History

From 1993 to 2006, the Kalamazoo County LISC Housing Partnership (KCLHP) served as the lead entity for the Kalamazoo County Continuum of Care.  KCLHP was a community –based, county wide housing partnership that oversaw the planning and coordination of the community’s response to the continuum of housing needs, as well as activities within the homeless assistance system.  KCLHP oversaw these efforts through a committee structure that included representatives from the KCLHP board and many ad-hoc members to expand the degree of community participation.  Participation on the Continuum of Care Committee (CCC) was open to anyone interested in forwarding its objectives.  A KCLHP board member chaired the CCC and in conjunction with four additional elected members served on the Leadership Team.

In 2005, the CCC adopted the National Alliance to End Homelessness’ “Plan to End Homelessness in Ten Years” as the community’s strategy, at which time the committee was restructured under the title of LISC Affordable Housing Partnership (AHP).  The members of the AHP drafted a plan to end homelessness by the end of 2016, which was presented to the community in 2006; “Year 1” of the plan is October, 2006 to September, 2007

The AHP was structured to have one lead committee, the Leadership Team (LT), which reported to the LISC Local Advisory Committee.  Subteams of the LT included the following: Community Outreach and Engagement (COE), Community Services Team (CST), Data Team (DT), Housing Production and Opportunities Team (HPOT), and the Resource Development (RD) Team.  Each team is focused on specific tasks as established in the Ten Year Plan; these tasks and respective outcomes are reviewed on a yearly basis and the plan is updated, as needed, to reflect the current issues and objectives, as determined by the LT.

In 2008, the RD and HPOT teams were combined into the Resource and Housing Development (RAHD) team, which oversees both the housing production efforts and the resource development efforts.  This combination was pursued in order to diversify the committee that oversees the grant applications, as well as to broaden the number of agencies reviewing potential housing developments that receive LISC funding.

The Leadership Team is made of members selected by LISC and represent a variety of non-profit organizations, service organizations, groups from the professional and business sector, and governmental agencies from across Kalamazoo County. 

In 2011, the Leadership Team will hold an official review of the progress made on the ten-year plan to end homelessness and will identify changes needed in the broader scope of the plan to refine the direction and priorities of the AHP.