Two alerts from GA Supportive Housing Alliance

[RCCAtl]

1. Representative Jay Neal and Senator Johnney Grant changed the date of the housing meeting of the Legislative Behavioral Health Caucus to March 13 1:00 to 3:00 in room 606 of the Coverdale Legislative Office Building. Changed because the legislature will be in recess on the original date of March 15. Ask your House and Senate members to attend and plan to meet them at the meeting. The Caucus will hear from DCA and DBHDD on their plans to meet the Settlement goal of serving 9,000 persons with supportive housing. This is our best opportunity to communicate support for the state's effort to meet the goal.

 

2. Below is an email alert from the National Alliance to End Homelessness asking for your help on this years federal budget for McKinney Vento. They need you to ask your US Representative to "sign-on" to a letter expressing support for a $2.231 Billion budget. This would let HUD fund the prevention measures in the Hearth Act without cutting Shelter Plus Care and Supportive Housing grants in the Continuum grant funds.

Sanple letter attached. Fax or email a letter.

So far they have 500 letters but it will take more. 

 

Last night, Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI) began circulating a sign-on letter (attached) to her colleagues in the House of Representatives in support of providing $2.231 billion for HUD’s McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants. The deadline for U.S. representatives to join the letter is next Tuesday, March 13, and members of the House can join by contacting Sean Gard in Rep. Moore’s office at [phone].

We need to get as many representatives’ signatures as possible on this letter, and we need YOUR help! To see if your representative has already joined the letter, click here (this list will be updated regularly). You can also see if your representative joined a similar letter last November by clicking here.

 

Thank you to everyone who has already sent letters to their Members of Congress requesting support for a funding level of $2.231 billion for HUD’s McKinney-Vento programs. We’ve sent more than 150 letters already,but we need to send more!

 

If you have NOT yet reached out to your congressional offices in the past two weeks:

1.       Contact the staff member who handle housing issues for your representatives ASAP and ask them to join Rep. Moore’s Dear Colleague letter.

·         You can email them a letter by customizing the sample attached with a short note asking them to join the letter.

·         Representatives can join the letter by contacting Sean Gard in her office at [phone].

2.       If they say they cannot join the letter, ask if they will submit a “programmatic request” in support of providing the Administration’s requested $2.231 billion for HUD’s McKinney-Vento programs in FY 2013.

3.       Let us know which offices you contacted and what they said by emailing me or Kate Seif ([e-mail]).

 

If you’ve ALREADY sent a letter to your congressional offices in the past two weeks:

1.       Follow up your note and ask if they will join Rep. Moore’s sign-on letter by contacting Sean Gard in her office at [phone].

2.       If they say they cannot join the letter, ask if they will submit a programmatic request in support of providing the Administration’s requested $2.231 billion for HUD’s McKinney-Vento programs in FY 2013.

3.       Let us know which offices you contacted, what they said, and how many letters you sent!

 

Remember, we’re trying to send 500 letters by March 20 – so let us know exactly how many letters you and your colleagues have sent!

 

Joining the sign-on letter provides an easier way for Members of Congress to include funding for HUD’s McKinney-Vento programs in their list of official funding priorities due to the Appropriations Committee in two weeks. If offices are unable/unwilling to join the letter, they can be JUST as helpful by including this funding request in their official list of priorities. Please note that we expect a similar sign-on letter to begin circulating in the Senate shortly. We will keep you posted once it does so.

 

As always, let me know if you have any questions and please let us know which offices you’re contacting. 

Amanda (Krusemark) Benton

Director of Policy Outreach

National Alliance to End Homelessness

1518 K Street NW, Suite 410

Washington, DC 20005

[phone]