Announces bold new direction
as they unveil updated plan to end homelessness
Kathleen Cassidy, Herb Levine and Arnold Cohen
On October 8, 2009, the Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness, a member of the Advocacy Network to End Homelessness, held their Next 5 Years Reception and Report. We were pleased to be part of this important event when they released A New Direction for Ending Homelessness in Mercer County.
Five year’s after more than one hundred fifty (150) community agencies, individual stakeholders and government partners drafted the first Ten Year Plan to end homelessness in New Jersey, much has been achieved.
One of the most dramatic accomplishments was the creation of the Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness, which began with a single bold and transformational idea: Mercer County needed a local organization whose only reason for existence is to end homelessness.
Among the other accomplishments that we have been very impressed with include the housing first initiative that has provided housing to thirty (30) individuals and ten (10) families and is on track to serve ten more by the end of the year. With the approval last year of the Rapid Re-housing program by HUD and its significant expansion with HPRP funds and the coordination of all homeless funding in the county, the Mercer Alliance has much to be proud of.
But they are now ready for a major shift.
Their updated plan – A New Direction for Ending Homelessness in Mercer County – will demonstrate that they can:
- prevent homelessness in many instances,
- shorten homelessness when it cannot be avoided and
- provide permanent housing to both individuals and families as quickly as possible.
The plan confirms their mission that they can end homelessness in Mercer County! It will not be simple, but it is achievable.
The solution has five key elements:
- System Change
- Preventing Homelessness
- Homes for the Homeless
- Services for Everyone Who Needs Them
- Increasing Income & Employment, so that Homes can be Sustained
These five key elements of their solution will move Mercer County away from reliance on emergency and transitional shelters as the focus is to rapidly provide permanent housing with supports.
Dennis Micai and Denise Higgins
In the next three years, the Mercer Alliance’s new plan calls for housing five hundred sixty (560) individuals and families.
We were very pleased with their updated plan.
When their updated plan is available online we will provide a link.
This is a plan that we can not only learn new strategies but a renewed commitment to ending homelessness in our communities.
During the event they presented awards to:
Volunteer of the Year
Kathy Shaw
Landlord of the Year
Rob Rubiano
Affordable Housing Champion
Mayor Mildred Trotman
Media Champion
Brian Malone, Trenton Times
Legislative Champion
Rep. Reed Gusciora
a sponsor of the Homeless Trust Fund
Corporate Champion
Fred Egenolf, Bristol Myers Squibb
