March 10, 2008

Chicago has received a record amount of funding from the U.S. Department of Housing in Urban Development (HUD) — $49 million — to use for its Plan to End Homelessness in 2008, Mayor Richard M. Daley, said.

“Our plan is working. We’re making real progress in helping people find a way out of homelessness — and preventing them from becoming homeless in the first place,” Daley said.

Since 2003, the City has added 2,500 units of permanent housing citywide for the homeless and now has a total of more than 6,1000 units of supportive housing for its homeless residents. In 2007, 758 units of permanent housing were added to the housing system, the Mayor said.

“We’ve re-focused our homeless system on permanent solutions, not short-term strategies. We’re changing from a system based on temporary shelters into one that moves people quickly into permanent housing with extensive support services, such as job training, literacy and substance abuse treatment,” Daley said.

• Over the last five years, the City has received more than over $200 million in federal homeless funds.

• This year, HUD homelessness funding will support 81 permanent supportive housing programs, 40 transitional housing programs and 22 supportive service programs in Chicago.

• For the third year in a row, Chicago has received the HUD Samarian Initiative Award to serve chronically homeless individuals in permanent housing. This particular funding, which is awarded to successful programs, has helped add 450 units of permanent housing for chronically homeless.

• This year, Mercy Housing Lakefront, which developed the Schiff residences, will receive the Samaritan Award funding — $4.2 million for two years, all of which will be spent on programs to help the chronically homeless, including the development of a new SRO in the Englewood community.

• Chicago has used its HUD funding over the past five years to double the number of permanent housing programs the city supports.

• And the City’s many other partners are using to reshape their programs to meet the goals of the Plan to End Homelessness.

Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich on Feb. 27 said he has formed an “exploratory committee” as a first step towards a possible run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Ted Stevens. Begich is in his second and final term as Anchorage’s mayor and stressed that he will travel the state to see what resident’s feel are the most pressing issues facing Alaska. Begich, 45, said he will make his decision as to whether or not to run before the June 1 filing deadline.

First elected in 2003, Begich said he will continue to focus on the city’s business. These include a balanced city budget, holding the line on property taxes, and continuing the revitalization of many parts of the city.

Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin is a “super delegate” for the Democratic Convention. As such, she was featured in a front page USA Today article March 3 detailing the pressure being put on her from supporters of Illinois Senator Barack Obama or New York Senator Hillary Clinton. The prominent profile says she is inundated by dozens of calls. As one of 794 other super delegates, she is not bound by the outcome of a primary or caucus. McLin was appointed to a Democratic National Committee seat 20 years ago.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, mayor of the largest city in North Carolina and candidate for governor, has been elected seven times. The last four Charlotte mayors have aspired to statewide office and lost, continuing what the March issue of Governing magazine terms the “Charlotte curse.”

North Carolina’s Democratic Governor Mike Easley is term limited and the 2008 election is wide open. The magazine noted that McCrory, as a candidate for Gevernor, joins three other candidates in the May Republican primary. The article added: “McCrory has an impressive record to run on—a dozen years at the helm of a city that has experienced enormous growth with it’s emergence as a leading banking center. He claims credit not just for job and population increases not also for a big reduction in homicide and impressive investments in a comprehensive new transportation system.”

Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden heads a city that is booming. The reason notes the March Governing magazine is that the Louisiana’s Capital’s ability to absorb tens of thousands of new residents following Hurricane Katrina. Over the past three years, Baton Rouge has gained 28,000 new jobs, in energy, goverment and contruction. Unemployment is below three percent and home prices are up nearly 40 percent over the past five years. The city’s population initially doubled virtually overnight in 2005, a figure that wasn’t sustainable as newcomers went elsewhere. Says the mayor: “We will never be the sleepy town on the Mississippi anymore.”