WASHINGTON, D.C. The Obama Administration yesterday announced the award of a record $1.6 billion in targeted Homeless Assistance Grant funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to an unprecedented number of local programs - more than 6,300 - to provide housing, shelter, and supportive services to individuals and families.

"With the foreclosure and unemployment crisis looming, millions of families - both homeowners and renters - are in danger of losing their homes so we must focus substantial resources to help those families find stable housing," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in making the announcement. "The grants being awarded today, along with the recovery plan's additional $1.5 billion, will offer a critical lifeline to those persons and families who, after a foreclosure or job loss, might otherwise be faced with homelessness. Today we are announcing an unprecedented commitment to fund programs that have a proven track record of providing real housing solutions for our most vulnerable neighbors."

"Today's record $1.6 billion announcement from HUD continues the federal commitment to end the human tragedy of homelessness for those who are the most vulnerable and disabled, veterans who have served our country, and families," said United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano. "Additionally, these new resources are focused to relieve and remedy the long misery of homeless families in their rapid movement beyond shelter to housing. Combined with the new $1.5 million homelessness prevention resources in the stimulus, communities can make new investments in the results Secretary Donovan has called for to combat the 'double trouble' of the mortgage/foreclosure and job loss crises."

"The $1.6 billion is part of the seventh consecutive year of record resources made available from Washington. Another unprecedented eighth consecutive year of increased investment is pending before the Congress. Increased resources focused on housing have correlated with decreased numbers on the streets of our communities," Director Mangano indicated. "I commend HUD staff for their diligent, expedited efforts to move these resources into communities in a year of a record number of initiatives securing support to offer hope and a home to our poorest neighbors."

Among the award highlights:
- An unprecedented number of local programs - more than 6,300 - will receive nearly $1.6 billion.
- 1,110 of the project awards announced today target individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Total funding to these projects is more than $274 million, a commitment that directly supports the national goal of ending chronic homelessness.
- More than $783 million is being awarded to projects that provide permanent housing solutions for homeless persons.
- 3,364 local projects that serve families with children will receive $813 million.
- $26 million is being awarded to 136 projects that primarily target homeless veterans.
- 1,255 of the projects funded today are dedicated to providing housing and support services to severely mentally ill clients, totaling $300 million. These persons are at high risk of experiencing long-term or chronic homelessness.
- Nearly $200 million will support 851 local programs that primarily help homeless individuals with substance abuse problems.

WASHINGTON, DC. Twenty-three new sites for a national Rapid Re- Housing for Families Demonstration Program were announced as part of the FY 2008 HUD Homeless Assistance Grants this week.

As directed by Congress in the FY 2008 HUD Appropriation (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, P.L. 110-161), HUD is implementing the demonstration program to serve homeless households with dependent children who are residing on the street or in emergency shelters. According to the NOFA, "Through this focused effort on assisting this population, HUD will both learn more about how to best serve families who are homeless and also contribute to the research that has already been done in this area."

"With the numbers of homeless families increasing and more families at risk, this demonstration program will prove what those in the field know - rapid rehousing works for homeless families and makes sense economically and for family stability," indicated United States Interagency Council on Homeless Executive Director Philip Mangano.

Housing First for individuals has been designated an evidence-based practice by HHS through its National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP), a service of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). As has been true with other federal demonstration initiatives, including the joint Collaborative Initiative to End Chronic Homelessness and the Serial Inebriate Housing Program, awardees are anticipated to develop and identify best practices that can close the gap between knowledge and practice in the field in preventing and ending family homelessness. Given the timeliness of the new homeless-directed stimulus resource, such advances in identifying 'what works" will serve a larger population.

The new federal family demonstration resources emphasize the priority of the Congress for the family population. Congress directed HUD through the budget to select a limited number of sites for the demonstration based on proven experience in providing Rapid Re-housing, a record of performance, and geographic diversity. According to the NOFA, each CoC could submit no more than one project under the Rapid Re-Housing for Families Demonstration Program. That project must have a grant term of three years and could request up to 30 percent of the CoC's Preliminary Pro Rata Need or $2 million, whichever is less. Awarded projects announced this week range from $78,300 to $2 million.

