Implications of the HEARTH Act

The National Alliance to End Homelessness presents The HEARTH Academy Training and tools to help your community achieve the goals of the HEARTH Act

Federal Goal
Nobody is homeless longer than 30 days
Performance Measures
Reducing lengths of homeless episodes
Reducing new and return entries into homelessness
The HEARTH Act
Assess how your community performs
Receive tools to help you implement proven strategies
Create an action plan for reshaping homelessness assistance
The HEARTH Academy

Implementing proven strategies to end homelessness HEARTH Academy Implementation Clinic Participants in this 1.5 day clinic will assess the performance of their homelessness assistance and implement community-wide strategies to better achieve the goals of the HEARTH Act. Individualized Consulting The Alliance’s Center for Capacity Building and other expert consultants will be available to provide customized assistance. Webinars and Tools Webinars, tools, and training materials will help communities prepare for the Implementation Clinic and learn about and implement the strategies that help prevent and end homelessness.

Implementing proven strategies to end homelessness HEARTH Academy Implementation Clinic Participants in this 1.5 day clinic will assess the performance of their homelessness assistance and implement community-wide strategies to better achieve the goals of the HEARTH Act.
Clinics will be held January – April 2011
Sites will be selected partly based on interest and will begin to be announced in early October
Registration for the regional 1.5 day clinic will cost approximately $300 per person
Communities are encouraged to bring 6-10 officials and decision-makers
The clinic will also be available for individual communities or states

Implementing proven strategies to end homelessness HEARTH Academy Webinars and Tools Webinars, tools, and training materials will help communities prepare for the Implementation Clinic and learn about and implement the strategies that help prevent and end homelessness.
Webinars will take place on the following schedule and are free of charge
Overview of the HEARTH Act and its implications September 22
Data and performance improvement October 13
Assessing your homelessness system October 27

Implementing proven strategies to end homelessness HEARTH Academy Individualized Consulting The Alliance’s Center for Capacity Building and other expert consultants will be available to provide customized assistance.
Communities can contract with the Alliance’s Center for Capacity Building for more assistance.
The Alliance can also recommend consultants who have worked with the Alliance on HEARTH Act implementation

Aisha Williams Center for Capacity Building National Alliance to End Homelessness [email_address] 202-942-8298 If you are interested in participating or would like more information, please contact: Note: The HEARTH Academy is not sponsored by or affiliated with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or any other federal agency. The HEARTH Academy is a project of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Implications of the HEARTH Act September, 2010 Norm Suchar July 2010

“ Because far too many Americans go homeless on any given night, this bill provides comprehensive new resources for homeless Americans” President Obama signing the HEARTH Act as part of the Helping Families Save their Homes Act.

Aspiration Homelessness Assistance Incentives ($)

Aspiration Incentives ($) Incentives ($) HEARTH Act Homelessness Assistance

“ to establish a Federal goal of ensuring that individuals and families who become homeless return to permanent housing within 30 days” HEARTH Act Purposes – Sec. 1002(b)

Rapidly Re-Housing Transitioning Prevention Shelter Outcomes Activities Systems Programs

Most changes take effect in the NOFA released in Spring/Summer 2011
Some changes implemented over several years
Regulations in mid to late 2010
Public comment period! Plan to Comment!
Timeline

Changes to the ESG (Formula) Program Old Emergency Shelter Grants Up to 5% for administrative expenses Formula to cities, counties, and states New Emergency Solutions Grants Up to 7.5% for administrative expenses Same formula but with more funding!

