Ten Things You Need to Know to End Homelessness

I've always considered top ten lists to be the lazy man's answer to writer's block.  Late night TV shows, blogs, major media outlets on slow august weekends -- we're all guilty of it.  This morning though, I found a top ten list that broke through my previous perceptions and struck me as both incredibly interesting and exceptionally important.

Last week, The Nation an online and print magazine on politics and national affairs printed an editorial by The National Alliance to End Homelessness on ten things we need to know to end homelessness.  The list is published on the Nation's site and on The Alliance's Blog (which is a new favorite of mine and definitely worth checking out).  You'll have to jump over to either of those sites to read the full details of the list, but here are the section headers.

• Plan: " The most successful plans are built with the input and support of community leaders, elected officials, lawmakers, business leaders, service providers and residents"

• Collect and examine the data:"You can't know what you're doing until you know what you're dealing with..."

• Strengthen emergency prevention:"By expanding, strengthening and improving access to these emergency prevention services, communities can curtail homelessness when people come precariously close to the edge..."

• Systems prevention:"Most people and families who fall into homelessness were already engaged in programs that provide low-income people care and assistance.."

• No-strings outreach. "Persuading this population to accept housing requires an availability of "low-demand" housing--that is, housing that doesn't mandate participation in treatment programs..."

• Shorten homelessness: "Strategies to shorten homelessness include incentivizing quick placement in permanent housing and holding shelters and similar service providers accountable for their past and present clients..."

• Rapid re-housing:"One of the hardest parts of a housing-focused strategy is finding affordable housing that low-income or very low-income families can access..."

• Services:"Once households are successfully re-housed, families and individuals should have rapid access to services: therapy, medical support, family assistance and other, similar services..."

• Permanent Housing:"Permanent housing comes in two forms: affordable housing and supportive housing..."

• Income: "Many formerly homeless people can benefit from longer-term, career-based employment services as well as cash-assistance programs." 

What do you think?  Did they miss any?