Phone: (716) 853-1101 | 625 Delaware Ave. Suite 410, Buffalo, NY 14202

Support the Homeless Alliance

The Homeless Alliance of Western New York wants YOU to become a supporter.

Everyone wants to know if their efforts are working, especially when it comes to serious social problems like homelessness. HAWNY provides a unique service to Western New York. By maintaining the Homeless Management Information System, we assist direct-service providers track their success using data. While the data tells us that homelessness remains a serious problem, there are many things that our community does well, especially compared to national practices. Using HMIS data, we can tell you that the average length of stay in emergency shelters in Erie County for fiscal year 2015 is 26 days (median is 16). For comparison sake, New York City’s average length of stay is 435 days for families with children and 518 days for families without children. National estimates vary between 50-69 days. We were in the top 5% of American communities in the 100K Homes Campaign in housing the chronically homeless. The Homeless Alliance facilitated the collaboration in our community to create a coordinated entry and assessment system. The Homeless Alliance uses data to demonstrate both community need and community success.

HMIS is required for regions that accept HUD funding to combat homelessness. HUD’s funding is competitive in that every region competes with each other – we use data to demonstrate our community’s efficient use of HUD funds. We provide this service, and coordinate the application process for HUD Continuum of Care funding; HUD funded all of the grants that our community applied for. We determine how many people are experiencing homelessness in Western New York using a combination of several data sources, including HMIS. Homeless Alliance member agencies frequently collaborate in order to provide the best services to their clients.

Homeless Alliance members include voting members (generally direct-service agencies doing front-line work) and non-voting supporters. By becoming a supporter, you not only help in the efforts to end homelessness, you also support the general practice of using research and data to guide policy making and a collaborative community effort to end homelessness.

Your financial support allows us to work to end homelessness. Thank you in advance.

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT HOMELESS ALLIANCE OF WESTERN NEW YORK (Will be directed to a PayPal page.)

Checks may be made out to Homeless Alliance of Western New York and mailed to 960 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14202.