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CMHA Partnership

CMHA Partnership. A collaborative partnership between the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, the Community Shelter Board, the Homeless Families Foundation, The Salvation Army and the YWCA. The History.

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CMHA Partnership

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  1. CMHA Partnership A collaborative partnership between the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, the Community Shelter Board, the Homeless Families Foundation, The Salvation Army and the YWCA.

  2. The History • The Community Shelter Board (CSB) initiated conversations with the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) in order to develop a relationship allowing for homeless families to gain quick access to public housing. • CMHA was responsive because they had a public housing community they had difficulty keeping leased up. • Over the years, CSB has included representatives from the housing authority in our planning, funding and community input gatherings so they were already informed of our work. • Since we have a single point of entry in our family system, it was determined the YWCA would initiate the application and families who were approved would be referred to the Family Housing Collaborative, which is our system’s direct housing program.

  3. The Agreement • 65 homeless families will have an “executive preference” when applying for public housing. This agreement allows for some relaxation of the eligibility criteria and bumps our families up to obtain the next available unit at the property. • The YWCA’s Housing Resource Specialist has been trained to complete CMHA applications on-site at the shelter. • CMHA responds with approval or denial within 5 business days or request for additional information/documentation within 3 business days. • Our direct housing program applies for move-in costs from CSB’s direct client assistance funds. FHC worker also assists the client in establishing utilities in their name, including paying utility deposits. • FHC workers meet with property staff at least quarterly to obtain updates on their families or intervene with financial assistance or service referrals in order to ensure stability for the family. • Management meets at least quarterly to review agreements and review issues occurring in the relationship.

  4. The Struggles • Utilities: Establishing utilities in the client’s name can be difficult. If families don’t pay their utility bill, the bill falls back onto CMHA’s account, which gets tacked on to the client’s rental account. • Property restriction: We are currently restricted to one or two properties but would like our families to be able to go to any property that has an available unit. • Re-certification: CMHA has decided to re-screen tenants annually to see if they have committed any crimes since becoming a tenant. We’ll likely find this problematic for our families.

  5. More Information csb.org tthacker@csb.org apply everywhere. appeal everything.

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