WASHINGTON, DC. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) this week announced its 2005 SuperNOFA (Notice of Funding Availability) for a total of 53 programs totaling $2.26 billion. All application materials for the programs, which include Targeted Housing and Homeless Assistance, Community Development Technical Assistance, Fair Housing Initiatives Program, Housing Counselling, Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, Economic Development and Empowerment, and Public Housing Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency, are included in the published NOFA.

The Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Program is the only program in the SuperNOFA that has retained the paper application process in 2005, and electronic submission is mandatory for all other programs. The HUD website at www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/fundsavail.cfm contains further information on the array of programs in the NOFA, application deadlines, Webcast schedules, and required forms. Information is also available at grants.gov, the federal one-stop on funding.

WASHINGTON, DC. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development this week announced the availability of $1,010,000,000 in competitive homeless assistance funds in two categories. McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants of approximately $1 billion are available, with applications due June 10, 2005. In addition, $10 million is available under the Housing for People who are Homeless and Addicted to Alcohol competition for ten 2-year grants of approximately $1 million each. Applications are due May 19, 2005.

Below are highlighted changes for 2005 for the Homeless Assistance Grants which include, but are not limited to those identified here. The NOFA itself and the Questions and Answers document should be thoroughly reviewed for details. In addition, there are several Webcasts scheduled to provide information for potential applicants, including: McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants and Housing for People who are Homeless and Addicted: April 7, 1pm - 4 pm EST; How to Apply for Federal Grants: April 20, 11 am - 4 pm EST; and Logic Model Training: April 13, 1:30 pm - 4 pm EST. To access a list of the Webcasts and information on viewing, visit http://www.hud.gov/webcasts/index.cfm

Samaritan Housing Initiative. Formerly referred to as the Permanent Housing Bonus, this special incentive to promote permanent supportive housing for persons experiencing chronic homelessness is provided to a continuum that places an eligible new permanent housing project in the number one priority position on the priority list. If the number one priority project qualifies as an eligible new permanent housing project exclusively serving the chronically homeless, then the full amount of that project's eligible housing activities, up to a maximum 15 percent of the continuum of care's preliminary pro rata need, will be added to the pro rata need amount for the continuum.

The only eligible activities that will be counted toward this bonus are housing activities and for the Supportive Housing Program (SHP), case management, and administration. Applicants may use no more than 20 percent of this bonus for case management costs. Any amount of the proposed project that exceeds the limitations described above will be applied against the pro rata need for the continuum of care. For the Supportive Housing Program, housing activities are acquisition, new construction, rehabilitation, leasing of housing and operating costs when used in connection with housing. Shelter+Care and SRO rental assistance are defined as housing activities and are eligible under the incentive as well. HMIS costs will be excluded from this calculation as either a housing or supportive service cost.

10-Year Plans. The NOFA points out that a continuum of care should work closely with appropriate state and local governments and interagency councils on homelessness that are establishing their own ten-year plans for eliminating chronic homelessness.

Continuum of Care Hold Harmless Amount. A new provision will create an opportunity to reallocate Pro Rata Need funds in order to create new permanent supportive housing projects in a continuum. The continuum of care Hold Harmless Amount represents the total of the one-year amount of all Supportive Housing program projects eligible for renewal. A continuum shall receive the higher of: 1) the preliminary Pro Rata Need or 2) the Hold Harmless Amount. In the past, HUD awarded a renewal adjustment when the amount needed to fund all eligible renewals for one year exceeded the preliminary pro rata need. An unintended consequence of this policy resulted in a continuum having to request renewal of projects that in their judgment did not best reflect the current needs of the community. A continuum receiving the Hold Harmless Amount will now have the opportunity to reallocate their Pro Rata Need funds in order to create new permanent supportive housing projects.

