Implementing the HEARTH Act · HEARTH Act Other programs are administered by the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs –Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program –Title

Implementing the HEARTH Act

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HEARTH Act

Current Continuum of Care Programs are administered by the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs

Competitive Programs

– Supportive Housing Program

– Shelter Plus Care

– Section 8 SRO (Single-Room Occupancy)

Formula Program

– Emergency Shelter Grants Program

OFFICE OF SPECIAL NEEDS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

HEARTH Act

Other programs are administered by the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs

– Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program

– Title V of the McKinney-Vento Act

– BRAC

– HUD VASH (in partnership with HUD/PIH)

– Veterans Demonstration Program (FY 2010)


HEARTH Act

• Been a tough budget environment

• OMB and Congress assess all Federal programs

– Low assessment can mean funding cuts

– Continuum: Effective

– More funds -- $1.68 billion

• Performance is central to COC funding



•

$1,000

$1,100

$1,200

$1,300

$1,400

$1,500

$1,600

$1,700

HUD Homeless Funding History (Dollars in Millions)

Appropriation

2004, $1,260 billion

2005, $1,241 billion

2006, $1,327 billion

2007, $1,442 billion

2008, $1,586 billion

2009, $1,691.70 billion

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HEARTH Act

2009 COMPETITION Total CoCs Requesting Funding:

449

Total funded CoCs: 444 (98.87% of requests)

Total Number of Projects Requesting Funds: 7,252

Total Number of Funded Projects:7,000 (96.53% of requests)

Total Amount of Dollars Requested:$1,608,563,477

• Total Dollars Awarded: $1,557,548,288 (96.83% of requests)

• Total Permanent Housing Dollars Requested: $554,816,927

• Total Permanent Housing Dollars Funded: $514,187,456 (92.68% of requests)


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HEARTH Act

Beds and People Information

• Total HUD Funded Beds:

– SHP Beds: 103,573

– SPC Beds: 40,639

– SRO Beds: 0

• People to be Served in Funded Projects:

– New: 9,897

– (projected level point-in-time)

– Renewal: 401,955


HEARTH Act

• 2009 Competition: Funded Projects Information:

• Supportive Housing Program– New: $113,175,747

– Renewal: $956,477,837

– Total: $1,069,653,584

• Shelter Plus Care Program– New: $76,375,680

– Renewal: $411,519,024

– Total: $487,894,704


HEARTH Act2009 Competition -- Total Projects Funded: 7,002

• Supportive Housing Program

– 419 New Projects

– 5,408 Renewal Projects

– 5,827 Total Projects

• Shelter Plus Care Program

– 133 New projects

– 1,042 Renewal Projects

– 1,175 Total Projects


HEARTH Act2009 Competition: Activities Funded

• Housing Operations: $1,014,731,055 (65.08%)

• Services $459,669,364 (29.48%)

• HMIS $37,974,623 (29.48%)

• Administration $46,906,936 (2.43%)

• Competitive Permanent Housing (New Projects):$169,783,071 (90.11% of dollars competitively awarded)

• Chronically Homeless (70% or more being served):$234,870,976 (15.08% of Total Awarded Amount)


Moving Towards Implementation of the

HEARTH Act

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HEARTH Act

• Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act

– Signed into law on May 20, 2009

MOVING TOWARDS IMPLEMENTATION

HEARTH Act• Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid

Transition to Housing Act (or HEARTH Act)– Reauthorizes HUD's McKinney-Vento Homeless

Assistance programs

– SHP, S+C, SRO to become part of CoC program• Prevention added as eligible activity

– Creates rural housing program

– ESG renamed as Emergency Solutions Grant

HEARTH ActMOVING TOWARDS IMPLEMENTATION

Moving Toward Implementation

•Program regulations are in the process of being developed

•HUD is using the input solicited through the discussion groups while developing the program regulations

•The McKinney-Vento Act, as amended by the HEARTH Act, and the subsequent program regulations, will maintain local flexibility to best meet the needs of those homeless and at-risk of homelessness 14

HEARTH Funding Requirements

• 20% to ESG;• CoC Renewals;• If CoC Renewals cannot be covered with remaining

funds, ESG is reduced;• If ESG is funded at 20% and there is funding left;

then• Remaining funds are for new competitive projects

under CoC and Rural.

