Homeless Assistance Programs/
Continuum of Care Grants
Homelessness is a problem that affects many people in America. Generally speaking, homeless individuals and families are those who are sleeping in places not meant for human habitation, such as cars, parks, sidewalks, and abandoned buildings, or those who are sleeping in an emergency shelter as a primary nighttime residence.
| HUD, along with many other federal agencies, funds programs to help persons who are homeless. These programs are managed by local organizations that HUD calls "homeless assistance agencies." They provide a range of services, including shelter, food, housing counseling, and job skills programs. |
HUD's homeless assistance programs were
created by the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act. HUD's Homeless
Assistance programs are broken down into
two main categories, formula
(non-competitive), and competitive. Since the mid 1990s, HUD’s homeless
programs have been made available through the Continuum of Care approach – that is a local or state network or system designed to coordinate efforts to address homelessness.
The Continuum of Care approach is intended to help communities develop the capacity to envision, organize, and plan comprehensive and long-term solutions to addressing the problem of homelessness in their community. This comprehensive approach encourages communities to prioritize gaps in the housing and services available for homeless people and develop long-term strategies and action plans to address these gaps using HUD McKinney/Vento funds as well as other housing and service resources.
There are three McKinney/Vento programs (SHP, S+C, and S8 Mod Rehab SRO) available through the McKinney/Vento Homeless Assistance national competition announced each year in HUD’s Notice of Funding Availability (SuperNOFA).
| Contacts |
|
Mary Chant, Executive Director
Community Action Partnership Association of Idaho
5400 W. Franklin Road, Suite G
Boise, ID 83705
Phone: (208) 375-7382 |
Sheri Cook
Idaho Balance of State CoC
Idaho Housing and Finance Association
565 W Myrtle P.O. Box 7899
Boise, ID 83707-1899
Phone: (208) 331-4724 |
Other Homeless Assistance Programs and Resources
Federal partners that also provide homeless assistance include the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, the Department of Labor, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, and the Interagency Council on Homelessness. Numerous nonprofit organizations, state and local agencies, and advocacy groups are also involved with homeless assistance programs.
Emergency Shelter Grants Program
The Supportive Housing Program (SHP)
Shelter Plus Care
Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation SRO Program
Flow of Continuum of Care
Contact
Emergency Shelter Grants Program
Summary
The Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) program provides homeless persons with basic shelter and essential supportive services. It can assist with the operational costs of the shelter facility, and for the administration of the grant. ESG also provides short-term homeless prevention assistance to persons at imminent risk of losing their own housing due to eviction, foreclosure, or utility shutoffs.
Type of Assistance
Formula (non-competitive) grants.
Eligible Activities
Grants for ESG funds are available for the rehabilitation or remodeling of a building used as a new shelter, operations and maintenance of the facility, essential supportive services (i.e., case management, physical and mental health treatment, substance abuse counseling, childcare, etc.), homeless prevention, and grant administration.
Eligible Applicants
Grantees, which are state governments, large cities, urban counties, and U.S. territories, receive ESG grants and make these funds available to eligible recipients, which can be either local government agencies or private nonprofit organizations. The recipient agencies and organizations, which actually run the homeless assistance projects, apply for ESG funds to the governmental grantee, and not directly to HUD.
AMI Requirements
Homeless persons.
Contact Information
HUD http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/programs/esg/index.cfm
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The Supportive Housing Program (SHP)
The Supportive Housing Program (SHP) provides supportive housing and/or supportive services to homeless persons. The SHP awards grants through a national competition to government entities and non-profit organizations. SHP funding can be used to create transitional housing (temporary housing and services for up to 24 months); create permanent supportive housing for people with disabilities; or provide supportive services not in conjunction with SHP-funded housing. Eligible activities for use of SHP funds include:
- Acquisition of structures for supportive housing or to provide supportive services;
- Rehabilitation of structures for supportive housing or to provide supportive services;
- New construction of buildings for supportive housing where there is a lack of appropriate units that could be rehabilitated or the new construction cost is substantially less than rehabilitation;
- Leasing of structures for supportive housing or to provide supportive services;
- Operating costs of supportive housing; and
- Supportive services.
Eligible Applicants
Eligible applicants are States, units of local government, other governmental entities such as PHAs, and private nonprofits.
