October Heading Home Hennepin Monthly Newsletter - Point in Time Kickoff

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October 2022

Heading Home Hennepin Monthly Newsletter

  • Point In Time Count planning kickoff.

  • Collaborative applications for the CoC and Special NOFO's have been posted for public viewing

  • Emergency Shelter Diversion Planning is underway

  • Hennepin County and the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) have created a Supportive Housing Predevelopment Loan Fund

  • Severe cold warming centers 

  • Voting without a permanent address

  • Upcoming Heading Home Hennepin governing board meeting

  • CNN feature on homelessness response in Hennepin County

  • Job Opportunities

Point In Time Count planning kickoff

Each year, communities across the country conduct the Point in Time (PIT) count to better understand the depth and breadth of homelessness in their community. Conducting the PIT count provides a snapshot of homelessness from one year to the next. This year's PIT Count will be on January 25, 2023.

Stop watch

Planning kickoff meeting:

Hennepin County is the CoC lead agency and is required by HUD to conduct an annual Point in Time Count for Sheltered and Unsheltered households. For the 2023 Point in Time Count, Hennepin County will be partnering with Wilder Research for planning, implementation and coordination. On October 25th they will host a virtual meeting with stakeholders to kick-off the planning for the 2023 PIT Count.  

Date: October 25th

Time: 10 AM - 11:30 AM

Join via Microsoft Teams: 

Collaborative applications for the CoC and Special NOFO's have been posted for public viewing

The 2022 collaborative applications (CA) and priority listings for the Special Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to address unshelterd homelessness and the HUD Continuum of Care (CoC) NOFO are now available on the CoC website

Special NOFO:

CoC NOFO:

 

Emergency Shelter Diversion Planning is underway

Hennepin County is working with community provider agencies to de-silo the single adult, family, and youth shelter access points to position shelter diversion to empower the ‘front door’ of our system to assist households with resolving their housing crisis without having to come deeper into the homelessness response system to access these resources.

 

Defining Shelter Diversion

Hennepin County Emergency Shelter Diversion works with households seeking shelter to quickly resolve their housing crisis by identifying a safe, appropriate alternative to shelter that is appropriate to their specific circumstances through an investment in staff time that have specific, problem-solving skills and utilize person-centered, solution focused conversation and strategies.

 

Shelter Diversion target population

Diversion will be targeted to single adults, families, and youth (18 and older) who are seeking emergency shelter for the first time or the first time in 90 days.

 

Shelter Diversion Workgroups

Workgroups have been formed to help implement the shelter diversion process. 

  • HMIS and Data Collection Workflows – working through the Diversion workflow, the Family Shelter Team workflow, the Adult Shelter Connect workflow, and Youth access point for emergency shelter to ensure a progressive engagement approach.
  • Communications and Marketing - focusing on strategies needed for effectively messaging to households seeking shelter how to access emergency shelter.
  • Logistics, location and hours of operation: working through logistics of Shelter Diversion hours of operation, mobility of the team, location and potential for shared space with shelter access points
  • Access for youth shelter: Currently the youth community does not have centralized access for youth to access youth shelter. This workgroup is tasked with deciding what centralized shelter access looks like or identifying clear ‘next steps’ for youth 18+ who are not successfully diverted. 

 

Community Planning is happening October through December with an official launch date of January 2, 2022. Updates will be shared in these newsletters. Contact Erin Wixsten (Erin.Wixsten@Hennepin.us) if you have any questions. 

Hennepin County and the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) have created a Supportive Housing Predevelopment Loan Fund 

The predevelopment loan fund will provide early-stage pre-development financing and targeted training and technical assistance.

The Hennepin County Supportive Housing Loan Fund will provide up to $100,000 in early-stage predevelopment financing to develop supportive housing focused on target populations. The goal of the fund is to create a competitive pipeline of projects for the County’s 2024 Supportive Housing Capital RFP. Funding for services and building operations may also be available separately from the County.

More information

Visit CSH’s website or email any questions to HennepinPre-Development@csh.org. The application due date is Friday November 11.

Severe cold warming centers 

In extreme cold, frostbite can happen in minutes. Daytime warming centers offer refuge when the temperature or wind-chill become dangerously low. View a list of warming centers, overnight shelter options, and free and low-cost medical services at www.Hennepin.us/staywarm.

Stay Warm

Voting without a permanent address

These printable materials are for community organizations and individuals doing voter outreach and engagement.

If you have additional questions email: voteroutreach@hennepin.us.

clipboard

Voting while homeless

General resources

More resources and translations on the Hennepin County Voter Outreach website.

Upcoming Heading Home Hennepin governing board meeting

The Heading Home Hennepin Executive committee meets quarterly to provide an enduring forum for broad-based, collaborative and strategic leadership on homelessness in Hennepin County.  

Meeting information

Date/time: November 2nd, 9 AM - 10:30 AM

Microsoft Teams: Click here to join the meetingMeeting ID: 231 680 841 371 Passcode: 2UNwyT

Learn more: www.Hennepin.us/HeadingHomeHennepin 

 

CNN feature on homelessness response in Hennepin County

CNN recently took an in-depth look at the strategies and efforts to respond to homelessness in Hennepin County during the Covid-19 pandemic. View the article here: How this Minnesota County is moving thousands of homeless off the streets | CNN Politics

CNN article

Photo credit: Sarah Silbiger for CNN: Jamie Wolff, a Hennepin County social worker, points to a mural in which each flower represents a person who found permanent housing.

Job Opportunities

Contact us

Heading Home Hennepin

endhomelessness@hennepin.us

www.Hennepin.us/HeadingHomeHennepin

 

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