The President’s 2011 budget reflects the program priorities of HEARTH, but not this order.

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Overview of the HEARTH Act

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HEARTH Act Overview

The HEARTH Act is organized in four sections:

• Subpart A – General Provisions• Subpart B – Emergency Solutions Grant Program• Subpart C – Continuum of Care Program• Subpart D – Rural Housing Stability Assistance Program

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General Provisions

• Definition of a Homeless Individual or Family

• Definition of “At risk of Homelessness”

• Definition of Chronically Homeless

General Provisions

Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program

• The ESG Program is essentially a combination of the current ESG Program and the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP)

• Allocations done by formula based on 20 percent of the available grant funds in the appropriation, if funding allows

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• Eligible Activities include:

– Street Outreach

– Emergency Shelter Activities• Renovation, major rehabilitation, or conversion of

buildings to be used as emergency shelters• Essential Services• Operating Costs


• Eligible Activities include:– Rapid Re-Housing for homeless individuals

• Rental assistance

• Housing relocation or stabilization services

– Prevention activities for individuals at-risk of homelessness• Rental assistance

• Housing relocation or stabilization services


• A recipient may use up to 7.5 percent funds received for administrative purposes

– State recipients shall share administrative funds with local governments

• The Act requires that recipients of ESG participate in HMIS

• Recipients of ESG funds will be required to coordinate with recipients of CoC Program funds


Continuum of Care (CoC) Program

•Combines SHP and S+C into one program

•Codifies the CoC structure and process

•Creates one match requirement of 25 percent cash or in-kind across all line items, except leasing

•Allows for funding of administrative costs related to designing a collaborative process for the development of an application under the CoC Program

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•The statute requires CoCs to participate in the Consolidated Plan for the geographic area

•The statue requires CoCs to ensure operation of, and consistent participation by, project sponsors in a community-wide HMIS

•CoCs will be required to evaluate the outcomes of ESG- and CoC-funded projects within their geographic area

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HUD

UFA

Sub-recipient

Sub-recipient

Multiple grantees

Multiple grantees

CoC Lead Agency

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Continuum of Care Program

• Collaborative Applicant– Designs a collaborative process for the

development of an application for CoC funds

– Serves as the applicant for project sponsors who jointly submit a single application for CoC funds

– Ensures participation of project sponsors in HMIS

– Receives up to 3 percent of total funds for administrative costs



• Unified Funding Agency

– HUD must approve all UFAs

– Is the grant recipient of CoC funds

– Establish fiscal controls and fund accounting procedures to assure the proper disbursal of, and accounting for, CoC funds awarded to project sponsors

– Monitor all project sponsors annually

– Receives up to 6 percent of total funds for administrative costs


Continuum of Care Program• Eligible activities include:

– New Construction/Acquisition/Rehabilitation– Leasing– Rental Assistance– Operating Costs– Supportive Services– Provision of Re-housing Services – HMIS– Admin up to 10 percent

• Min. 30 percent PH requirement



• Renewal Funding

– The Secretary may renew the funding for a period of not more than 1 year for a specific project previously funded under the CoC Program

• High Performing Communities

– The Secretary shall designate, on an annual basis, which collaborative applicants represent high-performing communities as determined by an evaluation of five requirements listed in the statute


Rural Housing Stability Assistance Program

•The Rural Housing Stability Program is designed to assist individuals and families who are homeless, in imminent danger of losing housing, or in the worst case housing situations in the geographic area

•Applicants from rural areas will be required to choose between receiving funding through the CoC Program or receiving funding through the Rural Housing Stability Assistance Program

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Rural Housing Stability Assistance Program

• Creates selection set-asides for communities of less than 10,000 and communities less than 5,000 with priority given to communities that are not receiving significant Federal assistance

• Allows for funding of capacity building activities

• Introduces eligible activities that have not historically been available

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Rural Housing Stability Program

