WASHINGTON, DC. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this week announced the $1.5 billion Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re- housing Program (HPRP) created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The new recovery resource represents funds appropriated through the HUD Emergency Shelter Grant program for a new initiative that will invest formula-driven allocations into locally-designed plans and strategies to meet the most pressing local needs for temporary financial assistance and stable housing for persons who are homeless or at risk.

"As we are faced in this country with 'Double Trouble' - a million foreclosures and 4 million job losses - we are better prepared and better funded than ever before," indicated United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano. "These targeted resources announced by Secretary Donovan join unprecedented political will on the front linesand strategic planning replacing good intention and well meaning programs. Innovative, proven initiatives replacing conjecture and anecdote - and more resources than ever."

"The recovery package is an expansive and inclusive one that includes resources for a broad spectrum of Americans, including those who are struggling with foreclosures, job loss, and homelessness. With increases in food stamps, Medicaid, health centers, for veterans, for the education of homeless children, and for the victims of domestic violence."

HPRP funds are intended to assist individuals and families who are currently in housing but are at risk of homelessness and need temporary financial aid for rent and/or utilities, or assistance in moving; and individuals and families who are homeless and need financial assistance to secure and retain housing rapidly.

Applications are due May 18, and HUD intends to execute all grant agreements by September 1, 2009. Grantees must obligate their funds to subgrantees by September 30, 2009. Grantees must also expend 60% of their resources within two years of their grant agreement, and 100% within three years. HUD has set a minimum grant level of $500,000. Applicants should read the entire notice for full details of requirements.

Eligible applicants are states, local government, including partnerships of local governments, and non- profits if local government has approved the planned program. Eligible activities are financial assistance, housing relocation and stabilization, data collection and evaluation, and administration.

Grantees are expected to ensure a process for determining the type, level, and duration of aid to each person, so that goals are focused on housing stabilization, linkage to mainstream resources, and resources for future stability. All persons assisted must meet the definition of homelessness used by HUD.

The HUD notice on HPRP has been published on HUD's recovery web page and will be subsequently published in the Federal Register. It identifies eligible grantees and the requirements for receiving funding, eligible activities, eligible participants, reporting requirements, and other critical information for grantees and subgrantees.

In order to receive funding, grantees must submit a substantial amendment to their Consolidated Plan 2008 Action Plan for the HPRP. HUD has created a form that grantees must use for this substantial amendment. It is also posted on the HUD site (form number HUD-40119), along with the certifications grantees must sign.

HUD will host an April 8 webcast dedicated to HPRP. Additional resources will be available for grantees, subgrantees and other stakeholders. On March 20, HUD will post a Q and A on the Homeless Resource Exchange (HRE). On March 23, an on-line "Virtual Help Desk" will begin accepting questions. On March 25, sample community documents related to prevention and rapid re-housing will be posted to HUD HRE. On March 27, an on-line searchable database of Questions and Answers will be posted.

WASHINGTON, DC. The National League of Cities (NLC) convened its annual legislative meeting in Washington this week, and Mayors and jurisdictional officials heard from key Administration officials on housing, homelessness, transportation, law enforcement, and homeland security. The NLC Congress met under the leadership of President Kathleen Novak, Mayor of Northglenn, Colorado. Ronald O. Loveridge, Mayor of Riverside, California is First Vice President.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, invited to address attendees on "Neighborhood Triage: Overcoming Economic Setbacks," was hosted for the session by Michael Wallace, NLC Senior Legislative Counsel. Also presenting was Dennis E. Greenhouse, Director of the Community Capacity Development Office, U.S. Department of Justice. Director Mangano is shown here during his remarks, with Mr. Greenhouse at right.

"I'm glad to be here again and most appreciative of the continuing partnership between the National League of Cities and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness," indicated Director Mangano, noting NLC's support at its last meeting for policy resolutions endorsing the bipartisan partnership with the Council and calling for expansion of the HUD-VASH permanent supportive housing program for homeless veterans." I am especially grateful of the commitment to the issue of homelessness by Executive Director Don Borut, Government Relations Director Carolyn Coleman, and Michael Wallace." Pictured here are Mr. Wallace (left), Director Mangano, and Mr. Greenhouse.

Director Mangano described for the partners the new opportunities to address homelessness with more resources available than ever before, more innovation, and better planning through the more than 350 Ten Year Plans at work in the nation. He stressed the importance of bringing the new resources out of their federal cylinders to local coordination through proven one-stop strategies to coordinate resources at the street level for consumers and urged the officials to adopt strategies that concentrate, rather than dissipate, the new investment.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan also spoke to the officials, stressing the Department's new sense of partnership with communities and promising to be responsive and effective in the work ahead. Secretary Donovan noted that $13.6 billion was made available through the recovery package for housing and community development initiatives, and that 75% of those resources were committed by HUD within one week of the President signing the legislation into law. The Secretary further noted the importance of multi- jurisdictional response to the opportunities created by the crisis, and the need for increased federal collaboration, such as the one he has launched with the Energy Department. The Secretary affirmed the Department's commitment to research and results and noted that it would seek to increase focus on people and places, rather than programs and process.

