by Gale Brownell
HUD (the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) has just announced that the Sonoma County Community Development Commission and non-profit providers are again eligible to receive about $1.7 million in funding for transitional and permanent supportive housing, and a limited amount of services, to assist homeless people. That's the good news.
The bad news is that HUD has significantly changed several provisions of the program. The effect is that we will probably receive $138,000 next year instead of the $750,000 we have been awarded in the past for permanent housing. Previously we were able to increase the number of rental assistance vouchers for disabled people, who are disproportionately represented in our chronically homeless population. We also used the funding for other forms of permanent supportive housing like Social Advocates for Youth's new Tamayo House, that provides affordable housing for young people who are aging out of the foster care system, or Stony Point Commons where 16 people with mental disabilities now live happily. A $7 million proposal for permanent supportive housing in the Rohnert Park/Cotati area is now further from reality than we hoped.
We must use a portion of HUD funding to implement a Homeless Management Information System. It's a good idea to know more about the characteristics of our homeless residents and what services they use. The sting comes in having to spend nearly $150,000 of program money for it. This doesn't count the time and money each participating organization will have to dedicate to the HMIS.
The Continuum of Care Planning Group is producing our annual Plan and submitting agency funding proposals. Other than the $149,000 incentive for vouchers or permanent supportive housing, we expect we will not receive funding for any new proposals. Existing programs would have to be sacrificed to fund new programs. We prioritized proposals in April and anticipate completing the Plan before May 17 when we hope to review it with the Board of Supervisors and the City Councils of Petaluma and Santa Rosa. If you want to be involved, contact the Continuum of Care Coordinator, Jenny Helbraun Abramson, at 824-2852.
The 2004 Continuum of Care grant approvals were announced in late January. Sonoma County organizations were awarded $1,845,943. The Sonoma County Community Development Commission (SC CDC) will receive $405,360 for rental assistance for residents of the S.A.Y. facility for youth, and $120,000 for supportive services that will help residents learn the skills they need to live independently. The SC CDC will continue rental assistance to clients of Community Resources for Independence and Face to Face with 3 grants totaling $491,412. Grants totaling $257,593 will assist Catholic Charities, COTS, and Vietnam Veterans of CA to provide transitional housing serving people for no more than 2 years. The balance of the funding, $137,358, will be used for case management and related services for clients of Community Action Partnership and Community Support Network.