I spent the beginning of this week in Spokane, WA where I experienced hail, snow, sun, and an informative training facilitated by
Jonathan Beard. Building Changes sponsored the training for homeless families providers. The training sought to clarify the not always obvious differences between SSI and SSDI. While their acronyms are only one letter off, they are very different programs.
SSI stands for Supplemental Security Income and is a welfare program that makes payments to aged, blind and disabled people who also meet the means test (looks at income, resources, and living arrangements). SSDI on the other hand is an insurance program, hence its name, Social Security Disability Insurance, and claimants must have paid money into it through the Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA
As part of our ongoing commitment to improving employment outcomes for homeless job seekers, Building Changes has begun hosting Peer to Peer Learning Community conference calls among Washington Families Fund homeless services grantees. Earlier this week
Mark Putnam and I hosted our first P2P call and I am excited to report that we had
17 participants, from
9 different agencies from around the state. Participants from Island, Whatcom, King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties participated.
We kicked off the series with a discussion of new funding opportunities related to workforce development, in particular the federal stimulus funding, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We also spent time sharing barriers that clients face and highlighting strategies for engaging tenants in job training
I recently heard President Obama's press conference on the way home from work -- he fielded a question about homelessness well, in my biased opinion, as he focused on job training and education as a primary solution to ending family homelessness. Building Changes and the Washington Families Fund fully support this approach, and are working here in Washington state to ensure that homeless job seekers are able to access job training and post-secondary education that leads to family wage jobs.
Here's the excerpt from the press conference:
QUESTION (from Kevin Chappell of Ebony Magazine): Thank you, Mr. President. A recent report found that as a result of the economic downturn, one in 50 children are now homeless in America. With shelters at full capacity, tent cities are sprouting up across
On February 24th, 560 housing and homeless advocates gathered in Olympia to rally around housing issues, meet with legislators, and make our voices heard. The Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, along with the Washington State Coalition for the Homeless, the Housing Development Consortium, Common Ground, the Tenants Union, Building Changes, and many other organizations statewide brought together low-income and homeless folks, program staff, and other concerned citizens from every walk of life. Advocates from almost every district in the state were ready to meet with their legislators and express why housing matters.
The energy was high in the United Churches building where the group heard speeches by WLIHA lobbyist Nick Federici, advocacy educator Nancy Amidei, and
Senate Majority
(Stephen Norman is Executive Director of the King County Housing Authority and a member of the Building Changes Board of Directors. He delivered the following remarks to the Governing Board of King County's
Committee to End Homelessness (CEH) on February 20, 2009.)
Homelessness is a complex issue with many causes and no simple fix. Any successful local approach, however, must address the interconnected issues of housing supply, housing affordability and the availability and coordination of supportive services. I have been asked to focus today on the role that Federal housing subsidies play in addressing these issues.
Collectively, the King County Housing Authority (KCHA) and Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) administer 23,500 units of federally assisted housing - 7,800 units of public
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