SOUTH SEATTLE, WASHINGTON. In the midst of the double trouble of the mortgage/ foreclosure crisis and job loss and the unfolding of new federal recovery resources, jurisdictional leaders from state, county, and city government, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Washington State partners of the Washington Families Fund this week committed publicly to reduce family homelessness in the state by 50% in the next decade.

The partners, who committed to ensure their activities are coordinated with local and regional Ten Year Plans to end homelessness, also will implement models of promising practices that include coordinated entry, prevention, rapid re-housing, coordinated and tailored services, and linkages to economic opportunities, as well as assure public resources are used as effectively as possible to serve homeless families or those at risk of becoming homeless.

The Gates Foundation pledged up to $60 million for the effort, and the partnership was formalized with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the Governor, County Executives Ron Sims of King County, Aaron Reardon of Snohomish County, and Pat McCarthy of Pierce County, and Mayors Greg Nickels of Seattle, Ray Stephanson of Everett, and Bill Baarsma of Tacoma.

Given the current economic crisis, "we must do more to help families achieve and maintain stability," said Governor Chris Gregoire. The partners committed to minimize shelter stays and provide critical, ongoing support services for homeless families with children, and to help families on the brink of homelessness. The MOU signatories also agreed to align existing family homelessness funding streams so that current resources can be used more efficiently and effectively and, where possible, to tap new resources to address the growing problem.

"Every child in King County deserves a safe and stable place to call home," said King County Executive Ron Sims, who been nominated by President Obama to serve as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "We are building on the work of the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, strengthening partnerships, and looking at ways to make the greatest impact on the root causes of family homelessness."

According to the announcement, beginning this year, King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties will pilot and tailor new strategies for meeting the unique needs of families in their communities. Pilot projects will test innovative ways to help stabilize homeless families with children, as well as those struggling to pay their mortgages or rents before they lose their homes. Lessons learned in the pilot counties will eventually be applied across communities statewide.

MOU partners embraced five proven principles that will guide future family homelessness investments made by both public and private funders: early intervention and prevention; coordinating access to support services; rapid re-housing; providing services tailored to meet each family's individual needs; and increasing economic opportunity through education and workforce services. The new Washington Families Fund strategy is based on innovative work in other communities across the country that have succeeded in reducing family homelessness rates.

Private sector funders - including the United Way of King County, Boeing, Microsoft, the Campion Foundation, the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, and the Ben .B. Cheney Foundation - have pledged to coordinate resources to help support this work. The strategy outlined in the MOU will be led by Building Changes, a Seattle-based nonprofit which has guided the Washington Families Fund since 2004.

WASHINGTON, DC. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service has announced $5 million in resources to simplify eligibility and applications process for Food Stamps and increase access to this key resource. Persons who are homeless are historically undersubscribed to this resource. The new funds come at an opportune moment as new homeless housing and prevention resources go on line, along with new resources from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Community Services Block Grant, whose recovery funding of $1 billion includes a 1% set aide for states to support enrollment initiatives for federal, state, and local programs.

The Food Stamp program, renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is accepting applications from all 53 state agencies that administer SNAP, state or local governments, agencies providing health or welfare services, public health or educational entities and private nonprofit entities such as community-based or faith-based organizations, food banks, and other emergency feeding organizations.

The purpose of this grant competition is to support efforts by state agencies and their community-based and faith-based partners to develop and implement simple SNAP application and eligibility determination systems; or measures to improve access to SNAP benefits by eligible applicants. Applications are due June 11.

USDA seeks diverse proposals that would make the entire process, from certification to recertification, easier and more efficient for applicants and participants. The proposals should include innovative development of new or revised state or county SNAP systems that do not rely solely on outreach. While this innovation does not have to be a completely new idea or concept, the proposal needs to demonstrate that the idea is new and innovative to that specific state or county office. The proposed process can incorporate outreach activities as long as they do not exceed 25% of the project cost. The proposal needs to demonstrate direct evidence that the proposed procedural or systemic changes would make the SNAP application and certification process easier for the participant.

According to the USDA announcement, the new program purposes contrast with those of the Food and Nutrition Service's (FNS) Outreach Grants Program, which strives to increase SNAP participation by marketing the program, helping applicants complete the application forms, and expanding the range and number of places people can go to get information and assistance with their SNAP applications. Where the Outreach Grants are primarily concerned with getting applicants into the SNAP office or advertising the Program in the community, the SNAP Participation Grants are primarily concerned with improving the quality and efficiency of operations within the SNAP office, such as streamlining office procedures or using technology.

