In a follow up to last month's two-day community strategy forum on unsheltered homelessness, the City of Tucson Housing and Community Development (HCD) and Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness (TPCH) will hold a listening virtual session on Wednesday, Sept. 28, from 5:30 to 7 pm. 

Registration is required and you can register here. 

At the Sept. 28 virtual forum, findings from last month’s sessions will be presented. Participants met in small groups to develop action plans and identify resource and capacity needs related to unsheltered homelessness in the Tucson area. 

“The two-day forum provided a good foundation to build upon for an effective community-based collaboration. As a community, we must work together to better address the needs of our unhoused residents and there are many who want to be part of the solution,” said HCD Director Liz Morales. 

TPCH and HCD are working with the Corporation to Supportive Housing to launch a Frequent User System Engagement (FUSE) initiative aimed at housing individuals and families with service needs to reduce costs and trauma associated with recurring episodes of homelessness, incarceration, and emergency services. The FUSE initiative will give HCD and TPCH and its allies the opportunity to align health, housing, supportive services, and other resources to help prioritize unsheltered homelessness, particularly among individuals and families with serve service needs, and maintain permanent housing. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has released a significant funding opportunity to address unsheltered homelessness. State and local governments have received infusions of new federal funding to support the transition of unsheltered individuals to temporary and permanent housing. 

“We hope that we hear from our residents and businesses and invite them to participate on September 28th as we build on the foundation of helping our unhoused, Morales said.