Contact Information
HUD http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/programs/shp/index.cfm
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Shelter Plus Care
The Shelter Plus Care (S+C) program provides rental assistance funding for homeless persons with disabilities, primarily those with mental illness, chronic problems with alcohol and/or drugs, and AIDS or related diseases. Only government agencies and PHAs are eligible to apply through the SuperNOFA national competition. The funds provided for rental assistance must be matched dollar-for-dollar by in kind services to help participants maintain their housing.
Shelter Plus Care funds four types of rental assistance:
- Tenant-based rental assistance (TRA) provides grant funding for a five-year contract term. Participants reside in housing of their choice; however, grant recipients may require participants to live in a specific area in order to facilitate coordination of supportive services.
- Sponsor-based rental assistance (SRA) provides grant funding for a term of five years through contracts between a grant recipient and a sponsor organization. Sponsors may be a non-profit organization or community mental health agency established as a public non-profit. Participants reside in housing owned or leased by the project sponsor.
- Project-based rental assistance (PRA) provides grants for a term of either five or ten years through contracts between grant recipients and owners of existing structures with units that will be leased to participants. Rental assistance grants are for 10 years only if the owner agrees to complete rehabilitation on the units to be leased within 12 months of the grant agreement.
- Single Room Occupancy Dwellings (SRO) provides grants for rental assistance for a contract term of ten years in connection with moderate rehabilitation of single room occupancy housing units.
Starting in 1999, in response to large demands for renewal funding by existing S+C programs, Congress established a separate set-aside account to fund all eligible renewal S+C programs for one year.
Eligible Applicants
At the local level, S+C projects typically involve a partnership among a grantee agency, one or more housing sponsors, and a network of supportive services providers.
- Grantees are ultimately responsible for the S+C grant, but may either administer the local project directly or delegate project responsibilities to one or more sponsors. Grantees must be a unit of local government, a public housing authority, or a state.
- Sponsors are usually nonprofit organizations that provide housing to homeless people with disabilities. Grantees may delegate responsibility for rental assistance administration to one or more sponsors. Sponsors may also provide supportive services.
- Supportive services providers enable participants to maintain stable housing, address their social service and treatment needs, build skills, and enhance their ability to make decisions about their lives.
Contact Information
HUD http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/programs/splusc/index.cfm
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Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation SRO Program
The Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation SRO Program provides rental assistance on behalf of homeless individuals in connection with the moderate rehabilitation of SRO dwellings.
Property owners are required to perform a minimum of $3,000 in rehabilitation work per SRO unit. The program does allow for the cost of rehabilitation. It is a project-based rental assistance program.
HUD: http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/programs/sro/
Eligible Applicants
Public housing agencies and private nonprofit organizations may apply. Nonprofit organizations must subcontract with public housing agencies to administer the rental assistance.
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Flow of Continuum of Care
Emergency Housing/Shelter
Short-term emergency housing with supportive services.
ESG, HOPWA, HOME, CDBG
Transitional Housing
Housing linked with supportive services tailored to assist people in transition from homelessness or institutionalization to independent living. Short-term housing (less than 24 months) and affordable rents.
SHP, HOPWA, HOME, CDBG
Permanent Housing
Housing linked with supportive services tailored to assist people to live as independently as possible. This includes permanent housing and affordable rents.
Section 811, Shelter Plus Care, SHP, HOPWA, Section 8 Certificates & Vouchers, Public Housing, HOME, CDBG, LIHTC, FHLB
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Contact Information
For more information on transitional housing and supportive services:
HUD- Idaho Office
800 Park Blvd, Suite 220
Boise ID 83712
http://www.hud.gov/local/index.cfm?state=id
Charitable Assistance to Community’s Homeless
(formerly Neighborhood Housing Service’s Homeward Bound program)
Adam Park, 208-384-4402
Contact Email: CATCH@cityofboise.org
http://www.cityofboise.org/Departments/PDS/CATCH/index.aspx
Treasure Valley Comprehensive Referral Center
www.idahoconnections.org
Visit http://www.hud.gov/local/index.cfm?state=id and click on Homeless? under Quick Links menu.
IHFA Research & Information
http://www.ihfa.org/research_fairhousing.asp
Phone toll-free: 1-877-438-4472
National Coalition for the Homeless
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/
National Low-Income Housing Coalition
http://www.nlihc.org/template/index.cfm
Poverty USA
http://www.povertyusa.org
Idaho CareLine
The Idaho CareLine is a free, statewide, bilingual telephone information and referral available to link Idahoans with more than 3,900 health and human service providers and programs.
http://www.idahocareline.org
Dial: 2-1-1 or
Toll-free: 1-800-926-2588
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