State Rep. Miloscia Receives National Award from U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness for Efforts to End Chronic Homelessness

WASHINGTON - The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has selected State Rep. Mark Miloscia to receive its annual national “Home for Every American” State Legislative Award. He is the sole recipient of this award for 2008.

Miloscia will be honored for his leadership, partnership, and results at the Council’s third annual national summit for jurisdictional leaders April 10, at the National Press Club in Washington at 12:30 p.m. The summit will be attended by more than 250 city, county and state officials from across the nation and Canada who are leading 10-Year Plans to end homelessness. It will feature an address by Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake.

Philip Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council of Homelessness, in announcing the award, noted that the Ending Homelessness Act, passed in 2005 in Washington State, was pioneering legislation that now provides $15-20 million annually in new resources targeted to county-level 10-Year Plans to end homelessness in virtually all the counties of the state.

"Rep. Miloscia was the bill’s key sponsor, and his long personal and professional commitment to ending homelessness played a pivotal part in passage of the unprecedented legislation intended to reduce homelessness in Washington by half over the following decade,” said Mangano. “The new legislation resulted in the creation of the Washington State Interagency Council on Homelessness, established through Executive Order. The Act requires an annual census of the homeless population to be used as the benchmark to determine success of the investments."

Following passage of the bill, Rep. Miloscia was named chair of the newly-formed House committee on housing issues. His committee’s efforts and his focus on outcome and measurable results have won him praise from across the state, and six plans --representing eight Washington State counties -- have now reported reduced homelessness in their communities.

The Ending Homelessness Act charged the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development as the lead agency responsible for ending homelessness in Washington. To fund its goals, the bill added a $10 surcharge to the fee for all recording real estate transactions in Washington. Local governments receive 60 percent of the funds to be used on programs such as shelters, transitional housing, and support to victims of domestic violence. The remaining 40 percent goes to the State to be distributed to local governments as grants to supplement local programs. Counties can levy another $5 fee by local option to be entirely used within the local county. The State Interagency Council has achieved the coordination of resources between the Washington Department of Correction and the Housing Division of the Department of Community, Trade and Economic development to provide new housing for persons returning to the community after incarceration. The State Dept. of Veterans Affairs is coordinating a jail diversion strategy for veterans in coordination with each of the local 10-Year Plans.

The mission of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness is to coordinate the federal response to homelessness and to create a national partnership at every level of government and every element of the private sector to reduce and end homelessness in the nation. Revitalized by President Bush in 2002, the Council is engaged in carrying out the President’s commitment to end chronic homelessness. In doing so, the Council has forged an unprecedented national partnership that extends from the White House to the streets and includes federal, state, and local government, advocates, providers, consumers and faith-based organizations. For more information, visit www.usich.gov.

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