Is CA Providing Enough Permanent Supportive Housing for Chronically Homeless Persons through the California Continuums of Care?
Are California Continuums of Care Dedicating Enough Permanent Supportive Housing Beds for Chronically Homeless Persons?
A brief prepared by Joe Colletti, PhD and Sofia Herrera, PhD
-Institute for Urban Initiatives on Homelessness and Poverty-
February 2017
California Continuums of Care (CoCs) are increasingly dedicating permanent supportive housing beds for chronically homeless persons, as noted in section 3B-1.2 of their 2016 Continuum of Care (CoC) Program applications submitted for funding to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last fall. The last row in Table 1 at the very end of this brief reveals that California CoCs
∙had 50,760 permanent supportive beds in place in 2015 and 16,166 or 31.8% were dedicated for use for chronically homeless persons; and
∙had 56,419 permanent supportive beds in place in 2016 and 19,879 or 35.2% were dedicated for use for chronically homeless persons.
This represents an increase of 3,713 beds for chronically homeless persons or 3.4% between 2015 and 2016.
Notwithstanding, nearly two-thirds (64.8%) of the beds were not dedicated for use for chronically homeless persons by California CoCs in 2016. A few CoCs had 100% of their permanent supportive housing beds dedicated for use for chronically homeless persons and several had three-fourths or more of their beds dedicated, as listed in Table 1. But, some CoCs had only 25% or less of their permanent supportive housing beds dedicated for use for chronically homeless persons and some had none, also noted in Table 1.
As defined by HUD on page 6 of CPD-16-11 “Notice on Prioritizing Persons Experiencing Chronic Homelessness and Other Vulnerable Homeless Persons in Permanent Supportive Housing,” issued on July 25, 2016, dedicated permanent supportive housing beds
“are those which are required through the project’s grant agreement to only be used to house persons experiencing chronic homelessness unless there are no persons within the CoC that meet that criteria.”
Chronically homeless persons are in need of permanent supportive housing beds because they have the most severe needs and greatest barriers towards obtaining and maintaining permanent
housing. Without permanent supportive housing, it is very unlikely that the CoCs can ever achieve the goal of ending the chronic homelessness experiences of those persons who have been languishing on the streets and have become the most visible of all homeless persons. These persons become sicker and more debilitated over time, and too many have alreday died on the streets.
Next Steps
Next steps for California CoCs should include the following:
∙all CoCs should prioritize the vacant beds for those chronically homeless persons, who are languishing on the streets and growing sicker and more debilitated; and
∙all CoCs should make sure that the commitments made by CoC-funded project applicants to prioritize their permanent supportive housing beds in the 2016 CoC Program application are carried out.
As further explained below, organizations seeking renewal funding from HUD through the 2016 CoC Program application as project applicants were asked how many permanent supportive housing beds they were going to prioritize for chronically homeless persons out of the number of their beds that were not already prioritized for chronically homeless persons.
Prioritization, as defined by HUD on pages 6 and 7 of CPD-16-11 “means implementing an admissions preference for chronically homeless persons for CoC Program-funded (permanent supportive housing) beds,” so that as vacant permanent supportive housing beds become available, they are prioritized for chronically homeless persons.
HUD further stated that
“During the CoC Program competition project applicants for CoC Program-funded (permanent supportive housing) must indicate the number of non-dedicated beds that will be prioritized for use by persons experiencing chronic homelessness during the operating year of that grant, when awarded. These projects are then required to prioritize chronically homeless persons in their non-dedicated CoC Program-funded (permanent supportive housing) beds for the applicable operating year as the project application is incorporated into the grant agreement.”
The quote above is referencing the following series of questions that were included in Section PH-PSH 4B: Housing Type and Location, subsection 3, Beds for the Chronically Homeless, in the
2016 CoC Program application submitted to HUD last fall:
1.How many permanent supportive housing beds are dedicated to chronically homeless individuals and families?
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2.How many permanent supportive housing beds are not dedicated to the chronically homeless?
3.How many permanent supportive housing beds will likely become available through turnover in the FY 2016 operating year?
