Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing

1. Homelessness PreventionandRapid Re-Housing Program Overview Eligible Activities and Requirements February 2010

2. HPRP • $1.5 billion program created as part of American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 • HUD established formula, eligible activities, expenditure and reporting requirements • State of Oregon received $7.8 million • Cities of Portland and Eugene; Lane, Washington and Clackamas Counties received direct funding of $7.4 million

3. HPRP Program Intent: • Focus of HPRP is housing stabilization • Provides temporary financial assistance and services to • Prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless • Help those already experiencing homeless to be quickly re-housed and stabilized

4. HPRP Program Intent: • HPRP seeks to serve persons who: • Are homeless or would be homeless but for this assistance • Can remain stably housed after this temporary assistance ends

5. HPPR Eligible Activity Categories • Financial Assistance • Housing Relocation and Stabilization Services • Data Collection and Evaluation • Administrative Costs

6. Financial Assistance Eligible Activities:Rental and Utility Assistance • Short term (up to 3 months) • Medium term (4-18 months) • Total period of assistance cannot exceed 18 months • Arrearages (up to 6 months) but counts towards 18 months • Rental assistance must comply with HUD’s “rent reasonableness” standard

7. Eligible Activities:Other Financial Assistance • Security Deposits • Utility Deposits • Moving Costs • Storage (up to 3 months) • Hotel Motel vouchers (up to 30 days) • Staff costs to issue financial assistance • Cost for inspections for habitability standards

8. Housing Relocation and Stabilization Services • Services to assist homeless persons who need temporary assistance to obtain housing • Services to assist person at risk of homelessness to maintain housing • Eligible Services: • Case management, outreach & engagement; housing search and placement; referral to mainstream services; legal services; credit repair

9. Data Collection and Evaluation • Reasonable costs for collecting and reporting data through HMIS • HMIS training • Software and hardware costs

10. Administrative Costs • Eligible Costs: • Accounting for use of grant funds • Preparing reports to HUD • Program audits • Staff salaries associated with eligible administrative costs • Training for staff directly related to learning about HPRP

11. Other Requirements • HPRP funds must be issued to third party (e.g. landlord or utility company), NOT directly to program participant • An assisted property must not be owned (even in part) by grantee or subgrantee • Grantees who use funds for ineligible activities must reimburse HUD

12. Eligible Participants • Program participants must be homeless or about to become homeless AND: • Initial consultation to determine appropriate assistance • Income less than 50% AMI • No other housing options • No financial resources or support networks to obtain or remain in housing

13. Targeting HPRP • “Would this household be homeless but for this assistance?” • Many have been affected by economic crisis and high unemployment rates • Others have been precariously housed or homeless for longer period

14. Targeting for Homeless Prevention • Risk Factors to consider: • Eviction within 2 weeks • Discharge from institution within 2 wks • Lives in condemned housing • Sudden loss of income or increase in housing or utility costs • Disabilities and chronic health issues • Extremely low income (less than 30% AMI) • Significant medical debt

15. Targeting for Rapid Re-housing • People are homeless if: • Sleeping in emergency shelter • Sleeping in places not meant for human habitation • Staying in hospital or institution up to 180 days, but literally homeless prior to entry • Graduating or timing out of transitional housing • Victim of domestic violence

16. HPRP Grantee Responsibilities: Local Coordination • HPRP must be administered in coordination with existing CoC and other local homeless planning efforts to: • Identify gaps and needs for HPRP services • Promote collaborative use of Recovery Act funds • Align HPRP activities with CoC strategies for preventing and ending homelessness

17. Leveraging Other Resources: • Grantees are strongly encouraged to maximize all Recovery Act Resources • Recovery Act funding for serving homeless and at risk persons also provided to other federal agencies such as Education, HHS, Labor, etc • Chart of Oregon Recovery Act activities by county at www.Oregon.gov/recovery

18. Grantee Responsibilities:Participant Eligibility • Grantee or subgrantees must: • Verify and document each client’s eligibility for the program • Assess each household’s needs and appropriateness for HPRP assistance • Evaluate eligibility for financial assistance at least every 3 months

19. Key Expenditure Dates • 60% of allocation must be spent within 2 years of grant execution – July 7, 2011 • 100% of allocation must be spent within 3 years of grant execution – July 7, 2012 • OHCS will reallocate funds if grantees cannot demonstrate that they will expend 60% of funds by July 7, 2011

20. Technical Assistance and Resources • Posted at www.hudhre.info • Program development and guidance resources at www.naeh.org • HPRP website under development at OHCS