The City of Philadelphia Division of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) invited community partners to provide input on the draft 2022-2023 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report which will be released for public testimony in May. HopePHL’s response was presented by Trish Downey, Senior Director of External Affairs. Eleven other groups provided testimony, including Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, Community Legal Services, and Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia. HopePHL operates several programs in partnership with DHCD, such as:
HopePHL’s testimony can be downloaded using the button in this article. It was submitted to the public record around 2:45pm on March 12, 2024. We are grateful for DHCD’s continued support and for the opportunity to provide recommendations. HopePHL looks forward to partnering with the city to preserve housing stability, prevent homelessness, and offer temporary housing and services to youth and families experiencing homelessness.
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The NAC at HopePHL presented the "Getting Your House in Order" brunch at the Enterprise Center for the public and members of the United Block Captains Association. The event included presenters from various organizations and was kicked off with Alice Wright, the President and Founder of the Block Captains Association. Following Alice, speakers from Clarifi, New York Life, and Affordable Housing Centers of Pennsylvania gave general overviews of their work and how they could potentially help members of the community. Senator Hughes also made an appearance at the Enterprise Center and briefly talked about the importance of school funding after mingling and taking some pictures with those in attendance.
The presentation portion of the event was wrapped up with the main speaker, Dot Goldberger of Community Legal Services, Inc., discussing tangled titles. The remainder of the event was dedicated to the attendees checking out the different organization's tables after hearing what each organization's presentations. The representatives were then able to discuss on a more specific and personal level the help they could provide and the next steps to be taken. These free events are a great opportunity for community members to get information and access to resources that they may otherwise not know about or are difficult to obtain. Matthew Heckles, the Regional Administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Region III, and his team met with the HopePHL staff. The goal was to provide the HUD representatives with information to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges related to housing instability, homelessness, and community development: particularly concerning families, youth, and other Philadelphia residents.
The HopePHL team provided a tour of Gloria's Place in West Philadelphia, which is renowned as Pennsylvania's pioneer structure to encompass emergency, transitional, and permanent housing units within a single location. Before concluding the meeting, the HopePHL team and HUD representatives engaged in discussions concerning inventive approaches to addressing housing insecurity. These included strategies like proactive prevention and diversion initiatives, aid for rentals, and funding to uphold affordable housing options. The Homeless Children and Youth Act (HCYA, H.R.5221) was reintroduced by U.S. Representatives Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11,) Bill Posey (R-FL-08), Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03), and Don Bacon (R-NE-02), and co-sponsored by Pennsylvanians Evans (Phila), Boyle (Phila), Scanlon (Delaware), Dean (Montgomery), and Fitzpatrick (Bucks).
A positive step forward for families experiencing homelessness would be a unification of the federal definition of who is homeless and who is not. The Homeless Children and Youth Act would unify the definition, qualifying thousands of families and children for housing supports. A new report from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) shows that in School Year (SY) 2021-2022 there were 40,003 children and youth were identified as homeless throughout the Commonwealth, an all-time high.
HopePHL has summarized this report to inform practitioners and policy makers about children and youth experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia. With this Policy Brief we continue HopePHL’s series called the “Children Cannot Wait Campaign” (see https://bit.ly/3qAQGIX). Part 1 of our exploration of the data offered by PDE will focus on Pennsylvania; Part 2 will focus on the data specific to Philadelphia; and Part 3 will look at homelessness by school district.
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