Participant Eligibility for Permanent Housing. The only persons who may be served by permanent housing projects (both new and renewal) are those who come from the streets, emergency shelters, or transitional housing. People who are currently housed but may become homeless within seven days, remain eligible for transitional housing and emergency shelters. Grant Terms. The grant terms for all newly proposed Supportive Housing Programs projects are two (2) or three (3) years. Scoring Changes. The "Housing Emphasis"' scoring has been increased from 10 to 12 points. The "Performance Measurement'' scoring has been increased from 5 to 8 points . The "Leveraging Supplemental Resources'' scoring has been reduced from 13 to 8 points.

WASHINGTON, DC. Also announced in this week's HUD NOFA is a new $10 million competition for Housing for People who are Homeless and Addicted to Alcohol. Eligible applicants are states, local government, other government agencies, and public and private nonprofit organizations that are part of a continuum of care in jurisdictions that have at least 100 people who are chronically homeless and unsheltered. Eligible activities are limited to leasing of housing and limited housing search and administrative expenses. For the purpose of this NOFA, housing activities include only leasing and housing search. Applications for this funding must be filed electronically.

Established by Congress in Public Law 108-7 as a two-year, competitive demonstration program to be developed in consultation with the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the new program is designed to provide supportive housing assistance to chronically homeless persons who have been living on the streets for at least three hundred sixty-five (365) days over the last five (5) years and have a long term addiction to alcohol, otherwise known as serial inebriates. Clients served by these funds will have been living on the streets at the time of initial contact and will have no history of living in transitional or permanent housing over the last five years.

Grantees will partner with local law enforcement and court systems and other relevant institutions to identify eligible clients for this program. Grantees will demonstrate existing relationships with service providers, including grassroots community-based organizations including faith-based organizations, to ensure the comprehensive supportive services needs of the clients are addressed.

Once the grantee, working in conjunction with the relevant supportive service providers and the homeless client, determines that the client is ready, grant funds for this initiative may be used to provide permanent supportive housing for the client. Up to five percent of the funds are available for providers to help clients identify and obtain permanent supportive housing. HUD expects that approximately half of the projects awarded will provide grants for leasing that are project-based projects, and the other half will provide grants that are tenant-based projects.

Comprehensive alcoholism treatment services, along with other relevant services, must be provided in a manner deemed appropriate by the grantee and are subject to requirements of the Supportive Housing Program regulations and other applicable laws and regulations. Clients must be assisted in accessing relevant mainstream service delivery systems, Food Stamps, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Medicaid, for example.

This program wil be discussed as part of the Homeless Assistance Grants Webcast scheduled for April 7, 1 pm - 4 pm EST. For more information, visit http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/fundsavail.cfm

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA. "Successfully developing and implementing a long-range, community-based, coordinated action plan in Long Beach is important," states the City of Long Beach Proposed Planning Process for a 10-Year Strategy. Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill last week made evident Long Beach's motto of "Working Together to Serve" as she moved the planning process for California's fifth largest city forward with the convening of an inclusive group of partners from whom she is seeking support and input. The planning strategy recently approved by the Long Beach City Council includes the formation of a Steering Committee that the Mayor will co-chair with a private sector leader. Mayor O'Neill is the incoming President of the United States Conference of Mayors.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, invited by Mayor O'Neill to brief the City Council and planning partners on the Adminstration's goal of ending chronic homelessness, pointed to the prior success of Mayor O'Neill and the City in using a broad planning partnership to achieve successful outcomes for the City during the closing of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard: "Planning to end chronic homelessness will put to work those same problem solving, solution oriented strategy skills for which Long Beach has become noted. The economic development plans that have been put in motion here are the envy of cities in transition. The leadership and legacy of your planning efforts have won your Mayor and your city applause across our country." Mayor O'Neill and Director Mangano are pictured here. Joining Mayor O'Neill for the 10-Year Plan events were Department of Health and Human Services Director Ronald R. Arias and Human and Social Services Bureau Manager Corinne Schneider. Interagency Council Region IX Coordinator Eduardo Cabrera also took part in the events.

