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Beginning tomorrow and continuing over the following six weeks, we will be using our weekly webinar (every Wednesday, 1:00 – 2:00 pm) to solicit your guidance and advice about the proposed investments being considered at the Legislature. Your feedback will provide critical insight that helps shape the processes for these funds to be requested, for allocations to be determined and for expectations to be set related to the use of these resources.
Tomorrow’s conversation will focus on shelter, outreach and crisis response. Ahead of the discussion tomorrow, please consider the following questions:
- What unmet needs could new resources most help you or your community address?
- What strategies can help resources reach more culturally specific providers and programs?
- What service expertise would help providers and programs address the barriers faced by participants?
- For programs and organizations proposing capital projects, what other resources or support would be needed to plan these projects successfully?
- What supports can help organizations attract new staff and promote staff well-being and retention?
- What other training on best practices, peer-to-peer learning, or other resources would be most helpful?
Join the discussion tomorrow from 1:00 -2:00 p.m. to share your ideas and insights! If you have any questions about your registration, please email Elizabeth Dressel.
We would also appreciate your help spreading the word about these discussions over the next two months. The schedule of conversations is as follows:
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Date
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Topic
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April 6
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Shelter, outreach, and crisis response
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April 13
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Transitional housing and transitional supportive housing
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April 20
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Health and behavioral health interventions
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April 27
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Homelessness prevention and economic assistance
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May 4
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Affordable and supportive housing
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May 11
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Ending Veteran homelessness
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May 18
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Summary of feedback
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The Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless (MCH) has secured funding from the Office of Economic Opportunity to provide free heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) assessments at shelter sites and drop-in centers across the state. These HVAC assessments are a great opportunity to improve and plan for the future of shelter sites as good air flow is a critical part of the ongoing fight against COVID-19. An assessment provides insight to manage airborne disease transmission in congregate care settings and keep shelter residents safer. It can also help in planning improvements of weather resilience, comfort and livability on site.
MCH is contracting with Sustainable Energy Systems, Inc. to provide qualifying sites with assessments by a qualified HVAC system professional. Once approved, MCH will pass your information along to the contractor. Sustainable Energy Systems, Inc will set up a site visit and prepare a full written assessment and MCH will handle payment directly.
A few important things to know:
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Form submissions must be submitted by an authorized signor for the organization (usually the Executive Director).
- Assessments are only available to congregate sites focused on serving people experiencing homelessness. Sites may be emergency overnight shelters, day shelters or drop-in centers.
- Qualified organizations will receive assessments on a first-come, first-served basis until fund have been expended. Submitting a request does not guarantee that an assessment will be provided so we encourage you to submit a request early.
- Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless will directly pay the previously designated contractor, and that no funding may pass through the applicant organization.
- The submission deadline is April 17, 2022.
Please email noa@mnhomelesscoalition.org if you have any questions.
We are happy to report that the number of COVID-19 cases among people experiencing homelessness remains low, with only three new cases reported in the last week.
 Thanks to our colleagues at MDH and in public health agencies across the state, we continue monitoring these trends, and will update case counts weekly in the newsletter.
The Shelter Outbreak Response Fund (FRF-Shelter) from the DHS Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) continues to be available to support rapid responses to outbreaks in shelters and other temporary congregate settings for people experiencing homelessness or domestic violence. There are two changes to the funding:
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Beginning April 16, OEO will no longer be funding requests for expenses incurred before March 1, 2022, and
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Hazard pay requests will only be eligible if settings have an active outbreak.
Please visit the Heading Home Alliance website for an updated “Frequently Asked Questions” document as well as a new “Eligibility over Time” document describing these changes in detail. If you have any questions, please email Demetri.Vincze@state.mn.us.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently updated COVID-19 test result reporting requirements that will take effect on Monday, April 4. MDH will adopt the same requirements starting April 4:
- Facilities operating under a CLIA certificate of waiver or under the MDH Statewide CLIA Certificate of Waiver are only required to report positive results on NAAT (e.g., Cue tests) and non-NAAT (antigen tests). Negative or inconclusive result reporting is not required.
- Facilities operating under any CLIA certification or certificate of waiver must continue to report within 24 hours after receiving the test result.
Please review the MDH COVID-19 Test Reporting Requirements webpage for important details about this change.
The Minnesota Shelter Emergency Staffing Pool initiative (MSESP) came to a close on March 31, 2022. This short-term initiative was led by a partnership between ServeMinnesota and Worldwide Travel Staffing to help shelters weather COVID-related staffing crises by deploying individuals on a shift-by-shift basis where needs were greatest. In a matter of days, over 148 individuals stepped up to assist facilities like yours across the state as critical staffing shortages resulted from COVID-19 outbreaks in the early months of 2022.
Over the two months this initiative operated, six eligible facilities from Minneapolis to St. Cloud to Cass Lake received over 1,000 hours of temporary staffing support from MSESP!
To help us learn from this opportunity and experience, we would greatly appreciate it if you would complete this brief survey by April 15th, 2022. Doing so will help us better understand how well MSESP met the needs of shelters and other temporary congregate settings during this moment in time, as well as to help us improve our operations should we be asked to stand this initiative back up depending on future COVID needs.
Thank you for all that your organization does in supporting your communities and people experiencing homelessness and domestic violence.
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MDH has updated the COVID-19 Investigation Toolkit for Homeless and Other Congregate Settings to align with the latest CDC guidance. Please contact Health-R.Congregate@state.mn.us with questions. Updates include:
- Quarantine duration for contacts of a known case (staff and residents) reduced from 14 to 10 days regardless of vaccination status
- Individuals who have received all recommended COVID-19 vaccines, including booster dose(s), now considered “up to date” on vaccinations
- Added guidance for quarantine modifications for staff
- Antigen testing algorithm for confirming antigen test results updated
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The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) has developed a tool to identify expiring federal provisions that may impact homelessness. The current Declaration of Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 will expire April 16. This new tool identifies federal funding, flexibilities and waivers linked to the public health emergency as well as others set to expire in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. Our team will continue to monitor this and will provide Minnesota specific updates as they are available. Check out the USICH tool here.
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