August 2021 Newsletter: New Report on Homelessness, Special General Council Meeting, Training, Shared Housing, and More.

TPCH is pleased to welcome several new members to our standing committees.  These incredible community volunteers and homeless service professionals provide a diversity of experiences that will help TPCH as we work to prevent and end homelessness in Tucson and throughout Pima County.

Coordinated Entry Committee
Valerie Grothe (La Frontera Center)
Cristina Hernandez(Community Bridges, Inc.)

Homeless Management Information System Committee
Valerie Grothe (La Frontera Center)

Continuum of Care Program Grant Committee
Elaine MacPherson (Arizona Serve)

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Carlos Moreno (Community Bridges, Inc.)
Hannah Woelke (DIRECT Center for Independence)
Molly Hilber (Pima County)
Victoria Micharski (La Frontera Center)

System Performance Evaluation Committee
Lori Kindler (Our Family Services)
Chula Robertson (Pima County)

TPCH continues to seek applicants who are not affiliated with organizations which receive Continuum of Care Program funding to participate in the Continuum of Care Program Grant Committee and two persons with lived experience of homelessness, housing instability, or residency in Section 8/public housing programs within the past five years for the Continuum of Care Board.  If you or someone you know is interested in serving, please email tpch@tucsonaz.gov.

What’s so wrong with shared housing? The answer is nothing.

Shared housing is a completely normal and accepted living situation. Families share housing while raising kids. Roommates share housing, especially in major cities with extremely tight rental markets. College students share housing while attending school together. Shared housing is so common now that it is often considered a luxury to be able to live alone, even for people with higher incomes.

Yet for people entering housing after experiencing homelessness, shared housing is often not viewed as the beneficial, go-to solution that it should be.

Check out Five Truths About Shared Housing, a recent blog post from the National Alliance to End Homelessness to learn more about shared housing and the role it can play in efforts to end homelessness.

Click here to learn more and register online. 

Adding a data lens to your organization’s toolkit has the potential to act as a catalyst for informed change. However, these efforts must be intentional and run deeply within an organization. This can be a challenge when terms like “data” and “evaluation” are being used so frequently (sometimes missing the necessary intention) and without much clarity as to where you should start!
Have you signed up for the TPCH Online Training Center?

TPCH has launched an online training center with a library of recorded webinars and on-demand training modules covering best practices, compliance requirements, and other topics of importance to staff and volunteers working in homeless services programs.

The online training center is free for staff and volunteers of TPCH member agencies.  Visit the e-learning section of our website at www.tpch.net to learn more about course offerings and sign up.