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Feb. 26, 2018
Please forward to your sub grantees and contact your OFAH grant manager
if you have any questions.
To support Goal 2 of the
Homeless Housing Strategic Plan,
the Office of Family and Adult Homelessness (OFAH) committed to publish
project-level performance data quarterly. We are working on the first
report, which will include performance data on all Rapid Re-Housing programs in
the Washington Balance of State Continuum of Care. Lead grantees will receive an email soon with information about the upcoming Rapid Re-Housing
Performance Dashboard and instructions about how to check data quality in
preparation for publication. Please contact Emily Burgess with
questions: emily.burgess@commerce.wa.gov
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Lead CHG grantees will soon receive updated grant
guidelines. These will also be updated on our website very soon at: http://www.commerce.wa.gov/serving-communities/homelessness/consolidated-homeless-grant/
Thanks to communities across the state for
their hard work during the 2018 Point-in-Time count! Data entry is due to be
complete on Feb. 28. Contact Ian Kinder-Pyle with questions:
ian.kinder-pyle@commerce.wa.gov
Commerce has released the Washington State Coordinated Entry Guidelines incorporating new HUD guidance with existing state requirements. The OFAH staff will be scheduling a webinar in March to go over the guidelines. Stay tuned for more information, and contact your grant manager with any questions.
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Myth: The Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) grant limits the ability
to provide case management to HEN clients.
Fact: There
is no cap or limit on the amount of HEN funding that can be used for HEN
program operations, which includes program staffing. Grantees should adequately fund HEN
operations to assist HEN clients in
obtaining and maintaining permanent housing. However, HEN administrative costs are capped at 7 percent of the HEN budget.
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Housing
Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) project sponsors are in the midst
of compiling an annual report for the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD), due March 31. The report details program performance
and unmet need. The five project sponsors report nearly 200 potentially
eligible households have gone unserved for lack of resources. It is
unclear whether this will translate into additional funding. For more information, contact HOPWA and 811 grants manager Jeff Spring at jeff.spring@commerce.wa.gov. |
Commerce
continues to welcome the newest participants in the HUD Section 811
program. The most recent project to come online is Santos Place in
Seattle. The project added eight new units to the growing list of subsidized
housing for non-elderly persons with a disabling condition who are able to live
independently. The next project to come online later this year is Nueva
Vista II in Kennewick, which will add five additional units of subsidized housing.
Commerce is committed to ensuring
our grantee homeless service providers have access to training. Through June
2019, we will be providing free Trauma Informed Services and
Mental Health First Aid training around the state. If you know of qualified trainers to fill
these roles, point them to the Commerce website for contracting
opportunities in Mental Health First Aid and Trauma Informed Care. http://www.commerce.wa.gov/serving-communities/current-opportunities/
We are excited to announce
that Matt Mazur-Hart is the new Balance of State Continuum of Care ( BoS CoC) program manager in the
Housing Assistance Unit. Matt will help with a variety of BoS CoC collaborative
applicant responsibilities, including the Youth Homelessness Demonstration
Program (https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/yhdp/)
application. He has managed a variety of federal and state grants at Commerce,
and will take that knowledge to the BoS as they continue to incorporate best
practices and broad collaboration into their work.
The NAEH recently hosted a
webinar addressing the most frequently asked questions and concerns around low-barrier
shelters. The webinar and slides are
available here. NAEH has additional resources through the Emergency Shelter
Learning Series at https://endhomelessness.org/resource/emergency-shelter/.
The Behavioral Health Benefits Book provides
information on the services available through Behavioral Health Organizations
(BHOs) https://www.dshs.wa.gov/bha/division-behavioral-health-and-recovery/behavioral-health-benefits-book.
The Northwest Fair Housing Alliance offers
webinars and an annual conference. Find out more here and register for
the upcoming webinars listed below.
Learn
when assistance animals needed for disabilities must be allowed in housing.
Review of the process to request a reasonable accommodation for an assistance
animal, the verification that a housing provider may request, and the rules
that may be applied to assistance animals once admitted to housing. After
registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about
joining the webinar. Multiple Dates Available!
March 1, 2018 at
11 a.m. PST. Register now!
An
overview of federal and Washington state fair housing laws, including protected
classes, fair housing rights and responsibilities, reasonable accommodation
procedures and examples and the administrative complaint process. After
registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about
joining the webinar. Multiple Dates Available!
March 1, 2018 at
11 a.m. PST. Register now!
The HMIS Team offers ongoing training for new
and current HMIS users. Find information on the Commerce website on the HMIS
page here: www.commerce.wa.gov/hmis or contact Maylee Stevenson at Maylee.Stevenson@commerce.wa.gov
Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) and Pathways Housing First Institute have
opened registration for the Housing First Partners Conference, April 9 – 12,
2018 in Denver, Colo. Information available here: http://www.hfpartnersconference.com/.
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