2012 NCHV Annual Conference

The 2012 NCHV Annual Conference will be held May 30 - June 1, 2012, at the Grand Hyatt Washington, 1000 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. The theme for the 2012 conference is "Halfway Home: Progress in the Plan to End Veteran Homelessness." The nation's premier event focused on veteran homelessness will focus on preparing service providers and other stakeholders to come together to reach the goal of ending veteran homelessness by 2015.

Due to overwhelming demand, registration is now CLOSED for the 2012 NCHV Annual Conference. We are unable to accommodate any walk-up registrations this year.

View the conference brochure, including the session schedule, by clicking here.

Among the confirmed speakers for this year's opening session are:

• Secretary Eric Shinseki, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
• Secretary Shaun Donovan, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Kelly Caffarelli, President, The Home Depot Foundation
• Dr. Janet Kemp, Director, VA National Mental Health Program for Suicide Prevention

The keynote speech at the Annual Awards Banquet will be delivered by Anthony Love, Deputy Director, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Secretary Eric Shinseki received the Jerald Washington Memorial Founders' Award, the highest honor bestowed by the nation's homeless veteran assistance community, in 2010. Halfway through Shinseki's historic Five-Year Plan to End and Prevent Veteran Homelessness, he has overseen the build-up of services and resources that have brought us within reach of ending veteran homelessness. The FY 2013 VA budget request includes record increases for the VA Grant and Per Diem Program, and triple the amount of funding to help at-risk veteran families avoid homelessness.

Secretary Shaun Donovan is the 2011 recipient of the Jerald Washington Memorial Founders’ Award. Donovan has overseen the creation of more permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless veterans than anyone in the history of our nation, and is a leading proponent of the HUD-VASH build-out to 60,000 housing vouchers.

Under Kelly Caffarelli’s leadership, The Home Depot Foundation has invested $30 million to address veteran housing issues. At the NCHV Annual Conference, Caffarelli will discuss the potential for funding additional projects in 2012.

Dr. Janet Kemp oversees VA’s work on a critical issue within the Five-Year Plan to End Veteran Homelessness: mental health. Last week, the VA Office of Inspector General reported that the presence of mental disorders is the strongest predictor of whether a veteran will become homeless. Dr. Kemp’s participation in the opening session will be complemented by multiple breakout sessions on suicide prevention and mental health issues.

Capitol Hill visits: NCHV encourages you to arrange visits with your congressional representatives while you are in Washington to discuss issues and legislation affecting homeless veterans. For information on how to set up meetings with your representatives, click here.

Space for exhibitors will be available at the conference. For more information and to reserve your table, click here.

To view last year's conference photo album, click here.