USDA seeks to encourage and support partnerships between state agencies administering the SNAP and private non-profit organizations, including faith-based and community-based organizations. USDA intends to make at least one award of up to $1 million to an otherwise acceptable proposal that involves a partnership between a state agency and one or more private non-profit organizations. The intent is to encourage relationships with private non-profit organizations with strong community ties and thereby enhance the State agencies' communication with the communities they serve. Improvements in public agency practices should be more effective if they are coordinated with community-based initiatives.

USDA will also fund one or more projects that is designed to improve the retention of eligible households' participation in SNAP at the point of recertification. Many cases are closed at recertification. While some cases may have become ineligible, others may fail to meet procedural requirements and may soon reapply for program benefits. FNS is interested in solutions to decrease the closure of cases at recertification that otherwise meet requirements to continue receiving benefits. The project should include a discussion on the extent of the problem, the proposed methodology to address the problem, the expected impact on the recipients and how this will be measured.

USDA plans to announce the grant awards to the selected grantees in July or August 2009. Grantees will be allowed to use the grant funds for the duration of the project period. The grants will be funded for the period Fiscal Year 2009 through August 2012. USDA will entertain projects of shorter duration.

Under the Recovery Act, a 13.6% in the monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)/Food Stamp benefit will flow to recipients, or roughly $80 per family per month. The SNAP program currently serves over 31 million people each month. USDA estimates that for every five dollars spent through SNAP, $9.20 of local economic activity is generated. This benefit increase will begin to be provided to recipients on April 1, 2009. In addition, ARRA provides nearly $300 million to help states administer SNAP. The first $145 million will be released this month to assist States in responding to increased need.

WASHINGTON, DC. The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the availability of new housing- oriented economic recovery resources targeted to victims of domestic violence and to be used for transitional housing. The Office on Violence against Women Recovery Act Transitional Housing Assistance Grants for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Stalking, or Sexual Assault Program focuses on a holistic, victim-centered approach to provide transitional housing services that move individuals into permanent housing. Letters of intent are due March 24; the award period will be 24-36 months.

Eligible applicants are state and local governments, Indian tribes, and other organizations, including domestic violence and sexual assault victim service providers, domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions, other nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations, faith-based and community organizations, and culturally specific organizations, that have a documented history of effective work concerning domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

Grants support programs that provide assistance to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking who are in need of transitional housing, short-term housing assistance, and related support services. Transitional housing programs can meet the goals of the Recovery Act through employing victim advocates and other personnel to assist victims, renovating housing for victims, offering additional housing units, and increasing job opportunities for of victims through training, education, and other support services.

By statute, funds under the Recovery Act Transitional Housing Assistance Program may be used for the following purposes: programs that provide transitional housing, including funding for the operating expenses of newly developed or existing transitional housing; programs that provide short-term housing assistance, including rental or utilities payments assistance and assistance with related expenses such as payment of security deposits and other costs incidental to relocation to transitional housing; and programs that provide support services designed to enable individuals who are fleeing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking to locate and secure permanent housing and integrate into a community by providing those individuals with services such as transportation, counseling, child care services, case management, employment counseling, and other assistance.

WASHINGTON, DC. As federal partners continue the swift rollout of new resources in the President's recovery package, the U.S. Department of Labor this week published policy guidance to states for the implementation of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) investments. $3,514,500,000 is being invested in the nation's workforce system and network of One-Stop Career Centers to help unemployed Americans upgrade their skills and secure employment.

"One-Stop Career Centers have a wide array of services and resources to help workers and youth who are unemployed or underemployed," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis in announcing the news. "Through the One-Stops, the workforce system will play a vital role in America's economic recovery by assisting workers who are facing unprecedented challenges to retool their skills and re-establish themselves in viable career paths."

The training and employment guidance letter provides policy and direction regarding activities authorized under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and the Wagner Peyser Act, as funded through ARRA. These programs distribute resources by formula. The letter also provides specific instructions to states on how they can use funding under the Recovery Act to serve adults, dislocated workers and youth, and provide labor exchange services to all who need them. The workforce investment system will use Recovery Act funds to increase service levels, address immediate employment needs and spur future economic growth to advance shared prosperity for all Americans.

According to the Federal Register notice regarding the resources, employment services under WIA and the Wagner-Peyser Act include: $1,188,000,000 for youth activities, including summer employment for youth; $495,000,000 for adult services, including supportive services and needs- related payments. Priority for services is to recipients of public assistance and other low-income individuals.

