OHIO Advocates seek new plan for homeless

The federal government's definition is too narrow, some argue.
DAYTON (AP) -- Some advocates for the homeless say the federal government has excluded many people who should be helped by a new approach to combat homelessness.
The government is asking states and cities to develop 10-year plans to help the chronically homeless, which, by the federal definition, does not include homeless families.
"It's not a strategy that is going to end homelessness," said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. "It's a limited strategy. As such, it's of limited value."
The government argues that helping chronically homeless people frees up resources for other segments of the homeless population.
Definition
The federal government defines the chronically homeless as individuals who have disabilities, such as a mental illness or drug addiction, who have been without a home for at least a year or had four episodes of homelessness in a three-year period.
"I don't think there's any reason we can't have a strategy to end homelessness period," Foscarinis said.
Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, agreed the definition is too narrow.
"There is definitely some weakness in it," Whitehead said. "We support a more comprehensive approach that addresses all portions of the population."
Philip Mangano, the federal government's top administrator on homeless issues, defends the strategy.
Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, said research shows that the chronically homeless only account for 10 to 20 percent of the total homeless population, but consume more than half of the resources earmarked for the homeless.
"For two decades in this country we have been managing homelessness," Mangano said. "Now, the effort is to end the disgrace of chronic homelessness. That's a very important change in the national mind-set."
Dayton area
Mangano was in Dayton last month to promote the city's plan to end chronic homelessness.
In the Dayton area, an estimated 600 people are homeless on any given night, and the number of beds in emergency shelters has fallen from 244 in 1985 to 199 this year.
Dayton is among 168 communities across the nation that have agreed to come up with a plan. Attacking the problem will be a cross-section of community leaders, including city and county officials, shelter operators, mental-health experts, educators, church and business leaders.
The group plans to interview homeless and formerly homeless people, survey shelters and study what other communities have done.
Montgomery County Administrator Deborah Feldman, co-chairwoman of the Dayton effort, acknowledged that the federal definition of chronically homeless is narrow, adding that 40 percent of the homeless in the area are families with children.
"But I think it's tremendous that the federal government has set this goal," Feldman said. "We're going to take a broader view and look at the issue from the perspective of all homeless."
Mangano said the federal government has other programs to help homeless families. Half the federal money spent on the homeless is earmarked for families, he said.
But the chronically homeless are the most vulnerable, Mangano said.
"These are the people most likely to die on the streets," he said.