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“There are thousands of men, women, and children in our country that go without food or shelter every single day. In marking National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, we must remind ourselves that there is much we can do to provide for homeless individuals across this nation. Those in our country who do not have a home or live in poverty deserve to be treated with dignity and respect

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and California Secretary for Natural Resources John Laird today announced the final environmental review of an innovative landscape-scale blueprint to support renewable energy development and conservation on 10 million acres of federal public lands, managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the California desert.

U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) introduced legislation to help prevent youth homelessness, improve support services and housing for youth and families, and help ensure children are raised in supportive, stable households.

Congresswoman Katherine Clark introduced the Higher Education Access and Success and Foster Youth Act, legislation to empower homeless and foster students to obtain higher levels of education and to lift traditional barriers to entry.  Education advocates report that current higher education policies regarding students’ independence, financial aid eligibility, and recruitment programs create barriers for homeless and foster youth trying to navigate a complex higher education system.

A Rare Occurrence: The Geography and Race of Mortgages Over $500,000, released today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), reveals that only 5% of the mortgages obtained in the past three years in the U.S. were larger than $500,000 and that lowering the Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID) cap to $500,000 would have no impact on the majority of homeowners nationwide given the rarity of mortgages over that amount

Volunteers and donations are needed for the upcoming Project Homeless Connect, which helps thousands of people who are homeless and at-risk or becoming homeless connect with agencies and organizations that offer housing, job training, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and other services

Mayor Edwin M. Lee today launched a new Family Homelessness Initiative to ensure that families with elementary school children never have to spend a night on the street due to lack of available shelter or housing. The Mayor has directed the City’s Human Services Agency to work with the San Francisco Unified School District, the philanthropic community, and community partners to present a plan for inclusion in his upcoming FY 2016-17 budget, with the stated multi-year goal of clearing the existing family shelter waitlist and creating a system to assist homeless families with elementary school-aged children.

The Baker-Polito Administration announced a program that will provide homeless veterans with housing services. Under the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, the administration is allocating 65 rental vouchers to chronically homeless veterans who were identified by the local veterans’ committees across the Commonwealth. These vouchers can be used to pay for rental units and will assist the Commonwealth in its goal of ending veteran’s homelessness.

On Veterans Day, Rep. Pete Aguilar announced the creation of his Veterans Advisory Board. The committee of local veterans, veteran assistance non-profit organizations, education facilities, and veteran employment groups met with Rep. Aguilar earlier this week in San Bernardino to discuss local and national initiatives to connect veterans with job opportunities.

On Veterans Day, Matt, John, and Ultima Morgan of Morgan & Morgan visited Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida to deliver $50,000 in support of the organization’s Veteran Services Program -- and to announce that the Central Florida community had successfully matched their gift

Mayor Kasim Reed announced today that the City of Atlanta and its partners are close to reaching the goal of housing all homeless veterans in the city by the end of 2015. At an event hosted by United Way of Greater Atlanta, Mayor Reed joined President and CEO Milton Little, Jack Hardin, Chair of the Regional Commission on Homelessness, Leslie Wiggins, Director of the VA Medical Center of Atlanta, and a formerly-homeless veteran who shared his story of struggle and hope.

To honor Veterans Day, Mayor Martin J. Walsh today joined the Brighton Marine Health Center Board of Directors to announce that Brighton Marine established a $200,000 endowment to support the Mayor's Homes for the Brave initiative, with the goal of bringing a functional end to veterans homelessness in Boston.

To honor the contributions Native American veterans have made to this nation, Vice Chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee Jon Tester and Senator Steve Daines have introduced bipartisan legislation to combat veteran homelessness in Indian Country

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released guidance to assist intake workers in determining and documenting homeless status for youth using the definition of homelessness found in HUD’s Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) and Continuum of Care (CoC) Programs to ensure youth are not being turned away from the housing and services they need in error.

Governor Terry McAuliffe announced that Virginia has been certified by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as the first state in the nation to functionally end veteran homelessness. Speaking at a Veterans Day ceremony at the Virginia War Memorial alongside U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, Governor McAuliffe declared that Virginia has housed 1,432 homeless veterans since October 2014.

The Baker-Polito Administration awarded a total of $55,000 in Planning Assistance Toward Housing (PATH) grants to Brookline, Gloucester, and Methuen, to help these communities meet their housing needs.

Rep. Pete Aguilar announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) jointly awarded Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino (HACSB) $405,804 to support housing vouchers for veterans. Earlier this year, Rep. Aguilar called on the House Appropriations Committee to allocate crucial funding to the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program, which combines rental assistance in the form of a HUD voucher to assist homeless veterans

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that both the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have awarded a total of $443,453 in grants and vouchers to communities in Illinois that will be used to expand supportive services and housing for Illinois veterans.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the start of construction on a $10.7 million supportive housing development for veterans in the Town of Canandaigua. Veterans Housing for Canandaigua will provide affordable housing and on-site services with 48 units for veterans and their families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless

Senator Maria Cantwell applauded the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Veterans Affairs for awarding more than $300,000 through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program to combat homelessness amongst veterans in Washington state