little hard to launch a campaign to find landlords willing to rent to veteran’s for the MAYOR’S ZERO:16 campaign. Here’s the press release planned for today, Registry Week starts Saturday and there is a Tuesday 10 am press conference next week with the Mayor and County Executive Joe Parisi to help recruit landlords to the cause. This is seriously screwed up. Sigh . . .
Landlords Critical to Helping End Homelessness
For Immediate Release April 27, 2015
From May 2nd to May 10th, the City of Madison and Homeless Services Consortium will take the next critical step in our commitment to Zero: 2016–a national campaign to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015 and chronic homelessness by the end of 2016–by hosting a Registry Week. Madison hopes to join other cities across the nation such as New Orleans, who have successfully ended veteran or chronic homelessness already.
What is Registry Week?
Registry Week is a process where volunteers, outreach workers and service providers will take to the streets to work to identify the most vulnerable and at-risk homeless residents in our community and then prioritize them for permanent supportive housing based on their barriers to housing and the specific needs of each individual. Our goal is to end veterans homelessness by the end of the year.Landlords Needed
“If 150 landlords in Madison were willing to provide just one apartment each, we could house all of Madison’s homeless veterans,” said Melissa Molin, Supportive Services for Veteran’s Families (SSVF) Case Manager, Community Action Coalition of South Central Wisconsin..With Madison’s low vacancy rate and shortage of affordable housing, our biggest challenge will be finding housing for those with the greatest needs.The Zero:2016 Campaign is surveying landlords regarding their interest in helping to end homelessness for veterans and chronically homeless people. The survey is available at http://goo.gl/forms/9Oqtk5bjsn. Responses are requested by Friday, May 1, 2015. Landlords interested in joining the Zero:2016 campaign will be contacted by case managers working with veterans to talk about next steps in the tenant selection process.
Most of the homeless veterans seeking housing are receiving case management and are eligible for financial support for entry costs and/or ongoing rent assistance. Case managers working for Veteran’s Affairs (VA) and the Community Action Coalition of South Central Wisconsin (CAC) are already providing supportive and stabilizing services and assistance to veterans and have experience working with landlords to facilitate positive rental relationships. The Community Development Authority (CDA) of Madison was just awarded 21 additional Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) rent assistance vouchers to assist the City in ending veterans homelessness.
To sign up to volunteer for Registry Week, or to find out more information about Registry Week, visit DaneCountyHomeless.org/zero2016 or contact Matt Kozlowski, Registry Week Coordinator, at MadisonZero2016@Gmail.com
The Homeless Services Consortium is a partnership of agencies, funders, advocates, and formerly homeless persons committed to preventing and ending homelessness.
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