How Many California Continuum of Care Projects Funded through the Federal Continuum of Care Program are Implementing a Housing First Approach?

Homelessness, HUD, Housing First, and California Continuums of Care 

How Many California Continuum of Care Projects
Funded through the Federal Continuum of Care Program
are Implementing a Housing First Approach? 

—99% or 908 of 917 Are Designated as Housing First—

What will it take to reach 100%? 

HUD will require the nine remaining projects to implement a Housing First approach
if funded with 2018 Continuum of Care Program funds

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently required Continuums of Care (CoCs) to provide the following in their 2018 Continuum of Care (CoC) Program applications, which were submitted to HUD for CoC funding last fall:

“total number of new and renewal CoC Program Funded PSH, RRH, SSO non-coordinated entry, Safe-Haven, and Transitional Housing projects the CoC is applying for in FY 2018 CoC Program Competition; and (2) total number of new and renewal CoC Program Funded PSH, RRH, SSO non-coordinated entry, Safe-Haven, and Transitional Housing projects the CoC is applying for in FY 2018 CoC Program Competition that have adopted the Housing First approach–meaning that the project quickly houses clients without preconditions or service participation requirements.”

Applicants were instructed to complete the blank column in the following basic table.

Total number of new and renewal CoC Program Funded PSH, RRH, SSO non-coordinated entry, Safe-Haven, and Transitional Housing projects the CoC is applying for in FY 2018 CoC Program Competition.
Total number of new and renewal CoC Program Funded PSH, RRH, SSO non-coordinated entry, Safe-Haven, and Transitional Housing projects the CoC is applying for in FY 2018 CoC Program Competition that have adopted the Housing First approach–meaning that the project quickly houses clients without preconditions or service participation requirements.
Percentage of new and renewal PSH, RRH, Safe-Haven, SSO non-Coordinated Entry projects in the FY 2018 CoC Program Competition that will be designated as Housing First.

 Appendix A consists of Table 1 which lists the responses of each California CoC from the basic table and provides the total results. Of the 43 California CoCs, 41 submitted a 2018 Continuum of Care Program application to HUD. The 41 CoCs listed a total of 917 projects of which 908 or 99% were designated as Housing First.

The responses from each California CoC were based on the responses provided by agencies seeking funding to three questions in their 2018 CoC New Project Application or 2018 CoC Renewal Project Application that were submitted to HUD for new or renewal funding for their project(s).

The three questions and related instructions were:

Does the project quickly move participants into permanent housing? Required.

Select “Yes” to this question if your project will move program participants into permanent housing as quickly as possible and will not require additional steps (e.g., a required stay in transitional housing or a certain number of days of sobriety) when program participants determine that they want assistance moving into permanent housing. If this is a domestic violence (DV) project application including survivors of human trafficking, sexual assault, stalking, and dating violence, project applicants should select “Yes” if the project will move program participants as quickly as possible into permanent housing after the program participant believes their immediate safety needs have been addressed (e.g., survivors believes they are still in danger from violent situations and choose to wait until the dangerous situations are addressed before moving into permanent housing, but must be assisted in quickly moving to permanent housing as soon as they believe it is safe). Select “No” if the project does not work to remove all barriers to move program participants quickly into permanent housing or requires additional steps prior to helping a program participant obtain permanent housing.

Does the project ensure that participants are not screened out based on the following items? (Select ALL that apply): Required.

Checking the box next to each item listed confirms that your project does not have the following barriers to entering the project at the time of completing this application: (1) having too little or little income; (2) active or history of substance use; (3) having a criminal record with exceptions for state-mandated restrictions; and 4) history of victimization (e.g., domestic violence, sexual assault, childhood abuse). If all of these barriers still exist at the time of completing this application, select “None of the above.”

Does the project ensure that participants are not terminated from the program for the following reasons? Required.

Checking the box next to each item listed confirms that your project does not terminate participants for the following reasons at the time of completing this project application: (1) failure to participate in supportive services–not including case management that is for the purposes of engagement only; (2) failure to make progress on a service plan; (3) loss of income or failure to improve income; and (4) any other activity not covered in a lease agreement typically found in the project’s geographic area. If a program participant can be terminated from the project for any of these reasons at the time of application, select “None of the above.”

A fourth question was noted but did not require a response. The question was 

Does the project follow a Housing First approach?  