The notice underscores that states are expected to spend Recovery Act funding quickly and effectively. WIA funding for Adults, Dislocated Workers, and Youth are considered to be Program year 2008 funds and, therefore, must be expended by June 30, 2011. Wagner-Peyser funds are available for obligation by the States through September 30, 2010 and must be expended by June 30, 2011. It is the Congress' intent, as well as that of the Administration, that the majority of these funds will be utilized within the first year of availability.

The DOL notice points out that the new funds present "an extraordinary and unique opportunity for the workforce system to advance transformational efforts and demonstrate its full capacity to innovate and implement effective One-Stop service delivery strategies. As States and localities plan how their One- Stop systems will make immediate use of the Recovery Act funds, ETA encourages them to take an expansive view of how the funds can be integrated into efforts to improve the effectiveness of the public workforce system. In this system, the needs of workers and employers are equally important in developing thriving communities where all citizens succeed and businesses prosper. Successful implementation of the Recovery Act includes not only quick and effective provision of services and training for workers in need, but also leveraging changes in the system's basic operations to develop a strong, invigorated, innovative public workforce system capable of helping enable future economic growth and advancing shared prosperity for all Americans."

WASHINGTON, DC. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, addressing local elected officials at the National League of Cities Conference in Washington this week, told city and county officials that $1 billion in Recovery Act Funds is now available from the U.S. Department of Justice through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program. See related stories in this issue on the NLC conference and DOJ domestic violence funding

"Today marks the kick-off of one of the signature state and local partnerships enacted in recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - the $1 billion COPS Hiring Recovery Program," stated Holder.

"This additional investment will pump new resources into your communities through a program with a proven track record. This program is a win-win. We will not just create and preserve jobs, but also increase community policing capacity and crime- prevention efforts. Through the revitalized COPS program, we will create or save approximately 5,500 law enforcement officer jobs across the country and inject much-needed resources directly into your cities. We know you need new resources to keep your streets safer and make your economies stronger, and beginning today, we are making those resources available to you."

The new resources are part of the $4 billion DOJ will distribute from the Recovery Act, which also provides $390 million from DOJ's Office of Justice Programs for local law enforcement assistance, including $225 million in competitive Byrne grants and $125 million targeted for rural areas. An additional $100 million is available through OJP for grants to assist victims of crime. $50 million was appropriated for transitional programs for victims of domestic violence.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness "Home for Every American" Innovation Awardee George McDonald, Founder and President of New York's Doe Fund, testified on successful innovative employment and housing strategies for prisoner reentry last week before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies chaired by Representative Alan Mollohan. Mr. McDonald is shown here speaking at the Innovators' Forum at the 2008 National Summit for Jurisdictional Leaders in Washington, where he received the Council Award. The motto of Mr. McDonald's program is "work works."

"I have had the privilege of watching thousands of men break lifelong patterns of crime, substance abuse and dependency to become productive, law- abiding, tax-paying citizens - as well as fathers to their children and role models in their communities.

"And every one of them has done so by grasping the work opportunities we provide.

"The Ready, Willing & Able program was the first program of its kind to go beyond immediate emergency needs and to believe in the ability and potential of even the most downtrodden among us to seize an opportunity and succeed.

"I recruited the first Ready, Willing & Able program participants from the floor of Grand Central Terminal, where they had landed after cycling in and out of prisons and homeless shelters. Together we entered into a contract in which they promised to give up drugs and go to work and I, in return, promised that Ready, Willing & Able would be there to give them an immediate job, support them and open doors for them."

As part of its renowned and highly visible street cleaning project, RWA puts the "men in blue" (as they are called because of their signature bright blue uniforms) to work cleaning 160 miles of city streets every day, sweeping, bagging garbage, removing graffiti, and shoveling snow. While in the program, the ``men in blue`` live in safe, drug-free shared apartments, are paid above minimum wage to work on one of the street cleaning crews, receive comprehensive social, educational, and drug counseling services and report to a Parole Officer assigned specifically to participants in RWA. They are also drug tested randomly twice per week. After 9 months, they begin looking for full- time private sector jobs and prepare to exchange their blue uniforms for hard hats; suits and ties; pest control, doorman and security uniforms; and even chef`s hats.

Also testifying before the committee were Jennie Amison of Gemeinschaft Home in Virginia, Judge Stephen Manley of Santa Clara County, California Superior Court, Pat Nolan of Prison Fellowship, and Dennis Schrantz of the Michigan Department of Corrections. The hearing was one in a series the subcommittee has convened recently to focus on related issues. The Department of Justice Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative, Offender Drug Abuse Treatment Approaches, and Major Challenges Facing Federal Prisons have been the subject of other hearings this month before the subcommittee.

email: usich@usich.gov

web: http://www.usich.gov