Agency Details:

Interfaith Task Force On Homelessness

The Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness (ITFH) is composed of individuals representing religious congregations, religious organizations, and secular organizations which work toward preventing and ending homelessness. The uniting force for all ITFH members is that we approach homelessness from a religious perspective. Our membership spans much of the religious community, including Christian, Unitarian, Jewish, and Muslim. We reach out to all sectors of the faith community to join us in action and to support us morally and financially.

Description:
The ITFH works to create the political will to end homelessness. We are organized by four principles:

Because housing is a basic human right, being homeless is not criminal, and its continuing existence is an offense to what is moral in a civil society.

Homelessness is a major barrier to achieving social and economic justice and is harmful to the well-being of those so afflicted.

Embedded in the sacred scriptures of all the world's religions is the moral mandate to act individually and in partnership with others to end homelessness.

Homelessness can and must be ended through all possible efforts, from programs of sustained support to pathways that promote work and foster self-sufficiency.

History:
In April 2001, a major conference on homelessness was held at St. Mark's Cathedral: "Creating the Political Will to End Homelessness." The 350 religious and community representatives who attended the conference created a 4-step Action Plan to end homelessness in King County in ten years. Those actions included organizing a task force to coordinate the work of the religious community to achieve the goal stated in the title of the conference. The ITFH was officially convened in December 2001 and has been meeting since that time. A sister organization, the Committee to End Homelessness, also arose from that conference and in 2005 issued the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in King County.

Contact person: Bill Kirlin-Hackett, Executive Director, (phone), (email)

Main office number: (425) 442-5418
Office fax number: (425) 918-1967

Address:

3030 Bellevue Way Bellevue, WA 98004 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.itfhomeless.org

Directions:

Take the 520, exit at Bellevue Way, go south 1/2 mile, congregation is on the left

Miscellaneous Information

Liability
	No
Does your organization welcome court-ordered community service volunteers?
	Yes
Does your organization have volunteer positions for youth 12-18?
	Yes

Last updated on July 8, 2009