The Homeless Alliance of Western New York was created in 1992 by the Erie County Legislature to find ways to reduce homelessness. By 2000, the Alliance had departed from our governmental roots, and now acts as an independent not-for-profit organization.

Our mission is to facilitate dialogue and strategic action between government, public, and private sectors to end homelessness. Working with local service providers and community leaders, we seek to maximize assistance available to homeless individuals and the agencies that serve them in the Western New York area through:

• Education
• Original research
• Advocacy
• Community planning

Annually, the Alliance enters the Continuum of Care funding competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on behalf of service providers in Erie County. As the coordinating agency for the Erie County Homeless Continuum of Care, we are proud to have brought over sixty million dollars to area homeless service and housing providers over the past six years for permanent housing for the chronically homeless, transitional housing for women and youth, street outreach and re-housing, and related services.

The Alliance is composed of three full-time and two-part-time employees, a nine-person governing board, and well over 100 Alliance member organizations. Our membership includes representatives from Federal, County, and City governmental agencies, executive directors and staff members from local not-for-profit agencies, persons from the business community, faith communities, and formerly homeless individuals.

The Alliance is coordinating the “Buffalo Poverty Challenge” because homelessness is most often the direct result of poverty. The two are integrally linked. By working to end poverty, the Alliance is working toward ending homelessness.