SAN JOSE AND OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA. Regionalism was the message in planning for Northern California, which has several 10-Year Planning processes moving forward. While in California, Director Mangano, accompanied by San Francisco 10-Year Plan Chair Angela Alioto, visited San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales, whose City committed to a planning process in late 2003. Calling their approach "Seeing the need, taking the lead," San Jose Housing Director Leslye Corsiglia described the key elements of prevention, Housing First, and wraparound services that the City is focusing on, and Assistant Housing Director Ray Tovar presented the City's partnership with the development of a 10-Year Plan in surrounding Santa Clara County. Director Mangano and Ms. Alioto also visited Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown whose city is underway with a 10-Year Plan in partnership with surrounding Alameda County.

WASHINGTON, DC. Stating that "I truly believe we can end homelessness in our city during the next decade," Washington, DC Mayor Anthony Williams this week delivered his 2005 State of the District Address (SODA), in which he announced a commitment of $20 million in the city budget to be invested in the District's 10-Year Plan, Homeless No More, which was unveiled in February. Speaking at the historic Lincoln Theatre, Mayor Williams observed, "Let's face it. There are people all over our city who have not fully reaped the progress of the last six years. They are still going to crumbling schools, still left with more month than money, still surrounded by the twin tragedies of poverty and violence, still without a place to live or work." Mayor Williams is pictured here at the February 2005 unveiling of the City's 10-Year Plan.

"We created a star-studded housing task force, which, in just 60 days, will help us create a visionary plan to increase affordable housing for years to come. And we are reaching out to the ignored, avoided, and forgotten who live on our streets," said the Mayor, who will seek funding for emergency shelter, subsidized housing, and health care and preventive services. The DC Plan proposes three long- term policies to end homelessness: 1) Increase homeless prevention efforts at both local and federal levels, 2) Provide supportive services fully coordinated to include homeless programs and special needs housing, and 3) Develop 6,000 units of affordable, supportive permanent housing to meet the needs of the District's homeless population and other very-low-income persons who are at risk, including 2,000 units for persons experiencing chronic homelessness.

The Plan includes a commitment to rapid re-housing and a Housing First strategy, establishment of a DC Interagency Council on Homelessness, and a commitment to an interagency budget strategy for the future. Under the plan, mainstream public agencies and services would be transformed to better serve homeless persons. Traditional emergency shelters would be replaced by easy-access, rapid- exit "Housing Assistance Centers" and "Housing First" options and "Housing Plus" options would be offered to rapidly move homeless city residents to permanent housing.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA. "This is the first major tangible result of what the Regional Commission on Homelessness did," stated Horace Sibley this week. The retired lawyer from King & Spaulding chairs the Atlanta-Fulton County Commission established by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin (pictured here) to create the 10-Year Plan for the region. Mayor Franklin, Chair Sibley, and other partners this week opened the door to Hope House, a new homeless program just a block from Atlanta City Hall, which will offer 70 dorm-style rooms and will provide a range of services, including addiction treatment and job referrals.

The project, long in planning, was moved ahead by the Commission's efforts, when the city was able to lease a former parking lot and the Regional Commission identified funding. With Mayor Franklin's support, the United Way, which co-chairs the Commission, recruited volunteers. Atlanta contributed nearly $900,000 to the $2.7 million construction project and $60,000 a year for two years toward the estimated $350,000 a year in operating costs.

The Regional Commission, created first by Mayor Franklin in November 2002 to develop a practical action plan for Atlanta, reported back in March 2003 with a plan co-signed by Chair Sibley and United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta President Mark O'Connell that paved the way for the new regional partnership. The Atlanta Blueprint stated that "state and federal governments must play a key role in any successful action plan, and the Commission has concluded that the most effective plan must approach homelessness from a regional basis."