Family rapid rehousing pilot initiative awards went to 23 cities, including: San Francisco, CA; Boston, MA; Dayton/Kettering/Montgomery County, OH; Metropolitan Denver Homeless Initiative; Columbus/Franklin County, Ohio; Washington, DC; New Orleans/Jefferson Parish, LA; Cincinnati/ Hamilton County, OH; Portland/ Gresham/ Multnomah County, OH; Orlando/Orange/Osceola/ Seminole Counties, FL; Richmond/Contra Costa, CA; Lancaster City/County, PA; Madison/Dane County, WI; Washington Balance of State; Phoenix/Mesa/Maricopa County, AZ; Ohio Balance of State; Austin/Travis County, TX; Portage/Kalamazoo City/County, MI; Trenton/Mercer County, NJ; Montgomery County, MD; Anchorage, AK; Overland Park/Shawnee/Johnson County, KS; and Pittsburgh/McKeesport/Penn Hills/Allegheny County, PA.

WASHINGTON, DC. Characterizing the American story as being about "rising to the moment when the moment is hard, converting crisis into opportunity, and seeing to it that we emerge from whatever trials we face stronger than we were before," President Obama this week signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act with new resources to prevent and end homelessness. Resources through targeted homeless programs including the Emergency Shelter Grants program ($1.5 billion), FEMA's Emergency Food and Shelter Program ($100 million), Education of Homeless Children and Youth program ($70 million), and Violence against Women transitional residential program ($50 million) total $1.72 billion or more than the HUD FY 2009 homeless budget currently pending. Combined with the record $1.6 billion in HUD awards announced this week (see related story), there are again record federal resources to prevent and end homelessness at work in the nation.

"The only thing that solves homelessness is solutions," indicated United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano about the stimulus opportunity. "What works are field-tested, evidence-based innovations, and we now have more to invest in them than ever before."

"The opportunity presented by a wide range of new resources for emergency relief, housing, benefits, and services calls for the implementation of coordinated one-stop responses that can reach families in the 'double-trouble' of the mortgage/foreclosure crisis and job loss and concentrate the effect of new resources, rather than dissipate it."

This issue of the e-news is Part II in the Council's coverage of key provisions and resources to prevent and end homelessness. Watch next week's issue for further highlights, including employment and training resources.

Resources in Targeted Homeless Programs. Key federal programs targeted to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness will receive new investment from the stimulus. The following series of stories highlight details of the new budget measures and the means by which funds will be distributed.

HUD Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) program: $1.5 billion. New ESG resources targeted to prevention will be distributed by formula with 25% to states and the balance to localities. The HUD Secretary can set minimum award amounts. The new funds are for prevention only, in the form of short- or medium-term rental assistance, housing relocation and stabilization services, housing search assistance, mediation or outreach to property owners, credit repair, security or utility deposits, utility payments, rental assistance for a final month at a location, moving costs assistance, case management, and other appropriate activities for homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing of persons who have become homeless.

The resources are available through FY 2011. HUD must publish a notice on the funds within 30 days of enactment, which is calculated from the signing of the legislation. Recipients must expend 60% of their allocation within 2 years and 100% within 3 years. The HUD Secretary can reallocate unspent funds. Grantees receiving assistance are to collect data on the use of the funds awarded and persons served with this assistance in the HUD Homeless Management Information System (''HMIS'') or other comparable database. Grantees may use up to 5 percent of any grant for administrative costs.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) will distribute $100 million by formula to local boards. The FEMA program, which marked its 25th anniversary last year, is the oldest targeted federal resource for persons who are homeless, and relies on public-private partnership local decision-making through local boards, and rapid response.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Children and Youth program: $70 million. New resources will support grants to states based on 2007-2008 data on the number of identified homeless children and youth, to help school districts mitigate the effect of the recent reduction in local revenues and state support for education. State educational agencies will subgrant the McKinney-Vento funds to local educational agencies on a competitive basis or according to a formula based on the number of homeless students identified by the local educational agencies in the state. The Secretary of Education will distribute the funds to the states not later than 60 days after the date of enactment. Each State shall subgrant the McKinney- Vento funds to local educational agencies not later than 120 days after receiving its grant from the Secretary.

DOJ Violence Against Women (VAWA) program: $50 million. Transitional residential programs for victims of domestic violence received $50 million under the ''Violence Against Women Prevention and Prosecution Programs.''

Housing Resources in Non Targeted Programs. More new resources will be available for foreclosure mitigation for communities, as well as to promote housing creation that may be stalled by credit and lending issues.

HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program: $2 billion. The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) which is currently distributing $3.9 billion from last year's Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA), is funded at $2 billion with changes to this program that addresses foreclosures. The new resources will be distributed through a competition for states, local government, and non-profits, or consortia of nonprofit entities, which may submit proposals in partnership with for profit entities. In selecting grantees, the HUD Secretary must ensure that the grantees are in areas with the greatest number and percentage of foreclosures. Grantees must also expend funding within the period allowed, which requires that at least 50% of allocated funds are spent within 2 years of the date funds become available to the grantee for obligation, and 100% of such funds within 3 years of that date.

Additional award criteria for such competitions shall include demonstrated grantee capacity to execute projects, leveraging potential, concentration of investment to achieve neighborhood stabilization, and any additional factors determined by the HUD Secretary. The HUD Secretary may establish a minimum grant size and must publish criteria on which to base competition for any grants not later than 75 days after enactment. Applications shall be due to HUD not later than 150 days after enactment. The Secretary shall obligate all funding within 1 year of enactment.

HOME: $2.250 billion. HUD's HOME program received $2.250 billion, to be made available to state housing credit agencies and apportioned among the states based on their percentage of HOME funds and participating jurisdictions for FY 2008. The housing credit agencies in each state will distribute these funds competitively and pursuant to their qualified allocation plan to owners of projects who have received or receive simultaneously an award of low-income housing tax credits. Housing credit agencies in each state will commit not less than 75% of such funds within one year of enactment. They will also need to demonstrate that the project owners shall have expended 75% of the funds made available within two years of the date of enactment and 100% of the funds within 3 years of the date of enactment.

Section 8/Project Based received $2 billion for a one-year prepayment to landlords. The Public Housing program received $4 billion for capital investments, including rehabilitating and retrofitting public housing units, increasing energy efficiency and for safety repairs. $3 billion will be distributed by formula, and the HUD Secretary is to obligate formula funds within 30 days of enactment. The remaining $1 billion will be distributed by competition for priority investments, including those leveraging private sector funding or financing for renovations and energy conservation retrofit investments. The Secretary must obligate competitive funds by September 30, 2009. PHAs must obligate 100% within one year as monies become available to them.

Health Care And Benefits Resources. Food stamps, Medicaid, extended benefits, and new supports for identifying and enrolling eligible individuals and families in benefits from federal, state, and local resources are among the array of health and humans services measures included in the stimulus. Best practices in coordinating screening and applications, lowering barriers to application and streamlining applications, and expanding access to enrollment supports have been identified from the more than 400 Project Homeless Connect events that have occurred around the nation.

Food Stamps. An across the board 13.6% increase in Food Stamp/SNAP benefits, and suspension for 18 months of the 3-month time limit on assistance that many unemployed childless adults face, are among the new provisions of the stimulus that are effective April 1.

Community Services Block Grant. $1 billion in new funding is included for the CSBG grant to states and other entities. CSBG can serve low income people including people who are homeless, unemployed, public assistance recipients, at-risk youth, custodial/non-custodial parents, public housing residents, persons with disabilities, and the reentry population. The new law permits states to raise income eligibility from 125 percent to 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

One percent of the funds available immediately to the states are to be used for benefits enrollment coordination activities relating to the identification and enrollment of eligible individuals and families in federal, state, and local benefit programs. This resource present a new opportunity for states, especially through State Interagency Councils, to incentivize the one-stop model and increase the often minimal participation of people who are homeless in mainstream benefit programs.

Economic Recovery Payment. A one-time payment to recipients of Social Security, SSI, Railroad Retirement and Veterans Disability Compensation Benefits is included. The new law provides a one-time payment of $250 to retirees, disabled individuals and SSI recipients receiving benefits from the Social Security Administration, Railroad Retirement beneficiaries, and disabled veterans receiving benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

WIC. $500 million for the WIC programs for low income women and children for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education is included.

Community Health Centers. $1.5 billion for construction and renovation and $500 million for services have been added for health centers. The resources will support new sites and service areas, increase services at existing sites, and provide supplemental payments for spikes in uninsured populations. Grants for new sites and service areas are to be two years in length as startup is phased in. The conferees encouraged support for unfunded but approved applications for new health centers.

Medicaid. The legislation provides $87 billion in the form of a temporary increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage so that no state has to cut eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP because of budget shortfalls. This investment will protect roughly 20 million people whose eligibility might otherwise be at risk. It will also generate considerable state economic activity, jobs and wages.

Tax Credits in the Recovery Package. Several key tax credit provisions were also included that will benefit both prevention and intervention efforts. One is the Earned Income Tax Credit, whose annual campaigns are now being launched in many locations by Governors and Mayors who have recognized the value of the EITC resources for affirming work and creating assets in the local economy.