4.How many permanent supportive housing beds available through turnover will be prioritized for use by the chronically homeless during the FY 2016 operating year?
Concerning number 4, HUD further stated that
“Of the beds identified in (#3), enter the total number of those beds that will be prioritized for use by the chronically homeless individuals and families over the course of the operating year. This number will be incorporated into the project grant agreement for FY 2016 and the project applicant will be required to prioritize the chronically homeless in at least this many beds unless the number of beds made available through turnover is less than anticipated or there are no chronically homeless persons in need of these beds over the course of the operating year.”
HUD also stated that the above information provided by all permanent supportive housing project applications “will be used to calculate the CoC score for the extent in which CoC-funded non-dedicated (permanent supportive housing) beds are being prioritized for use by the chronically homeless.”
Thus, next steps for California CoCs should include
∙prioritizing the vacant beds for those chronically homeless persons, who are languishing on the streets and growing sicker and more debilitated; and
∙making sure that the commitments made by project applicants to prioritize their permanent supportive housing beds in the 2016 CoC Program application are carried out.
California CoCs need to make sure that the commitments made by project applicants to prioritize their permanent supportive housing beds in the 2016 CoC Program application are carried out. California CoCs should review every renewal funding application that was recently awarded by HUD to ensure that the commitments that were made concerning prioritizing vacant beds for chronically homeless persons is carried out.
Dedication of permanent supportive housing beds for chronically homeless persons should happen within the next few months. HUD just released a notice stating that the Housing Inventory Chart (HIC) will likely be released on March 1, 2017 and that it will be due to HUD by May 1, 2017. CoCs are responsible for providing a Chronic Homeless Bed Inventory in the HIC that shows the total number of permanent supportive housing beds that are dedicated to house chronically homeless persons and their household members (if applicable).
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Consequently, the total number of permanent supportive housing beds dedicated for chronically homeless persons with the most severe needs will increase during 2017 if project applicants and CoCs carry out all of the responsibilities noted above.
We will have a better idea if project applicants and CoCs carry out all of the responsibilities noted above during the coming months by comparing the data from the soon to be completed 2017 Housing Inventory Chart to the data from the 2015 and 2016 housing inventory charts, which were used to fill in the table below.
______________________________
Table 1. A Comparison of Permanent Supportive Housing Beds Dedicated for Chronically Homeless Persons by California CoCs in 2015 to 2016.
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2015 |
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2016 |
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# |
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% |
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# |
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% |
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Continuum of Care: |
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# |
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of |
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of |
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# |
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of |
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of |
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of |
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PSH |
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PSH |
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of |
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PSH |
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PSH |
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PSH |
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Units |
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Units |
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PSH |
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Units |
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Units |
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Units |
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for CH |
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for CH |
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Units |
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for CH |
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for CH |
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San Jose/Santa Clara City & County CoC |
2,794 |
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1,570 |
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56.2 |
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2,822 |
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1,931 |
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68.4 |
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San Francisco CoC |
7,051 |
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3,019 |
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42.8 |
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7,599 |
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3,301 |
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43.4 |
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Oakland, Berkeley/Alameda County CoC |
2,594 |
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439 |
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16.9 |
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2,585 |
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676 |
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26.2 |
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Sacramento City & County CoC |
2,787 |
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1,094 |
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39.3 |
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2,970 |
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1,397 |
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47.0 |
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Santa Rosa, Petaluma/Sonoma County CoC |
979 |
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379 |
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38.7 |
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917 |
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413 |
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45.0 |
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Richmond/Contra Costa County CoC |
870 |
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0 |
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0 |
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867 |
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207 |
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23.9 |
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Salinas/Monterey, San Benito Counties CoC |
376 |
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241 |
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64.1 |
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311 |
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222 |
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71.4 |
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Marin County CoC |
478 |
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120 |
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25.1 |
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504 |
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130 |
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25.8 |
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Watsonville/Santa Cruz City & County CoC |
409 |
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409 |
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100 |
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457 |
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457 |
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100 |
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Mendocino County CoC |
372 |
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0 |
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0 |
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370 |
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0 |
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0 |
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Turlock, Modesto/Stanislaus County CoC |
422 |
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81 |
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19.2 |
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450 |
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198 |
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44.0 |
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Stockton/San Joaquin County CoC |
635 |
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211 |
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33.2 |
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751 |
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278 |
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37.0 |
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Daly City/San Mateo County CoC |
689 |
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270 |
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39.2 |
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917 |
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304 |
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33.2 |
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Visalia/Kings, Tulare Counties CoC |
229 |
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60 |
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26.2 |
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217 |
