Where Does The Money Go?
The largest single funding source for homeless programs in Sonoma County is the Federal government. A coalition of interested individuals and organizations serving poor and disabled people recently completed the 2004 Continuum of Care Plan and prioritized $1.8 million in applications for federal McKinney-Vento funds. These can be used to provide supportive services, transitional housing, or permanent housing. They cannot be used for homelessness prevention, and increasingly, new funding for supportive services is being reduced.
This funding comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is under increasing pressure to focus on permanent housing rather than services. The Department of Health and Human Services is seen as more appropriate to fund services through Temporary Aid to Needy Families, public and mental health, criminal justice, and employment programs.
HUD funding requires a Plan that details what homeless shelter and services exist, are in development, and are planned throughout Sonoma County and in each jurisdiction. HUD has arrived, through a complex formula based on population and poverty levels, at a base figure of $934,635 that could be awarded to local providers in the coming year, but our plan will likely have to score above c. 75 points out of 100 to receive any funding.
To earn those points we need to pay attention to the amount of funding for permanent and transitional housing and for chronically homeless clients, institute a Homeless Management Information System, work to collaborate with all ?mainstream resources?, and detail our successes, particularly with chronically homeless individuals. We generally think these are good things, although we might spend the money in slightly different ways if HUD did not mold our plan for homeless services.
HUD offers an incentive of up to $750,000 annually if we submit a permanent supportive housing project for people with disabilities. We do our best each year to capture those funds. In the past, we have proposed that the County Housing Authority receive rental assistance funding to assist clients of Face to Face, Community Support Network, or Community Resources for Independence. This year we decided to support the collaborative purchase and rehabilitation of a group home for transitional and permanent housing serving youth who age out of the foster care system. Between 50% and 80% of those youth become homeless within a very short time. The County Housing Authority applied for $427,680 for 5-year rental subsidies to youth who will receive support services from Social Advocates for Youth (SAY). Community Action Partnership-Sonoma County (CAP-SC) will operate the housing. This is the maximum amount we can receive for the permanent housing proposed. The application received the highest priority in our process.
It is crucial to the Continuum of Care Planning Group that we maintain successful existing homeless services so we don’t waste resources rebuilding programs. Unfortunately other funding sources have diminished so this year we are losing capacity, including the highly regarded FACT, Forensic Assertive Community Treatment Program. In our Continuum Of Care application, we prioritized highly five renewal projects — from CAP-SC, COTS, Vietnam Veterans of CA, and two from Community Support Network. That left about $440,000 available for new projects, with five applications competing.The Planning Group selected the required Homeless Management Information System, transitional housing in the collaborative project for foster care youth, and transitional housing provided by Catholic Charities. Proposals for supportive services for chronically homeless youth and West County residents totaling more than $285,000 did not go forward to HUD because of the low funding probability.
What do you think of this Continuum of Care Plan? Do you think HUD’s priorities to end chronic homelessness are appropriate? Would you have wanted the funding applications prioritized differently? You can let us know what you think at sctaskforce@aol.com, send us a letter for our Dialogue section of this newsletter, and help by sharing your opinion with friends, colleagues and political representatives.