Why are the Child Welfare League, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Volunteers of America — and many other groups, including VOP — signed on to a national campaign to change a definition that a government agency uses? That might sound a little boring — but this definition has a very real impact on thousands of Virginians. That’s why, when it was brought to them, the VOP State Governing Board agreed this was a campaign to support.

The definition of homelessness now used by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) really matters. It prevents local governments from using HUD funds to help people in need.

Jodi Mincemoyer, a member of the Williamsburg VOP Chapter who works with Project HOPE-Virginia, said “HUD’s definition leaves out at least half of the homeless population, here in Virginia and nationally. It excludes people who are forced to live in situations like staying with others temporarily because they have nowhere else to go (“doubled-up”), or staying in motels or substandard housing, such as campgrounds or garages, due to lack of adequate alternatives.”

The campaign is made up of over 80 local, state and national coalitions, representing homelessness, housing, domestic violence, veterans, youth and faith-based organizations, and has been led by proponents in the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Local Virginia groups that have signed on include the Housing Partnership for the New River Valley, the Norfolk Homeless Consortium, and the Virginia Beach Homeless Advocacy Resource Partnership.

Around Virginia, there are local coalitions of agencyservice providers, known as Continuums of Care, that try to use HUD funding effectively to meet needs they have identified. However, the HUD definition of homelessness requires them to prioritize services for the chronic homeless population, single adults with disabilities who have been homeless for at least one year or four times in the last three years — a subgroup that, HUD admits, makes up less than 20 percent of the total homeless population nationally.

“This discussion will reach Congress as early as this fall,” said Mincemoyer, “as provisions of the HUD McKinney-Vento homelessness legislation come up for reauthorization in 2007.”

To read more about this campaign and stay updated on its progress, visit the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness web site at www.npach.org.