Governor McAuliffe Signs Agreement to Help End Veteran Homelessness

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Seal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Richmond, Virginia - Gov. Terry McAuliffe has signed onto a national agreement aimed at ending veteran homelessness by the end of 2015.

“This ambitious accord will require cooperation and leadership at all levels to complete such an important task,” McAuliffe said. “We are all guided by the same drive and desire to serve these men and women who have served their country.”

Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs John Harvey made the announcement Monday at a statewide summit in Richmond sponsored by the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness.

“This endeavor clearly recognizes the status veterans have in the Commonwealth,” Harvey said. “They can be assured that they have advocates at the highest level of government in Virginia.”

The agreement, known as the Mayor’s Challenge, is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is being promoted by the National League of Cities through its Homeless Veteran Leadership Network. Originally envisioned as a means for city leaders to pull together and implement local strategies targeting veteran homeless, the agreement has also attracted commitments from chief executives of Colorado, Connecticut,Minnesota, Puerto Rico and now Virginia.

Monday’s summit drew homeless service providers, business leaders and state and local government officials, who met together to develop an action plan for addressing the specific needs of veterans and their families. The goal was to create a state plan that cultivates partnerships, identifies and secures new resources, and increases efficiencies in the delivery of services. The summit was a collaborative effort of the Virginia Department of Veteran Services and the Homeless Outcomes Coordinating Council, and was funded by a grant from Dominion Resources.

The Homeless Outcomes Coordinating Council, led by Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Hazel and Commerce and Trade Secretary Maurice Jones, has embraced the veteran initiative as part of its overall effort to reduce homelessness in the Commonwealth. The group’s hard work is generating significant results. Homelessness in the Commonwealth has declined 7.9 percent in the last year, with a 10.8 percent decrease in family homelessness and a 14 percent decrease in veteran homelessness. Much of that progress can be attributed to bipartisan support for permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing solutions.

“One in every 10 Virginians is a veteran,” said Secretary Hazel. “They are our neighbors, friends, brothers, sisters, parents and children.”

“All Virginians should be concerned about veteran homelessness,” added Secretary Jones. “These brave men and women deserve the certainty and security of a place they can call home.”Nationally, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness established the goal of ending veteran homelessness by the end of 2015. About 58,000 veterans are homeless in the United States.

The initiative has attracted widespread interest. First Lady Michelle Obama announced her support last week.

Related articles

• Governor McAuliffe Announces June as Business Appreciation Month
• Governor McAuliffe Announces Reforms to P3 Process
• Governor McAuliffe's Changes to Restoration of Rights Policy Receives Resounding Support
• Governor McAuliffe Announces Personnel Transition at Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
• Governor McAuliffe Announces Railroad Safety and Security Taskforce
• Governor McAuliffe Announces Launch of Data.Virginia

Gloucester Housing To Dramatically Change In Near Future?

Obama administration using housing department to compel diversity in

neighborhoods;

In a move some claim is tantamount to social engineering, the
Department of Housing and Urban Development is imposing a new rule
that would allow the feds to track diversity in America’s
neighborhoods and then push policies to change those it deems
discriminatory.

The policy is called, "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing." It will
require HUD to gather data on segregation and discrimination in every
single neighborhood and try to remedy it.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan unveiled the federal rule at the NAACP
convention in July.

"Unfortunately, in too many of our hardest hit communities, no matter
how hard a child or her parents work, the life chances of that child,
even her lifespan, is determined by the zip code she grows up in. This
is simply wrong,” he said.

Data from this discrimination database would be used with zoning laws,
housing finance policy, infrastructure planning and transportation to
alleviate alleged discrimination and segregation.

Specifics of the proposed rule are lacking. Now published in the
Federal Register and undergoing a 60-day comment period, the rule,
"does not prescribe or enforce specific” policies.

But one critic says it smacks of utopian idealism.

"This is just the latest of a series of attempts by HUD to social
engineer the American people," said Ed Pinto, of the American
Enterprise Institute. "It started with public housing and urban
renewal, which failed spectacularly back in the 50's and 60's. They
tried it again in the 90's when they wanted to transform house
finance, do away with down payments, and the result was millions of
foreclosures and financial collapse.”

Some fear the rule will open the floodgates to lawsuits by HUD -- a
weapon the department has already used in places like Westchester
County, N.Y., where mayors and attorneys representing several towns,
like Cortlandt, are writing HUD to protest burdensome fair housing
mandates that go far beyond those agreed to in a 2009 settlement with
HUD.

One letter written by Cortlandt town attorney Thomas Wood expresses a
common dilemma.

"Cordlandt is mostly residential and has only a few vacant parcels
that could be developed for commercial use," he writes. "In order to
stabilize the tax base amongst the most affordable in Westchester
County, the Town Board needs to encourage the development of
commercial property for commercial use."

Rob Astorino, the Westchester County Executive recently said, "What
they are trying to do is to say discrimination and zoning is the same
thing. They are not. Discrimination won't be tolerated. I won't
tolerate it. Zoning though, protects what can and can't be built in a
neighborhood."

Also troublesome to critics is that the HUD secretary, in announcing
this proposed rule, blamed poverty on zip codes – rather than other
socio-economic factors that studies have shown contribute to poverty.

 http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/08/obama-administration-using-housing-department-to-compel-diversity-in/#ixzz2bNquBcXK  Link back to original story.

Related articles

• SOCIAL ENGINEERING? Housing Agency Criticized For Diversity Policy Push
• Obama Administration Imposing Diversity (+video)
• Obama administration using housing department to compel diversity in neighborhoods
• HUD wants to blend neighborhoods