Center for Homeless history

1989: Law Center founded to use power of the law to end and prevent homelessness in America.

Second, public inebriation was decriminalized in many cities, and those once jailed for public drunkenness now avoided arrest and often entered shelters or remained on the streets (McCarty et al., 1991).

1993 Community Mental Health Reinvestment Act

From 1997 until the present, Mark has served as the executive director for the St Vincent de Paul Homeless Family Shelter.

Related studies in NYC (Culhane and Kuhn, 1998) found that the small group of chronically homeless adults comprised 18 percent of shelter use, staying for more than 180 days in their first year in the shelter system and accounting for 53 percent of the total shelter days used by single adults.

2000 Bound for Success Begins; Giuliani Shelter Ejection Plan Blocked; New Poll; NY Kids Need Housing

In 2000 NCS began researching the psychiatric characteristics of chronically homeless individuals in an effort to better understand their complex needs and improve services for this vulnerable population.

In a study conducted in 2000, researcher Ali Riker measured the impact that community based treatment models had upon recidivism for transitioning offenders who are homeless.

Since 2001 the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has been regularly awarding project grants for offender reentry programs.

In 2002, the USICH spearheaded the Chronic Homelessness Initiative, asking states and local jurisdictions to create 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness.

A national study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2002 revealed that in a three–year window, the recidivism rate for ex–offenders was 67%. Two–thirds of released prisoners are re–arrested and one–half are re–incarcerated within 3 years of release from prison.

2003: Law Center partners with the Center for Housing Rights and Evictions and hosts first National Forum on the Human Right to Housing.

In 2003, researcher Peter Silia observed that "It appears from the available evidence that persons being released from prison today are doing less well than their counterparts released a decade ago in successfully reintegrating into their communities.

In December 2004, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper announced plans to involve three emergency shelters and attempt to create a continuum of care available to Denver's homeless population.

The Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, referred to locally as the ARCH, has been managed by the organization Front Steps since opening its doors in 2004.

2004: Law Center wins inclusion of homeless students in Higher Education Act to protect their rights.

In 2004 she joined Patrick House to focus on the community services available for clients being served by Patrick House.

The grant is valued at $660,000 and applications are due July 13, 2005.

In November of 2005, the Human Services Campus began providing services to persons experiencing homelessness.

2005: Law Center manual and advocacy help create Supplemental Security Income (SSI)/Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Outreach, Access and Recovery (SOAR).

With support from the Lodestar Foundation, the pilot program relocated to their Campus facility with the rest of the partners in 2005.

Campus of Human Services, LLC (LLC) was formed in 2005, and was originally owned by 5 Arizona non-profit organizations.

2005 DRIE Established; NY/NYIII; Annual Homeless Death Reporting Requirement

Patrick House's budget for fiscal year 2005 is $328,200.

2007 Bloomberg Launches Advantage Program

Chance for Change, a licensed out-patient substance use treatment program, was introduced in 2007 specifically to serve individuals who are homeless and battling addiction, often combined with mental illness.

In 2010, a team from the Thunderbird School of Management assessed the Campus and its governance structure and recommended the replacement of the existing LLC structure with a new Human Services Campus Board of Directors to govern the Campus.

In 2011, the Human Services Campus began efforts to re-align the Campus and its services around these new evidence-based models.

2011 Cuomo Takes Office; Bloomberg Ends Advantage Program, Litigation Follows

Beginning in 2012, strategies were already in place to provide a facility for this service coordination and program alignment.

Seeking to increase outreach and simplify access to services, a program now known as Community Human Services Information and Referral Program (CHIRP), introduced in 2012, leverages community meal programs to provide hundreds of participants with on-site information and referral services.

Aurora House opens in early 2013 providing 87 units of supportive housing for homeless adults living with serious mental/addictive illnesses or other disabling conditions.

An IRS 501c3 non-profit status was secured in 2014.

2014 De Blasio Takes Office and Initiates LINC; Coalition Leads the Campaign 4 NY/NY Housing; DRIE Expands

1, 2014 marks 12,460 consecutive days that DESC’s Main Shelter has been open.

2015 NYC Commits to 15,000 Units of Supportive Housing

Sociologists referred to this generation as experiencing “literal homelessness” with no access to conventional dwellings, such as houses, apartments, mobile homes, rooming houses, or SROs (Jones, 2015).

The program serves more than 2.1 million households (Congressional Budget Office, 2015).

Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO). (2016). "Youth Homelessness Needs Assessment: Austin/Travis County." Retrieved from http://austinecho.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/161123-youth-homelessness-needs-assessment.pdf.

2016: As a result of the Law Center’s federal advocacy, the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of 2016 (FAST Act) includes improvements to the federal surplus property program, created by Title V of the McKinney-Vento Act, including allowing its use for permanent housing.

However, the initial $2 billion set aside in the 2016 State Budget is not released in 2016 due to the Governor needlessly demanding that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) be signed by the Governor, Assembly Speaker, and Senate Majority Leader.

In his 2016 State of the State Address, Governor Andrew Cuomo commits to funding 20,000 new units of supportive housing – 15,000 in New York City and 5,000 elsewhere in the state – over 15 years.

The program was retooled and relaunched in 2016.

The Peer PATHFinder outreach program was created in August 2017 in response to the opioid epidemic and works with adults experiencing homelessness who are at risk of opioid overdose.

2017: Law Center helps protect the U.S Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget rom proposed cuts by the Trump Administration.

2018: Law Center launches #IAskForHelpBecause Campaign as part of the Housing Not Handcuffs Campaign, a nationwide effort to strike down bans on panhandling, changing laws or enforcement in more than 70 communities.