Advocacy

Working to coordinate the efforts of member agencies and local, state, and national government departments, the Homeless Alliance approaches homeless and poverty issues from all angles. Using its local research, the Homeless Alliance advocates for and works to actively engage homeless and low-income people in policy-making. It researches national best practice models and works towards their implementation to end homelessness in Buffalo and Erie County. Read More.

BAS-Net

In 2002, the Homeless Alliance was awarded a major federal grant to implement a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) known as the Buffalo Area Services Network (BAS-Net). The system enables homeless housing and service providers to enter client data into a secure web-accessible electronic database, streamlining the client intake process, improving awareness of client needs, increasing organizational reporting capacity, and making community-wide data about homelessness readily available. Read More.

Continuum of Care

The Continuum of Care is an annual funding competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Continuum of Care funds come from federal McKinney-Vento Act dollars and are set aside to assist the nation’s homeless population through housing and supportive services programs. Read More.

Poverty Challenge

The Buffalo Poverty Challenge is a three-day event designed to give people first-hand knowledge about what it’s like to live in poverty. Each day, participants will attempt to stick to a specific, poverty-level budget and record their spending. Participants will have to make tough choices about how they spend their limited budget. Read More.

Research and Education

The Homeless Alliance of WNY actively engages in original research in order to better understand poverty and homelessness in Buffalo and Erie County. HAWNY draws upon a number of data-collection methods, both qualitative and quantitative in nature. Examples of these efforts include, but are not limited to: monthly shelter snapshots, in-depth interviews (of clients, service-providers, etc.), large-scale surveys, and analysis of BAS-Net data. In addition to conducting our own research, we carry out reviews of existing research—much of which is catalogued under our e-library tab—identify existing research needs and service gaps in our community, facilitate research-based relationships between researchers and community groups, and develop best-practice models for community consumption. Read More.