hearth, Inc – ending elder homelessness | The National Leadership Initiative
The National Leadership Initiative to End Elder Homelessness (NLI)
Hearth, Inc., the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), Shelter Partnership, Inc., and LeadingAge have joined together to further a national dialogue about the impending crisis of elderly homelessness and the importance of providing permanent service-enriched housing for seniors who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness in order to end elder homelessness in our country.
Policy Paper
The NLI created a National Advisory Panel to look at policy implications and solutions and create a policy paper with clear goals and a path for the creation of affordable service-enriched units for vulnerable elders. You can read and download the paper on the CSH website.
To help inform and guide the Panel’s findings and final recommendations to local, state and federal policy-makers, convenings were held in the fall of 2011 and spring of 2013 to bring together elected and appointed officials from across the country, advocates, housing providers, and elder service providers (including health and mental health providers), to discuss the unique needs of this population and examine best practices and solutions to the crisis. More information can be found on the CSH webpage Vulnerable Populations: Older Adults and the Elderly.
NLI Partners
CSH is the recognized leader in promoting supportive housing as the solution to homelessness, innovating and replicating effective models across the country.
Shelter Partnership is dedicated to alleviating, preventing and ending homelessness throughout Los Angeles County by assisting in the development of housing programs, affordable housing, and supportive services.
LeadingAge is an association of 6,000 not-for-profit organizations dedicated to making America a better place to grow old. They advance policies, promote practices and conduct research that supports, enables and empowers people to live fully as they age.
Related Advocacy
A Blueprint for Action
In 2013, the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Housing & Homelessness formally launched the Older Adult Steering Committee, of which Hearth’s Mark HInderlie was a member, to focus on the problem of homelessness among older adults in the elderly. In May 2014, the group published “Ending Homelessness Among Older Adults: A Blueprint for Action.”
The Blueprint contains an eight-goal framework of short- and long-term action items, with the vision of “ensuring all older adults in Massachusetts have a safe, stable, and affordable home.”
Contacts
For more information about the National Initiative, or to get involved, you can contact:
- Ellen Feingold, Chairperson, National Advisory Panel
- Mark Hinderlie, President & CEO, Hearth
- Constance Tempel, Chief Operating Officer, Corporation for Supportive Housing
- Steve Renahan, Senior Policy Advisor, Shelter Partnership, Inc.
- Alisha Sanders, Managing Director, Housing / Senior Policy Research Associate, LeadingAge