Local Housing & Homelessness Highlights

Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission
 

The Mission is operating a dayroom so clients can have a place to be on these bitter cold days. This means extra meals and housekeeping for the Mission but they are glad to be able to offer this service. 

The Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission could use help with paper products, paper towels, toilet paper, tissues, and laundry detergent.

Contact:
2823 E Tudor Rd, Anchorage, AK
+1 907-563-5603
info@anchoragerescue.org

Alaska Legal Services Corporation (ALSC)

Landlord/Tenant Helpline

ALSC offers a Landlord/Tenant Legal Helpline to provide free assistance to both tenants and landlords with legal questions and situations. Staffed by volunteer attorneys, this Landlord/Tenant Helpline is open to receive calls on Monday-Thursday from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. The number to call in the Anchorage area is 907-743-1000. For outside of the Anchorage area, you can call the toll-free number at 855-743-1001.

Alaska Legal Services Corporation (ALSC)

Landlord/Tenant Helpline

ALSC offers a Landlord/Tenant Legal Helpline to provide free assistance to both tenants and landlords with legal questions and situations. Staffed by volunteer attorneys, this Landlord/Tenant Helpline is open to receive calls on Monday-Thursday from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. The number to call in the Anchorage area is 907-743-1000. For outside of the Anchorage area, you can call the toll-free number at 855-743-1001.

Choosing Our Roots (COR)

COR is looking for input on training dates for January volunteer training. Dates will be chosen based on what days work best for the largest number of folks and will be announced by COR.

National Housing & Homelessness Highlights

Community Solutions
 

Forbes: How 100+ communities are solving homelessness

What we can learn from Built for Zero communities’ success

Homelessness is too often thought of as an intractable and ever-present problem. But Built for Zero communities are proving that we can solve it. 

In this article from Forbes, Sascha Haselmayer, a social entrepreneur and Ashoka fellow, and Rosanne Haggerty, CEO of Community Solutions, explore topics such as housing, the role faith communities play, and how we need to embrace a new way of working in order to functionally end homelessness.

“More communities are recognizing homelessness as a dynamic problem. In other words, you don’t just end it once. Solving homelessness means learning how to solve it every day,” Haggerty said.

HUD Exchange

Rapid Rehousing Roundtable Discussion Series – Starting December 8, 2022

HUD is sponsoring a second round of the Rapid Rehousing (RRH) Roundtable Discussion Series, kicking off December 8, 2022 at 1:30 PM EST, with the topic of Advancing Equity. Additional sessions will follow every six weeks, with topics to be determined along the way. Each webinar in the series will host a facilitated dialogue amongst a small group of panelists and will include an opportunity for participants to submit questions to the panelists and technical assistance (TA) providers. Learn how to join the first session on December 8.

Earlier this year, HUD sponsored the first round of the roundtable discussions to identify, imagine, and increase trends that support innovation in RRH services and programs. Practitioners, policy-makers, and people with lived experience of homelessness shared their thoughts, challenges, and promising practices on topics including racial equity, assertive engagement, and landlord recruitment. View materials and recordings from the previous sessions. 

Training Objectives

Participants will learn about:

• Advancing equity throughout Rapid Rehousing design and implementation
• Maximizing limited resources
• Staffing models and practices that promote equity and improve outcomes
• Effective strategies for engaging with landlords and identifying housing pathways
• Service delivery strategies

Who Should Attend?

This series is intended for anyone involved in homeless system response and identifying housing for our most vulnerable neighbors including, but not limited to, Continuum of Care (CoC) staff, leadership, program administrators, consumer advisory board members, Youth Action Board members, direct service staff/program management, landlords and property managers, and recipients and subrecipients of Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) and CoC funding.

Joining Instructions

The Advancing Equity through RRH session is taking place on December 8, 2022 from 1:30 to 3:00 PM EST.
Participants do not need to register in advance. It is strongly recommended that you join each webinar 15 minutes prior to the start time (1:15 PM EST). To join each webinar, simple access the login page at the link below.

National Council of Nonprofits
 

2022 in Review
In Focus: Expanding Child Care

Recognizing that families and employers alike need adequate, available, and accessible child care options, multiple states enacted legislation this year to address shortages and promote a wide range of solutions. New York established a $100 million grant program to build and expand child care capacity in areas with the least supply, known as child care deserts. West Virginia created a tax credit up to 50% of the cost for qualified child care properties and a separate tax credit equal to 50% of the cost of operation for an employer that provides or sponsors child care for employees. The law further permits the credit to be transferable for nonprofit organizations.

Other focus areas include government grants and contracts, matching fund support, and direct payments to affected workers. The District of Columbia established a grant program for pay parity for early childhood educators with the intent to send direct payments of $10,000 per eligible childcare workers. Kentucky established the Employee Child-Care Assistance Partnership to create a revolving fund for employers to contribute and the state to match up to 100% of contributions for employers to voluntarily create and apply for child-care assistance programs. Minnesota expressly included child care workers, as well as employees of home and long-term care facilities, in a program to provide $1,500 pandemic-related hazard pay. New Mexico waived copays for families in its Child Care Assistance Program, and the state expanded eligibility to include families earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level.