Changes to the ESG (Formula) Program Old Eligible Activities Shelter renovating, rehab, conversion Operating Emergency Shelter (max. 10% for staffing) Services in Shelter or outreach (max. 30%) Prevention (targets people with sudden loss of income, max. 30%) New Eligible Activities Same as now plus HPRP activities (except that prevention has to target below 30% of AMI) No cap on prevention, services, or staffing Minimum of 40% must be for prevention and rapid re-housing (with a hold-harmless provision)

New ESG = Old ESG + HPRP
Roughly the same amount of funding for emergency shelters
New funding for homelessness prevention and Rapid Re-Housing similar to HUD’s HPRP

Changes to the CoC Programs
Old
3 programs
Supportive Housing Program (SHP)
Shelter Plus Care (SPC)
Mod. Rehab./SRO
New
One Continuum of Care program
All eligible activities of the 3 former programs
More flexibility for mixing and matching eligible activities
Up to 10 percent for administrative costs
Staff training

Changes to the CoC Application Process
Old
Providers in community jointly apply for funding
Stakeholders in community review and rank applications
Application has two parts
Exhibit 1 – community wide, includes numbers, gaps analysis, etc.
Exhibit 2 – individual project applications
New
Similar to existing process
Application submitted by Collaborative Applicant, which will be eligible for 3% for admin.
More focused on performance:
Reducing lengths of homeless episodes
Reducing recidivism back into homelessness
Reducing the number of people who become homeless

Performance
New Measures
Duration of homelessness episodes
Returns to homelessness
Number of people who become homeless
Overall homelessness
Measures require evaluating performance in the entire CoC region

CoC/CP-ESG/TYP Coordination
CoC application must be approved by Consolidated Planning body
Consolidated Plan requires coordination with CoC
Many elements of Ten Year Plan in CoC application

Match
Old
M atch requirement varies depending on activity
25% for services, must be cash
100% for rental assistance, must be in-kind services
100% for construction/rehab
33% for operating expenses
No match for leasing
New
Uniform 25% match except for leasing projects
Match covers entire CoC – some projects can have higher matches to offset projects with lower matches
Match can be cash or in-kind when documented by Memorandum of Understanding

Incentives Old Communities that score well on their application are eligible for a bonus permanent supportive housing project. In some years, the bonus project had to serve individuals without children experiencing chronic homelessness.
New
Communities that score well will be eligible for a bonus for proven strategies , including—
Permanent supportive housing for chronic homelessness
Rapid Re-Housing for families
Other activities that HUD determines are effective
Communities that fully implement one of these can receive a bonus to do anything

Additional Requirements
Projects that serve families cannot refuse to serve families because of the age of the children (i.e. must serve families with adolescent children)
Projects must identify person who will be responsible for coordinating child’s education

Unified Funding Agencies (only some CoCs) Old New Project Sponsor Project Sponsor Project Sponsor HUD Project Sponsor Project Sponsor Project Sponsor HUD Unified Funding Agency

Unified Funding Agencies
Collaborative Applicant could apply to become a UFA or HUD could designate Collaborative Applicant as a UFA
UFA responsible for audits and fiscal controls
UFA could get up to 3% of a communities award for administrative expenses (on top of the 3% that a collaborative applicant could receive)

Definition of Homelessness/Eligibility Old On the streets or in a place not meant for human habitation In an emergency shelter In a transitional housing program In housing, but being evicted within 7 days and not having resources or support networks to obtain housing Fleeing domestic violence
New
ESG serves people at risk.
All programs serve homeless people, including
People who are losing their housing in 14 days and lack resources/supports
People who have moved from place to place and are likely to continue to do so because of disability/barriers
Up to 10% (more in some cases) of CoC funds can serve doubled up/motels

Other Changes
Non-competitive renewals for PSH
Project-based PSH can obtain 15-year contracts subject to annual funding
Permanent housing activities are adjusted for inflation at renewal

Get Ready!
Who will be the Collaborative Applicant, and will they be a UFA?
How will performance be measured?
Do we have the programs we need to perform well, and do we have the right mix of programs?
Which HPRP funded programs will continue?
How will we integrate CoC, Consolidated Plan, Ten Year Plan, and other planning efforts?

Resources: www.endhomelessness.org www.hudhre.info
Contacts: Norm Suchar [email_address] Samantha Batko [email_address] Aisha Williams [email_address] HEARTH Academy: Performance Improvement October 13 at 2pm Eastern

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Implications of the HEARTH Act

by National Alliance to End Homelessness

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