The Blueprint has drawn over $13 million in new private and philanthropic investment to its strategies, with one of the priorities being the Gateway, a 24/7 center projected to reduce overflow shelter demand and assist homeless persons with disabilities to obtain appropriate service referrals. The Gateway, expected to open in Spring 2005, will offer 300 beds, as well as services, including showers, toilets, storage, telephones, and specialized services for veterans.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. "For the first time in San Francisco, the mental health system and the criminal justice system are working together and concentrating experience and knowledge to negotiate clients through a system that can be callous regarding the needs of the mentally ill," stated Jennifer Johnson, San Francisco Deputy Public Defender who represents the majority of indigent clients in the City's Behavioral Health Court. Facing increasing numbers of persons with mental illness in the criminal justice system, San Francisco acted in 2002 to shift its role from being the default solution to active partnership among city departments in addressing homelessness and behavioral health issues. The result was the establishment of Behavioral Health Court (BHC). United States Interagency Council Executive Director Philip Mangano is pictured here meeting with Behavioral Court team members during a visit last week.

Under the direction of Public Defender Jeff Adachi, the court has three main objectives. It works to connect criminal defendants who suffer from serious mental illness to treatment services in the community, finds creative and appropriate dispositions to the criminal charges that take the mental illness and the seriousness of the offense into consideration, decreases recidivism in this defined population of offenders. To carry out its work, the court uses a team approach. Led by retired Judge Herbert Donaldson, the team consists of mental health providers in the community, Jail Psychiatric Services, volunteer psychiatrists, the Adult Probation Department, the Office of the District Attorney, and the Office of the Public Defender.

To qualify for Behavioral Health Court, individuals must have an Axis I Mental Disorder. The most common diagnoses in BHC are schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Clients with developmental disabilities and mental retardation are also accepted into the program. In addition to the primary mental health diagnosis, participants must be willing to engage in treatment in the community mental health system. The Court presently treats individuals charged both with felonies and misdemeanors, as well as clients who are on probation.

Some general guidelines address which criminal charges are appropriate for BHC. For example, crimes of violence involving great bodily injury, sex crimes, domestic violence and arson are presumptively excluded from consideration for BHC. In certain limited circumstances, these types of cases are presented to the court. The judge, conferring with the prosecution and defense, examines the facts carefully and may decide to accept an individual whose criminal behavior falls outside of the guidelines. For those clients, the court considers the risks to the community and the likelihood of that particular person reoffending upon release. The court also looks carefully at the nexus between the mental illness and the behavior that led to the arrest. In almost all cases, clients who participate in the court were not on any psychiatric medication or actively participating in treatment at the time of the incident.

The Court is currently implementing the first phase of a three-phase study by the University of California, San Francisco, to look at outcomes. However, the partners are convinced that the program is necessary and successful and has great potential. For the first time in San Francisco, the mental health system and the criminal justice system are working together and concentrating experience and knowledge to assist clients with extraordinary needs. Public defenders, district attorneys, and judges in the court have the opportunity to share information with psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers to find solutions for individuals that have a greater chance of long-term success, while clients are encouraged to contribute and to help direct the course of their own treatment.

The Court team meets in the morning to discuss each case and to work out any disagreements. By the afternoon when clients appear in court, the team has a uniform, clear message. Clients see the same defense lawyer, the same prosecutor and the same judge week after week. This continuity eliminates confusion and alienation that individuals often feel in court. Individuals are encouraged to communicate freely with the judge about their treatment and to be honest with the court about both successes and failures in treatment. The atmosphere in court is positive, the judge talks directly to each individual and clients receive positive reinforcement from the team.

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-newsletter continues its focus on elements of the Title V federal surplus property and opportunities to secure resources for homeless programs under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Following are properties listed in the most recent Federal Register notice of suitable and available land and buildings.

The March 18 listing of suitable and available property contains a listing of Federal buildings and other real property determined to be suitable and available for use. Buildings are available in Illinois, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming.

Title V provides that state and local governments, as well as nonprofit organizations, are eligible to apply for land and buildings that have been determined by the federal government to be "suitable and available" for eligible uses to benefit homeless people. More than two dozen agencies of the federal government are included as "landholding" agencies that may have property.