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Topics and Issues for Providers Serving People Experiencing Homelessness
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January 11, 2022
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Recognizing the acute stress that growing COVID-19 cases and outbreaks are placing on shelters and other settings and programs serving people experiencing homelessness, tomorrow’s webinar will feature two special guests:
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Josh Syrjamaki, Senior Advisor on COVID Response for Governor Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan
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Assistant Commissioner Dan Huff, Health Protection Bureau, Minnesota Department of Health
These leaders have been at the forefront of the State’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have important information to share with you about the progression of the pandemic and want to hear from you about your experience, the challenges you are facing, and whatever preparations have been most helpful to you to promote continuity of service. We will start tomorrow’s webinar with these two guests.
Please join us tomorrow from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. for the weekly provider If you have any questions about your registration, please email Elizabeth Dressel.
With the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, we are seeing unprecedented levels of COVID-19 cases and active outbreaks in shelters. Right now, 30 shelters and supportive housing programs have active outbreaks. These outbreaks impact programs operating in eight of Minnesota’s 10 Continuum of Care regions. In last 30 days, there have been 232 cases affecting 55 different shelter or supportive housing facilities. We know that these challenges pose significant concerns for people in shelters, staff supporting them, and the continuity of operations. Now more than ever it is critical to use all of the prevention and mitigation strategies to contain transmission that we know do help.
We appreciate your help making sure that everyone knows that eligibility for Fiscal Recovery Funds for Shelter (FRF-Shelter) has expanded to support congregate settings responding to Omicron. As demand for these resources increases, we also appreciate the questions many of you have posed about potential uses of the funds. We’ve updated the Frequently Asked Questions document for these funds to address a number of those questions.
Among other provisions, the Treasury rule specifies:
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who is eligible for premium pay (generally, people whose role requires interacting with others or materials handled by others, is essential to continued operations, and does not include telework),
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limits on how much each employee can receive (not to exceed $13 per hour for eligible work activities, and not to exceed $25,000 per employee), and
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other requirements for using the funds for premium pay.
Applicants requesting hazard pay must confirm that their use of these funds will conform with these requirements, so familiarizing yourself with them before applying can expedite processing of requests.
DHS and its fiscal processor will make every effort to approve and disburse funds quickly. Applicants should anticipate that it will take at least two weeks from the request date for funds to be received.
Thank you for the great discussion on last week’s webinar on the peer-to-peer conversations. You can find a summary of the responses here. Based on feedback, we are going to push the next conversation out to January. The next conversation is scheduled for Tuesday, January 18 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. and the discussion topic is supporting and motivating staff. Monthly peer-to-peer conversations will continue to be held on the third Tuesday of each month from 3:00-4:00 p.m. in 2022 and the group will determine a discussion topic each month.
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. If you have any technical questions or trouble joining the meeting, please email elizabeth.dressel@state.mn.us.
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