Department of Human Services

The City's innovative efforts to end chronic homelessness were featured during a two-day conference at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 24-25.

 The conference titled, NEXT PRACTICES™ ROUND TABLE: The Art of Scaling Best Practices to End Homelessness, consisted of discussions related to research, health care, social impact financing, employment, consumer sense of belonging, advocacy, and youth.

 The City's efforts to end chronic homelessness, including The BEACH Project, were highlighted during the conference. The BEACH Project (The Beginning of the End: Abolishing Chronic Homelessness) was launched by Mayor Francis G. Slay in February 2013. The BEACH Project engages more than 26 partners to rapidly re-house EVERY chronically homeless person (138 people) identified during the January 2013 homeless census. The Project was expanded to include 40 additional people living in a homeless encampment near 2^nd and Plum streets. The BEACH Project also includes a goal of making data-driven systematic changes to the delivery of services. To date, 127 people are actively participating in The BEACH Project; 92% of them are housed.

 Speakers and guests included Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan; President and CEO of American Round Table and former Presidential appointee and Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, Philip Mangano; Pulitzer prize winner, Dr. Robert Coles; pioneer of the Housing First method, Dr. Sam Tsemberis; University of Pennsylvania researcher, Dr. Dennis Culhane; and Former Mayor of Boston and US ambassador to the Vatican, Ray Flynn.

Antoinette Triplett, manager of the City's Homeless Services Division, represented the City at the conference.

Twitter: @BEACH_Project

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 Department of Human Services

City of St. Louis