EITC. The stimulus increases EITC for working families to 45% (versus current 40%) of the family's first $12,570 of earned income for families with three or more children (versus 2 or more) and would increase the beginning point of the phase-out range for all married couples filing a joint return (regardless of the number of children) by $1,880. Look for more coverage of this year's EITC initiatives in an upcoming enews.

Incentives to Hire Unemployed Veterans and Disconnected Youth. Under current law, businesses are allowed to claim a work opportunity tax credit equal to 40 percent of the first $6,000 of wages paid to employees of one of nine targeted groups. The bill would create two new targeted groups of prospective employees: (1) unemployed veterans; and (2) disconnected youth.

An individual would qualify as an unemployed veteran if they were discharged or released from active duty from the Armed Forces during the five-year period prior to hiring and received unemployment compensation for more than four weeks during the year before being hired. An individual qualifies as a disconnected youth if they are between the ages of 16 and 25 and have not been regularly employed or attended school in the past 6 months.

"Making Work Pay" Tax Credit. The bill would cut taxes for more than 95% of working families in the United States. For 2009 and 2010, the bill would provide a refundable tax credit of up to $400 for working individuals and $800 for working families. This tax credit would be calculated at a rate of 6.2% of earned income, and would phase out for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $75,000 ($150,000 for married couples filing jointly). Taxpayers can receive this benefit through a reduction in the amount of income tax that is withheld from their paychecks, or through claiming the credit on their tax returns.

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news continues it coverage of remarks by Mayors and other jurisdictional officials in "State of the City" speeches that recognize and affirm their partnership and results in preventing and ending homelessness through jurisdictional Ten Year Plans. This story focuses on Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief, who last week spoke at the Fort Worth Convention Center about progress and partnership in Directions Home, the city-county Ten Year Plan.

"During my last address, I also said I wanted to see a comprehensive 10 Year Plan to end chronic homelessness on my desk by the end of the year. Not only has that plan been delivered, it has been adopted by the city and endorsed by the county and many other partners. I will expand on this plan in a few minutes . . .

"Our success fighting crime is only surpassed by our progress over the past year battling homelessness.

"Consider this: A recent study showed that 83 percent of cities nationwide have seen an increase in homelessness. I'm very proud to report to you that, last week, we learned that during the same study period, we saw a decrease in homelessness of almost 10 percent! Given national economic challenges, this is nothing short of spectacular! Thanks to you, the tides are shifting.

"Our progress is the result of our community circling the wagons in support of our recently adopted homelessness plan. It is entitled Directions Home, and our goal is to make homelessness rare, short- term, and non-recurring in Fort Worth within 10 years. The plan was drafted by a team of passionate people on the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Homelessness, led by Rev. Brooks Harrington from First United Methodist Church.

"I want to also mention County Commissioner Roy Brooks who helped organize the healthcare portion of this plan. Recognizing that homelessness has no boundaries, Judge Glen Whitley and the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court unanimously endorsed our plan. In doing so, the county joined the city to offset the operating costs of the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition.

"Not only is the plan practical and compassionate, it also makes good economic sense. Getting people off the streets and out of emergency shelters is less expensive than leaving them to suffer under a bridge or in an alley. That's right, less expensive.

"Last year, our community spent roughly $30 million responding to homelessness. It's expensive to pay for care in the emergency room, or send an ambulance and dispatch a fire truck every time 911 is dialed from a shelter. More shocking is that two-thirds of that money - your tax dollars -was spent reacting to homelessness rather than ending it.

"But, with our new plan, we now have a roadmap that focuses on measurable results and addressing the core needs of the homeless: Housing, health care, social services, and employment.

"To get us started, my council colleagues and I approved $2.9 million worth of new funding in the city's 2009 budget. We've already begun to distribute this funding to expand housing and the associated supportive services. Moreover, countless local service providers are taking a stand in support of our plan- Cook Children's Health System, JPS, MHMR, United Way, Recovery Resource Council, Workforce Solutions. These are but a few examples.

"People are talking about this. Preachers are preaching about this. Our friends in the media are reporting about this. Doors are opening. Hearts are opening. And, wallets are opening too. There's a transformative movement afoot in Fort Worth.

"Ladies and gentlemen, ending chronic homelessness is not a dream beyond our reach - it's a goal within our grasp. Thanks to your generosity, our citizen volunteers, and countless community partners, many of our most vulnerable citizens are already finding their direction home."

email: usich@usich.gov

web: http://www.usich.gov