No action required. e-snaps automatically populates this read-only field, which will only indicate “Yes” if the project applicant selected “Yes” for 3a and checked all of the boxes for 3b and 3c, to confirm a Housing First approach. Otherwise, this field will indicate “No” to confirm that the project will not follow a Housing First approach. Any project application submitted as using a Housing First approach must continue operating as such during its FY 2018 grant term.

Appendix A consists of Table 1, which lists the results of the fourth question above. “Yes” was automatically populated to confirm a Housing First designation for 908 of the 917 submitted projects, which represents 99% of the total projects.

Next Steps

HUD stated in the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Continuum of Care Program Competition 2018 Continuum of Care that

“Any housing project application that indicates it will use a Housing First approach, that is awarded FY 2018 CoC Program funds will be required to operate as a Housing First project.”

Housing First projects are

“low barrier projects that do not have service participation requirements or preconditions to entry and prioritize rapid placement and stabilization in permanent housing. This means the projects allow entry to program participants regardless of their income, current or past substance use, history of victimization (e.g., domestic violence, sexual assault, childhood abuse), and criminal record–except restrictions imposed by federal, state or local law or ordinance (e.g., restrictions on serving people who are listed on sex offender registries).”

Thus, the nine (9) projects within three California CoCs that did not confirm a Housing First approach will be required to confirm a Housing First approach if funded by HUD as a new or renewal project with 2018 CoC Program funds. HUD announced the funding awards for new and renewal projects last week (February 6, 2019).

Appendix A

 

Table 1. Continuums of Care and New and Renewal Projects Designated as Housing First

Continuum of Care:		Total Number of New and Renewal Projects	Total Number of New and Renewal Projects That Adopted Housing First Approach	% of New and Renewal Projects That Will Be Designated as Housing First
CA-500	San Jose/Santa Clara City & County CoC	30	30	100
CA-501	San Francisco CoC	57	57	100
CA-502	Oakland, Berkeley/Alameda County CoC	48	48	100
CA-503	Sacramento City & County CoC	30	30	100
CA-504	Santa Rosa, Petaluma/Sonoma County CoC	16	16	100
CA-505	Richmond/Contra Costa County CoC	20	20	100
CA-506	Salinas/Monterey, San Benito Counties CoC	14	11	79
CA-507	Marin County CoC	13	13	100
CA-508	Watsonville/Santa Cruz City & County CoC	13	13	100
CA-509	Mendocino County CoC	2	2	100
CA-510	Turlock, Modesto/Stanislaus County CoC	18	14	78
CA-510	Stockton/San Joaquin County CoC	13	11	85
CA-512	Daly City/San Mateo County CoC	21	21	100
CA-513	Visalia/Kings, Tulare Counties CoC	17	17	100
CA-514	Fresno City & County/Madera County CoC	36	36	100
CA-515	Roseville, Rocklin/Placer, Nevada Counties	13	13	100
CA-516	Redding/Shasta County CoC	3	3	100
CA-517	Napa City & County CoC	6	6	100
CA-518	Vallejo/Solano County CoC	17	17	100
CA-519	Chico, Paradise/Butte County CoC	10	10	100
CA-520	Merced City & County CoC	9	9	100
CA-521	Davis, Woodland/Yolo County CoC	7	7	100
CA-522	Humboldt County CoC	11	11	100
CA-523	Colusa, Glen, Trinity Counties CoC*	0	0	0
CA-524	Yuba City/Sutter County CoC	0	0	0
CA-525	El Dorado County CoC	0	0	0
CA-526	Tuolumne, Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa Counties CoC	7	7	100
CA-527	Tehama County CoC	2	2	100
CA-529	Lake County CoC*	0	0	0
CA-530	Alpine, Inyo, Mono Counties CoC	0	0	0
CA-600	Los Angeles City & County CoC	179	179	100
CA-601	San Diego City and County CoC	50	50	100
CA-602	Santa Ana, Anaheim/Orange County CoC	100	100	100
CA-603	Santa Maria/Santa Barbara County CoC	11	11	100
CA-604	Bakersfield/Kern County CoC	17	17	100
CA-606	Long Beach CoC	25	25	100
CA-607	Pasadena CoC	12	12	100
CA-608	Riverside City & County CoC	24	24	100
CA-609	San Bernardino City & County CoC	24	24	100
CA-611	Oxnard, San Buenaventura/Ventura County CoC	23	23	100
CA-612	Glendale CoC	13	13	100
CA-613	Imperial County CoC	2	2	100
CA-614	San Luis Obispo County CoC	4	4	100
	Total:	917	908	99

*CoC did not submit a 2018 CoC Program application to HUD.