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Sept. 25, 2018

Please forward to your sub grantees and contact your OFAH grant manager if you have any questions.

Spotlight

Federal Court Finds Bans on Outdoor Sleeping may Violate the US Constitution Earlier this month, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Boise, Idaho may not prosecute people for sleeping outdoors in public places if they cannot obtain shelter.  Read more about the ruling here and how it may impact other cities that have laws that ban outdoor sleeping.

Equity Corner

Each month OFAH will highlight efforts to advance equity

In January 2018, leaders from state agencies met to share ideas on how to make state government more accessible to all people living in Washington. The Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities shared information about the importance of understanding implicit biases and building trust in order to meet the needs of communities of color and other historically marginalized groups. 

Read about this meeting and the efforts of state agencies to improve equity, diversity and inclusion: Washington State Partners with Community Groups in Push for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Landlord Mitigation Program Update

The Landlord Mitigation Program is running at full steam (commerce.wa.gov/landlordfund) with an enormous amount of outreach occurring throughout the state in the initial months of the program’s roll out.  On Sept. 30, Washington landlords will no longer be able to deny tenants because of subsidized income and must adjust their income calculations based on the subsidies provided.  This is leaving many landlords in a state of panic that they will have less responsible tenants in the rental units. While there is no evidence to support this fear, the Landlord Mitigation Program offers landlords a level of security that even their conventional tenants cannot offer - $5,000 above and beyond collected security deposits and more. While there are many speaking events in the near future. Nick Yuva is also offering open webinars for anyone wishing to learn more about the program. The first open webinar is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Oct. 9. Then beginning on Oct. 18, webinars will be made available at 1 p.m. every third Thursday of each following month. Please contact Nick Yuva at landlordfund@commerce.wa.gov to request an invitation to future webinars or if you have any questions.

Performance Update

Washington Balance of State project-level dashboards will be updated with fourth quarter data by the end of September. We will also be publishing the Homelessness Prevention Dashboard at that time. Links to dashboards will be available on the Homeless System Performance Webpage.  Please contact emily.burgess@commerce.wa.gov if you have questions.

 What can you learn from the Homelessness Prevention (HP) Dashboard?

• How many households entered into a HP project previously experienced homelessness?
• How many households came from a prioritized living situation (friends and family, institutional)?
• Did any households that exited become homeless after participating in the HP project?
• County eviction data

 And much more!

Foundational Community Supports Update

From Kate Baber, Health Care Authority

Is your agency serving people whose health and housing stability would benefit from receiving enhanced services? The Foundational Community Supports (FCS) program’s two new Medicaid benefits for supportive housing and supported employment services are resources that may be able to help. FCS providers are able to receive payments for these services at a low caseload ratio so that you can provide the level of support your participants need to be successful. For example, a supportive housing specialist delivering services to a caseload of 20 people over a year could generate $126,000 in service reimbursements. 

Learn more about the FCS reimbursement rate structure here.

Interested in learning more or becoming a contacted provider? Contact Amerigroup or the Health Care Authority to learn how to get started!

Providers who have questions around coordinating FSC with existing resources can find information on supplanting guidance on the Health Care Authority Website here: https://www.hca.wa.gov/assets/FCS-supplanting-guidance.pdf

The Foundational Community Supports program is part of the Healthier Washington Medicaid Transformation. It allows qualified providers to receive Medicaid reimbursement for delivering supportive housing and supported employment services for people with the greatest and most immediate needs.

Reminder: CHG Rent Limit Policy Exceptions

Consolidated Homeless Grant (CHG) guidelines require that grantees must set a rent policy for their service area using a percentage of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Fair Market Rent (FMR). The guidelines state that if a rent limit policy exceeds 120 percent of FMR, grantees must submit a rationale to Commerce for approval. If housing providers in your county are having difficulty finding rental units that are at or under 120 percent of FMR, please contact your grant manager to find out more about the process of requesting a higher percentage. Commerce is committed to being responsive to the needs of individual counties.  Find updated FMR information here.

Resources

Commerce posted an RFP for the Community Behavioral Health Rental Assistance Pilot for agencies interested in expanding the availability of long-term supportive housing. Successful bidders will have links with behavioral health agencies to provide supportive services for people with long-term behavioral health needs whose rent will be paid by these subsidies. Commerce will reimburse rent, other housing costs and some administrative costs by contracting with three to five firms around Washington. Statewide, $900,000 is available in funds statewide. Proposals are due Oct. 5 at 5 p.m.

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) released the new federal strategic plan on ending homelessness in July 2018. The plan, Home, Together: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, highlights federal strategies and provides a framework for non-federal agencies to align with these strategies. 

Upcoming Events

Not too Late to Register for OFAH Fall Forums

The OFAH Fall Forums are just around the corner, but it’s not too late to register! The grantee forums will be held on Monday, Oct.15 in Spokane and Monday, Oct. 29 in Olympia. Forums will have the same agenda and content, so register for one. Please contact your grant manager with questions. Olympia: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/homeless-service-provider-grantee-forum-olympia-tickets-49312885167 Spokane: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/homeless-service-provider-grantee-forum-tickets-49303422865

Please forward to your sub grantees and contact your OFAH grant manager if you have any questions.

• Megan Kendig megan.kendig@commerce.wa.gov
• Julie Montgomery, julie.montgomery@commerce.wa.gov
• Jessica Simon, jessica.simon@commerce.wa.gov
• Kathryn Dodge kathryn.dodge@commerce.wa.gov
• Sarah Harrison sarah.harrison@commerce.wa.gov