CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman spoke to YouthToday about U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s (D-WA) Affordable Housing for Educational Achievement Demonstration (AHEAD) Act, which would encourage public housing authorities and school districts to work together to address child and family homelessness through a federal grant program. CLPHA and the Housing Is Initiative strongly support the AHEAD Act and worked closely with Senator Murray’s office to draft this important legislation that promotes local solutions and cross-sector collaborations to help address the many challenges that children experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity must overcome to achieve educational success.
“The cross-sector work is important,” Zaterman told YouthToday. “Housing instability affects learning.”
The AHEAD Act is based on successful Washington state partnerships that work to reduce child and family homelessness like those undertaken by CLPHA members King County Housing Authority, Seattle Housing Authority, Tacoma Housing Authority, and Vancouver Housing Authority.
“This [legislation] should be the wave of the future,” Zaterman said of the AHEAD Act. “These systems and leaders need seed money.”