The Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) has Fiscal Recovery Funds available to support rapid responses to outbreaks in shelters and other temporary congregate settings for people experiencing homelessness or domestic violence. OEO will be working closely with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to allocate available funding for targeted, immediate outbreak response activities to support an effective response and reduce the health impacts for shelter guests and staff.
Initially, funding will available to situations that meet these three qualifications:
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Operating a congregate shelter or temporary congregate settings with shared sleeping arrangements that serves people experiencing homelessness, including survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, and/or human trafficking, and
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Three or more cases of confirmed COVID-19 associated with a setting during their exposure or infectious period, and
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The applicant for funds is a nonprofit, local unit of government, or Tribal Nation.
If you meet these thresholds, we anticipate requests will be able to be made through a rolling survey process (not yet live). Our team will share more details on how to apply for funding once the survey is live in the coming weeks. If you have an active COVID-19 outbreak at your congregate setting, please reach out to the MDH congregate team at Health.R-Congregate@state.mn.us, for support managing the response.
To manage the immediate outbreak response, it is anticipated that funds will be used to support:
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Wages for staff who must isolate or quarantine due to COVID exposure, so staff do not need to use personal paid time off to cover isolation/quarantine period or go without pay.
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Hiring, temporary emergency staff to work during the active outbreak filling in shifts for staff who are isolating or quarantining.
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Hazard pay for staff who are directly working in the shelter setting or isolation and/or quarantine space during an active outbreak.
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Operating costs for quarantine and/or isolation space or space to deconcentrate the congregate shelter and maintain capacity during the current active outbreak. The funding can support the staffing, food, and operating costs of the quarantine and/or isolation space. This funding is not intended to maintain current hotel shelter operations, but rather to respond to an active outbreak.
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Other needs as defined by the setting that could help manage the active outbreak. These are flexible funds, and the review committee is open to other uses that will protect shelter guests and staff during an active outbreak.
We are continuing to see rising cases in shelters across the state and are focusing the resources to support rapid responses to outbreaks and ensure settings have the resources to respond effectively and reduce the health impacts on shelter guests and staff. As the pandemic evolves, our team will continue to reevaluate the prioritization of uses for these emergency response funds. Depending on the rate of funding disbursed for outbreak responses, a portion of these funds may also be available to help settings prevent outbreaks. Our team will share more information if prevention funds become available.
Additionally, $15 million in Fiscal Recovery Funds has been approved for shelter settings to improve their ability to prevent transmission of infectious diseases through modifications or by acquiring new space. Modifications could include physical changes designed to reduce transmission risks (such as increasing physical separation of shelter guests, changes to ventilation or air filtration systems, modifications for traffic flow especially in high-traffic areas), or to acquire new shelter space designed to operate effectively for staff and guests in the context of an infectious disease. These funds will be administered by OEO through a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process. More details will be shared on the RFP process as they are available.
Join the weekly provider webinar tomorrow from 1:00-2:00 p.m. to hear more about the outbreak funding and get your questions answered.
If you have any questions about your registration, please email Elizabeth Dressel.
The peer-to-peer conversations are an opportunity for providers to ask questions, hear what their counterparts from other organizations are doing, and support one another. Monthly peer-to-peer conversations will be held on the third Tuesday of each month from 3:00-4:00 p.m. Join your peers for the next conversation next Tuesday, October 19 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.. You can join the Microsoft Teams meeting on your computer or mobile device, or for audio only call, 651-395-7448 and enter conference ID 979281139. You do not need to register. As a reminder, there will be no formal presentation or recommendations from the State. This is an open space for you to talk with your peers. If you have any technical questions or trouble joining the meeting, please email Elizabeth Dressel.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) is hosting a Housing Best Practices Forum on Lessons Learned: Takeaways from the Homeless Response during COVID-19. The Forum will showcase Red Lake Shelter’s and Ramsey County’s homeless response during the pandemic, as well as lessons learned that can inform new or creative approaches to mainstream benefit, housing, and service connection. Participants will be able to ask questions throughout this moderated panel discussion. The session is on Monday, November 8 from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.. Register here to join the conversation.
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