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 |
Total Number of New and Renewal |
% |
|
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.