United Valley Interfaith Project Housing Goals

UVIP’s Housing Issue Team will be pursuing two goals this fall.

1. Pressure existing homeless shelter officials, city officials, Red Cross officials, and churches in Claremont to establish and operate an emergency warming shelter for homeless persons during the coldest nights of the winter. Replicate the process, as needed, with other towns in our UVIP area. We will:

Identify and interview all Claremont stakeholders; identify funding streams, local leaders, and local volunteers to run the shelter; present models of successful emergency warming shelters being operated elsewhere in NH, as identified by our sister organization, the Granite State Organizing Project.

Plan and conduct training sessions for shelter leaders and volunteers. Begin meeting with officials in other towns in our UVIP area to explore need for similar shelters elsewhere.

2. Monitor the NH Office of Energy and Planning’s Federal Weatherization Assistance Program funded with $23.2 million from the federal stimulus package, as a means to preparing a foundation to explore ways to continue low-income weatherization programs after the federal stimulus funding ends in September 2010. We will:

Work with the Carsey Institute of the University of New Hampshire, a non-profit community development organization, and GSOP to create a monitoring plan.

Implement above plan and start developing contacts with interested state legislators, players in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and members of NH’s Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Energy Board (created in October 2008 to implement NH’s participation in RGGI).

We always are eager to welcome additional persons from our member congregations to join our Issue Team. Please contact Rich Greenlee if you’re interested in learning more about UVIP and housing issues. The next Housing Issues Team meeting will be Tuesday, 8 September, from 6:30 8:00 p.m. at Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Hanover.