News about poverty and homelessness
Join us as we honor 25 years of Health Care for the Homeless on Saturday, October 2, 2010, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm at our new clinic and headquarters at 421 Fallsway. The event, HCH in 2010: Closer to Home, is presented by CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. Thank you to PNC Bank and CBS Radio for also sponsoring the event.
The evening will include artwork by HCH clients and professional artists, live music by the Swinging Swamis, and food by Linwoods Restaurant and Catering.
ABC2 reports an increase of 25% in the number of people experiencing homelessness in Baltimore County over last year. The story highlights that the number of families staying at shelters for the first time is growing at roughly the same rate. Click here to read the full story.
On the morning of Tuesday, July 27, Nancy Fink (the spouse of HCH President & CEO Jeff Singer) died following a lengthy illness. Nancy was a woman of great strength, conviction, and determination; a wife and mother with a deep love of her family; and an accomplished researcher and educator for The Johns Hopkins University. The entire HCH community mourns her loss. The notice below ran in the July 29 edition of the Baltimore Sun.
FINK, Nancy E.
On July 27, 2010, NANCY E. FINK, wife of Jeff Singer, mother of Max and Zachary Singer, sister of Jeanne Fink Hofferberth and the late Louisa Fink Kahn. Also bereft are Stephan Kahn; Nick Kahn and Kim Tran; Ted, Kristin, and Daniel Kahn; Cindy and Jessica Montero; Bud Kahn; Scott Hofferberth and Chris Szczypinski; Stu Singer and Robin Mace; Robin Singer, Judy Berger, Emma and Leah Berger-Singer; Wendy Singer. David, Aaron, and Elizabeth Lynn; and Visal Duong. Nancy was a widely admired public health researcher and educator at The Johns Hopkins University.
A memorial service will be held on September 5 at 2:00PM at Health Care for the Homeless; remembrances and photographs can be emailed to nancyremembered@gmail.comfor inclusion. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be sent to The Nancy Fink Fund of Health Care for the Homeless, 421 Fallsway, Baltimore, MD 21202.
Health Care for the Homeless has been re-accredited by the Joint Commission (formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations). HCH remains the sole independent homeless health care agency in the nation to have achieved these distinctions.
In June, 2010, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded a three-year renewal grant for HCH’s Connect Project. Launched in 2000, the initiative provides intensive case management and supportive services to multiply-diagnosed individuals living with HIV/AIDS in order to help them remain stably housed and off the streets. The following excerpt is from the 6/30/10 HUD press release:
“Health Care for the Homeless, Inc. (HCH) is awarded a Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) permanent supportive housing renewal grant of $1,265,112 to continue providing permanent housing assistance to medically fragile, multiply diagnosed, HIV+ homeless individuals. The project provides five units of facility-based housing and three households will continue receiving Tenant Based Rental Assistance (TBRA). Supportive services are provided to 60 households annually. The project is a collaborative partnership with Project PLASE and the Baltimore City Department of Social Services.”
HUD awarded a total of $2.6 million to HIV/AIDS supportive housing programs throughout Baltimore.
Connecticut First in Nation to Expand Medicaid Coverage to New Groups Under the Affordable Care Act
This week, Connecticut became the first state in the union – hopefully the first of many – to expand Medicaid coverage to new groups under the Affordable Care Act. HCH has encouraged Maryland to join Connecticut by expanding Medicaid to single childless adults ahead of the 2014 mandate. By expanding now, Maryland would receive a 50% match on funds until 2014, when the federal government would fully fund newly-eligible individuals. A thoughtful cost analysis might prove that expanding early could save Maryland millions of dollars at a time when every dime counts. Our clients can’t wait until 2014 for health care.
Today, the Federal Interagency Council on Homelessness released a long-awaited Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. Below is the National Health Care for the Homeless Council’s response:
HEALTH CARE GROUP RESPONDS TO FEDERAL HOMELESSNESS PLAN
The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, released today by the Obama Administration, represents a major turning point in efforts to end 30 years of mass homelessness in America, according to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.
The Plan, called Opening Doors, explicitly focuses on the provision of affordable housing as the most important tool for ending homelessness. It promotes a “Housing First” approach that bypasses emergency shelters and transitional programs to ensure that people are safely and securely housed.
“This is the first comprehensive federal plan after 30 years of ineffective policies that have not ended homelessness,” said John Lozier, Executive Director of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. “It recognizes the critical connection between homelessness and poor health, and looks to the opportunities present in Health Reform to help break those deadly linkages.”
In 2014 (or earlier at state option), most homeless people will become eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Currently, 70% of homeless adults are uninsured, resulting in escalating health problems that dramatically complicate their homelessness and create costly inefficiencies in the health care system. “Health Care Reform makes significant changes to this cycle,” said Lozier.
The Plan calls for interventions like Medical Respite Care, facilities that provide a safety valve for hospitals that might otherwise discharge people back into homelessness. Opening Doors also requires coordination of health services and housing programs, particularly in Permanent Supportive Housing programs, for people with chronic health problems. In addition, the new health law provides for significant financial investments in Community Health Centers, which include Health Care for the Homeless projects, for more service locations and expanded programs.
“The serious blind spot in the Plan is its neglect of the situation of undocumented people, who are homeless in significant numbers,” said Lozier. “The Affordable Care Act explicitly excludes undocumented people, but the nation cannot afford to continue to have millions of its poorest residents and workers languish outside of its systems of care.”
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council is a national organization of health care providers and patients of its member clinics. Mr. Lozier and the leadership of the organization’s National Consumer Advisory Board participated in the development of the Plan through a broadly participative process conducted by the federal Interagency Council on Homelessness.
“We congratulate the Obama Administration and the Interagency Council on the inclusive approach that resulted in Opening Doors. This is the most important federal effort to address the problem since mass homelessness emerged in the early 1980’s,” said Lozier.
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Click here to read The New York Times article, “Medicaid Cut Places States in Budget Bind.”
Not only are states expected to be improving their Medicaid systems so about 20 million new patients can be added in 4 years (hopefully earlier in some areas), but we are also trying to build a health care workforce to meet these additional needs. These types of reductions only worsen the existing shortcomings of the entire health system. Congress needs to understand the ramifications of not extending the higher rate assistance to states. The irony here is vast, we can’t tear down and build up at the same time.
While the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s announcement is encouraging, Maryland has no law that prevents landlords from this type of discrimination. Denying housing based on legal sources of income happens regularly. Think of all the rental ads in the paper that boldly say “No Section 8.” Not only is this wrong, but it also prolongs homelessness for people who are trying to access housing and get back into the mainstream. Help us do the right thing in Maryland by passing such a law.
See our Action Alert for more information.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will begin requiring applicants seeking grant funding to comply with state and local laws that protect individuals from being denied housing based on their lawful source of income. This funding requirement is part of a broader effort by HUD to make certain grant applicants meet state and local anti-discrimination laws, including those prohibiting housing discrimination based on a person’s income, such as Section 8 Rental Assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or earnings from seasonal employment.
Click here to read the full press release - http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2010/HUDNo.10-121