• Rural defined as Areas:

– Not in MSA

– Area in an MSA where 75 % of the county is rural

– Area in State meeting special rules


Rural Housing Stability Program• Eligible activities include:

– New construction/acquisition/rehabilitation– Rent, mortgage and utility assistance– Security deposits– Short-term lodging in motels or shelters– Leasing– Rental Assistance– Operating Costs– Supportive Services



• Homeless, homeless individual, and homeless person mean:– An individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular,

and adequate nighttime residence and is:• An individual or family with a primary nighttime

residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;

Proposed Rule: Definition of Homeless and Documentation Requirements


– An individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence and is (cont):• An individual or family living in a supervised publicly or

privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living arrangements; or

• An individual who is exiting an institution where he or she resided for 90 days or less and who resided in a shelter or place not meant for human habitation immediately before entering that institution



– An individual or family who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence, provided that:• The primary nighttime residence will be lost within 14

days of the application for homeless assistance;

• No subsequent residence has been identified; and

• The individual or family lacks the resources or support networks needed to obtain other permanent housing;



– Unaccompanied youth and homeless families with children and youth defined as homeless under other Federal statutes who do not otherwise qualify as homeless under this definition and:• Have not had a lease, ownership interest or occupancy

agreement in permanent housing at any time during the 91 days immediately preceding the application for homeless assistance;


Rural Housing Stability Program– Any individual or family who:

• Is fleeing, or is attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or other dangerous or life-threatening conditions that relate to violence against the individual or family member that has either taken place within the individual’s or family’s primary nighttime residence or has made the individual or family afraid to return to their primary nighttime residence;

• Has no other residence; and• Lacks the resources or support networks to obtain other

permanent housing.



• Documenting residence in place not meant for human habitation or shelter includes:– Certification by the individual or head of household;

– Written observation by an outreach worker of the conditions where the individual or family was living, or

– Written referral by another housing or service provider


Rural Housing Stability Program• Documenting imminent loss of housing includes:

– A court order resulting from an eviction action notifying the individual or family that they must leave within 14 days

– For individual and families leaving hotel or motel rooms not paid for by other organizations, evidence that the individual or family lacks the financial resources necessary to reside there for more than 14 days; or

– An oral statement by the individual or head of household seeking assistance that the owner or renter of the housing in which they currently reside will not allow them to stay for more than 14 days—this statement must be documented, through self-certification, and verified


Rural Housing Stability Program• Verification of oral statements includes:

– Written or oral statement of the owner or renter of the housing in which the individual or family resides indicating that the individual or family may not stay for more than 14 days that is recorded by the intake worker; or

– Written record of the intake worker’s due diligence in attempting to obtain a statement from the owner or renter of the housing in which the individual or family is residing



• Documenting lack of resources and support networks includes:– Self-certification or other written documentation

that the individual or family lacks the financial resources and support networks needed to obtain other permanent housing



• Documenting persistent instability:– Certification by individual or head of housing and

any supporting documentation including:• Recorded statements or records obtained from each

owner or renter of housing, provider of shelter or housing, or social worker, case worker, or other appropriate official; or

• Where these records are unobtainable, a written record of the intake worker’s due diligence in attempting to obtain these statements or records



• Documenting barriers to employment includes:– Employment records

– Department of Correction records

– Literacy tests

– English proficiency tests

– IQ tests



• Documenting individuals and families fleeing domestic violence includes:– Oral statement by the individual or head of

household that is documented by either a self-certification or a certification by the intake worker;

– Written observation by the intake worker; or– Written referral by a housing or service provider,

social worker, the hospital, or the police


Resources

• Homelessness Resource Exchange: www.hudhre.info

• HEARTH: http://www.hudhre.info/hearth/

•HUD’s HMIS Portal: www.hmis.info

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http://www.hudhre.info/

http://www.hudhre.info/hearth/

http://www.hmis.info/

Documents

Implementing the HEARTH Act · HEARTH Act Other programs are administered by the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs –Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program –Title