No chance "to under-promise and over-deliver" on this - it's more than "we can" - it is swearing to an oath to finish the goal within one year and complete the criteria to get confirmation from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development. The Mayor of New Orleans did just accomplished, as promised. - with No newspeak
As usual a lot of fanfare and skimpy details left out of Mesa Now press releases coming out of City Hall
Mayor John Giles selected to lead national effort to end veterans homelessness
Press release from City of Mesa Newsroom 01-21-2016 at 3:33:00 PM
Mayor John Giles has been selected to co-chair a national, bi-partisan effort to engage communities across the country in the effort to end veterans homelessness. . .
Mesa joined the Mayor’s Challenge to End Veterans Homelessness in January 2015 and in one year found permanent supportive housing for more than 70 veterans. Mesa has coordinated dozens of local organizations, municipalities and federal agencies to provide the resources needed to find housing for our veterans.
“I’m proud to co-chair this task force with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu as we work to honor the service of our veterans by making sure all of them have a home to call their own,” Mayor John Giles said. “By focusing our resources and maximizing our commitment, we can end veteran homelessness in our communities and our country.”
Sounds great, right? The goal in one year is to end veteran homelessness and the City of Mesa apparently does not know how many homeless vets there are here, hoping to find that out by a one-day count enlisting volunteers to do the job.
Reality Check:
The First Lady Announces the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness
First Lady Michelle Obama announced a new program on June 4, 2014 that aimed to end veteran homelessness in the U.S. by year's end 2015.
Readers can watch the June 2014 announcement in the 35:28 You Tube video just above.
Again at the 84th Winter Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors held in Washington,D.C. Michelle Obama spoke again at The Plenary Session that was streamed live on January 21, 2016 in this 1:08:32 YouTube video
It was at this session of national mayors that John Giles was selected to be the subject of the press release in this post where he is selected to co-chair a committee with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
Specifically, the call to action – announced by First Lady Michelle Obama and amplified by the HUD Secretary, by leaders across HUD, VA, USICH, and by the National League of Cities – is for mayors to make a commitment to ending Veteran homelessness in their cities.
The difference in the two mayors and their two cities?
Goal Achieved for New Orleans!
These are the communities that have put the systems in place to successfully meet the challenge to end veteran homelessness,
The following communities and states were confirmed by HUD to have accomplished the goal by putting the necessary systems in place and meeting the criteria and benchmarks that are available in the links below - each city must submit the criteria for federal confirmation.
21 Communities and 2 States
|
| Albany, NY | Montgomery County, MD |
| Biloxi, MS | New Orleans, LA |
| Connecticut | Philadelphia, PA |
| Cumberland County/Fayetteville, NC | Reading/Berks County, PA |
| Flagler County, FL | Rochester, NY |
| Gulfport, MS | Rockford, IL |
| Houston, TX | Saratoga Springs, NY |
| La Cruces, NM | Schenectady, NY |
| Lancaster City and County, PA | Syracuse, NY |
| Las Vegas, NV | Troy, NY |
| Mississippi Gulfport/Gulf Coast Regional CoC | Virginia |
| Mobile, AL | Winston-Salem, NC |
Source >> http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/comm_planning/veteran_information/mayors_challenge/
At a City Council Study Session last Thu 18 Feb 2016 there was an extensive update on Mesa's efforts to date. Readers can watch the session by going to Mesa Channel 11.
Updated Resources for Ending Veterans Homelessness
Federal partners have released updated resources to assist communities with meeting the Federal Criteria and Benchmarks for ending homelessness among Veterans. These include the Federal Criteria and Benchmarks Review Tool and the Master List Template and Benchmark Generation Tool. These tools have been updated for consistency with revised Federal partner specifications. A detailed listing of updates can be found in the Instruction tab for each tool. View the Federal Criteria and Benchmarks Review Tool and the Master List Template and Benchmark Generation Tool.
These criteria and benchmarks help to define the vision of ending Veteran homelessness within communities.
The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Veterans Affairs have adopted a vision of what it means to end all homelessness and specific criteria and benchmarks for ending Veteran homelessness in order to help guide communities as they take action to achieve the goal. Together, these criteria and benchmarks are intended to help to define the vision of ending Veteran homelessness within communities and to help align local efforts in support of that vision, with a focus on long-term, lasting solutions.To submit your own community for Federal confirmation,
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