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June 26, 2017

Please forward to your sub grantees and contact your CHG program manager if you have any questions.

Final Invoices for State Fiscal Year 2017

Please note the invoice deadline submission dates for CHG contract period ending June 30.

• Invoices for services performed through May 31, 2017 need to be submitted by June 30, 2017
• Invoices for services performed through June 30, 2017 need to be submitted by July 17, 2017

2017-2019 CHG Guidelines

New CHG guidelines now available! The updated guidelines are located on the Department of Commerce Consolidated Homeless Grant website under Grant Materials. 

Myths and Facts

Myth: In the new contract period, CHG-funded projects may not require households to participate in supportive services, so the housing program I work for can no longer require clients to attend regular case management meetings. Fact: Case management and housing stability planning are allowable in the upcoming contract period. From the 2017-2019 CHG guidelines: Supportive services are helping or educational resources that include support groups, mental health services, alcohol and substance abuse services, life skills or independent living skill services, vocational services and social activities. Supportive services do not include case management and housing stability planning. Housing stability planning is required for housing interventions, except for Emergency Shelter projects.

Shelter Provider Network Update

During the Shelter Provider Network call on June 12, Emily Mirra from Building Changes gave attendees an opportunity to share their thoughts on the future of the network. Those on the call were interested in having a continuing forum to share experiences and gain insight from other shelter providers. If you have participated in the past but were not on the call, Emily will be sending out a survey or poll in order to get your input in the coming weeks. 

State Budget Update

The Washington State Legislatures has concluded a second Special Session and is now in a third. We still don’t have a state operating budget for July 1, 2017. In recent years, we released an estimated CHG budget and asked you to return a form based on those projections. We were able to do this because the proposed House and Senate budgets were fairly similar.

Because the House and Senate budgets passed in March vary so widely this time, we don’t think developing an estimate for you to submit projections is a worthwhile exercise. Below is a chart with the current budget alongside the proposed House and Senate budgets that illustrates the differences.

What this means for executing grants that should begin July 1:

We will not send CHG grants for signature until a state budget is passed. We are working on plans to expedite budget forms and grant documents as soon as we have the approval to do so.  Until then, we will keep you up to date on our next steps. 

Who is Homeless and Why?

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reported in the last annual homeless assessment report that in a single night in 2016, 549,928 people were experiencing homelessness across the nation. 

These numbers may be helpful when clarifying ideas about who is homeless and why.  Overwhelmingly, more people with low incomes are housed than homeless. More people with criminal records and people who suffer from mental illness and addiction are housed than homeless.

• 12 million spend more than half of their income on rent / 4 percent of the population 
• 24 million are addicted to drugs and alcohol / 8 percent of the population
• 43 million suffer from mental illness / 13 percent of the population
• 45 million people live below the poverty line / 14 percent of the population
• 70 – 100 million people have a criminal record / more than 25 percent of the population

On the other hand, lack of affordable housing is a driver of homelessness. For every $100 increase in rent, there is a six percent increase in homelessness in metro areas and a 32 percent increase in homelessness in non-metro areas.

Solutions to reducing homelessness must include housing focused programs and an increase in affordable housing.

Takeaways from Hawaii’s Progress Toward Ending Homelessness

Iain De Jong from Org Code wrote the blog post Hawaii Progress: Views From An Outsider in response to Hawaii decrease in homelessness as indicated by recent Point-In-Time counts. De Jong highlights changes in homeless services delivery that he sees as contributing to the reduction in homelessness. Read the blog post and see our takeaways on what’s out and what’s in for shelter services in the table below:

NAEH Continuing Webinar Series on Critical Role of Shelter in Ending Homelessness

The National Alliance to End Homelessness June topic is How to Transition Your Emergency Shelter to a Low-Barrier and Housing-Focused Shelter Model. It is coming up on June 28 at 11 a.m. Webinar recordings and extensive resources are posted on the landing page for the series where you can also sign up for future webinars.

Please forward to your sub grantees and contact your CHG program manager if you have any questions.

• Emily Burgess, emily.burgess@commerce.wa.gov
• Julie Montgomery, julie.montgomery@commerce.wa.gov
• Stephanie Reinauer, stephanie.reinauer@commerce.wa.gov
• Jeff Spring, jeff.spring@commerce.wa.gov
• Jessica Simon, jessica.simon@commerce.wa.gov