United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) is a federal independent agency within the executive branch of US that coordinates the federal response to the homeless issue. USICH has created a national collaboration and enhanced partnership at each government level and private sector. The national partnership has a goal to maximize federal government strategies of eradicating homelessness. The primary authority of the USICH is to examine federal aid to homeless people.
USICH also provides support through setting particular timelines for the programs, giving areas of focus, and formulating goals to be followed. The homeless population the USICH hopes at addressing includes the veterans and families with children who are homeless. USICH provides a support structure to discourse the goals in the systematic plans of ending homelessness, especially among the young. The structure offers a coordinated approach with collaborated sufficient knowledge. The structure also provides a guideline to local, state and federal stakeholders on how to work collaboratively with programs and agencies for improved outcomes on the matter of homelessness.
Homelessness is a multi-sector complicated problem which is difficult to solve under a single agency or system. Numerous federal agencies have programs and funding plans which are dedicated to reducing and ending of homelessness (Balshem et al 2011). However, administration barriers often prevent the effectiveness of these programs targeted, and the funds are mostly mismanaged. Additionally, single agencies lack the authority and adequate funds to address several challenges posed by the homelessness issue. USICH has been the solution to the complex problem. Through the interagency coordination, non- profits partners and philanthropy has been brought in to the table of solving homelessness. The collaborating approach has changed the perception of the business community about homelessness and influenced them to contribute to ending homeless experience. USICH has brought different advocates together and fostered a team of non-profits and cross sectors partners which have led to effectiveness in working relationships and better results. While single agencies focus on program administration, USICH focus on the big picture of coming up with a solution and does have a specific agency program to defend. The interagency council is a neutral firm which ensures the government funds are put to a practical solution hence increasing economic security.
USICH is viewed as unique because its perspective is not tied to a specific homeless assistance program but represents the nation’s directions. National stakeholders say that USICH played a significant role in presenting evidence that supported a change in approach from the house- ready to house- first( Lee & Ferguson 2019). The new approach changed policies, put federal strategic plans to work and focus on holding multiple agencies accountable to results. The strategies show that USICH is setting the goal of ending the homeless before managing it, which indicators success. The council advocates for the providence of stable and affordable housing plans and including civic engagement in the homeless matter. These strategies are developed to provide competent guidance to the social agency leaders and to recommend the best policies to be adopted by the agencies. The interagency council facilitates a deep state and local planning, which will work on coordinating a broad community reaction to homelessness.
USICH ending homelessness will be a significant enhancement to the social welfare. Dealing with the homeless issue helps the individual who is homeless fell included and wanted by the nation. Working to solve the problem brings integration and general well- being of a society. With the USICH positive impacts on addressing homelessness, the government and citizens hope that the issue will be solved and the resources will be used to solve other crucial social problems. Freeing up the public resources currently invested in homelessness could mean that other issues will be reconsidered. For instance, in a situation where homelessness is not a significant focus for the social assistance programs, then the program staffs could focus on issues like poverty, health, and inequality. Poverty hinders education and leaves children living on the streets, thus working to end poverty will be an alternative way of ending homelessness as well. Therefore, USICH getting involved in the homelessness issue is good news to the social welfare status and better living conditions.
The social workers participating in multi-sector collaboration engaged by USICH have a benefit of learning new and multiple skills. The skills learned are useful in their social work practice. In a multi-agency partnership, social workers attain desirable community coordinating abilities (Watts & Fitzpatrick 2018.) These skills help social workers learn how to communicate the social issues they encounter during their work practice and give strategies feedback to policymakers. Working in a multi-sector environment equips social workers with a new language. With new language elevates persuasion skills and helps reframe issues to r program leaders and influence leaders view on the subject. Apart from reframing and communication skills, social workers involved in USICH gain designing and enacting media campaigns. Through campaigning on the media, social workers can educate the public about social issues, persuade them to change their view on the issue and encourage them to be part of the solution to resolving the issue. In the case of ending homelessness, social workers can use social media to rejoin homeless individuals with their friends and family. Through social media, crowd funding can be conducted as well and finance the relocation of homeless people.
Conclusion
In conclusion, USICH agencies Collaboration has brought ideas, skills, policies, and strategies together. Since homelessness is a complicated matter, the coordination has resulted in the improvement of methods of addressing the homelessness issue and implanting the most effective one in a cost-efficient manner. USICH brought unique solutions and its collaboration method mean a remarkable improvement to a nation’s social welfare and give the public hope for good health, education, child development and future growth. Social workers practices are improved with the USICH coordination of agencies since they are exposed to a wide range of experiences and skills.
References
Balshem, H., Christensen, V., Tuepker, A., & Kansagara, D. (2011). A critical review of the literature regarding homelessness among veterans.
Darrah-Okike, J., Soakai, S., Nakaoka, S., Dunson-Strane, T., & Umemoto, K. (2018). “It Was Like I Lost Everything”: The Harmful Impacts of Homeless-Targeted Housing Policy Debate, 28(4), 635-651.
Watts, B., & Fitzpatrick, S. (2018). Welfare conditionality. Routledge.
Lee, W., & Ferguson, K. M. (2019). Multisectoral Collaborations to Address Homelessness. In Homelessness Prevention and Intervention in Social Work (pp. 239-254). Springer, Cham.