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72 |
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33.2 |
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Fresno City & County/Madera County CoC |
1,039 |
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521 |
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50.1 |
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1,114 |
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506 |
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45.4 |
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Roseville, Rocklin/Placer, Nevada Counties |
217 |
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80 |
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36.9 |
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251 |
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61 |
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24.3 |
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Redding/Shasta County CoC |
34 |
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34 |
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100 |
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44 |
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44 |
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100 |
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Napa City & County CoC |
49 |
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40 |
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81.6 |
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51 |
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39 |
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76.5 |
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Vallejo/Solano County CoC |
104 |
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74 |
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71.2 |
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183 |
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78 |
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42.6 |
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Chico, Paradise/Butte County CoC |
130 |
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15 |
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11.5 |
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291 |
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15 |
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5.2 |
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Merced City & County CoC |
78 |
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14 |
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17.9 |
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130 |
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22 |
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16.9 |
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Davis, Woodland/Yolo County CoC |
89 |
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77 |
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86.5 |
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72 |
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72 |
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100 |
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Humboldt County CoC |
89 |
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89 |
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100 |
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108 |
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98 |
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90.7 |
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Colusa, Glen, Trinity Counties CoC* |
0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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– |
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– |
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0 |
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Yuba City/Sutter County CoC |
0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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El Dorado County CoC |
0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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Tuolumne, Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa |
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Counties CoC |
21 |
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8 |
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38.1 |
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16 |
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8 |
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50.0 |
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Tehama County CoC* |
0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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Lake County CoC* |
0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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– |
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– |
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0 |
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Alpine, Inyo, Mono Counties CoC* |
0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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– |
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– |
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0 |
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4
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2015 |
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2016 |
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# |
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% |
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# |
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% |
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Continuum of Care: |
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# |
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of |
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of |
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# |
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of |
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of |
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of |
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PSH |
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PSH |
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of |
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PSH |
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PSH |
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PSH |
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Units |
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Units |
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PSH |
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Units |
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Units |
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Units |
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for CH |
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for CH |
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Units |
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for CH |
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for CH |
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Los Angeles City & County CoC |
15,925 |
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4,364 |
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27.4 |
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19,226 |
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5,239 |
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27.2 |
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San Diego City and County CoC |
3,196 |
|
384 |
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12.0 |
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3,709 |
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592 |
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16.0 |
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Santa Ana, Anaheim/Orange County CoC |
2,300 |
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223 |
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9.7 |
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2,348 |
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335 |
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14.3 |
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Santa Maria/Santa Barbara County CoC |
648 |
|
176 |
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27.2 |
|
774 |
|
206 |
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26.6 |
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Bakersfield/Kern County CoC |
1,574 |
|
525 |
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33.4 |
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1,067 |
|
557 |
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52.2 |
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Long Beach CoC |
968 |
|
217 |
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22.4 |
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1,452 |
|
260 |
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17.9 |
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Pasadena CoC |
269 |
|
44 |
|
16.4 |
|
307 |
|
106 |
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34.5 |
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Riverside City & County CoC |
1,557 |
|
712 |
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45.7 |
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1,538 |
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1,358 |
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88.3 |
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San Bernardino City & County CoC |
1,087 |
|
282 |
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25.9 |
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1,098 |
|
143 |
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13.0 |
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Oxnard, San Buenaventura/Ventura County |
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CoC |
335 |
|
237 |
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70.7 |
|
498 |
|
295 |
|
59.2 |
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Glendale CoC |
152 |
|
105 |
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69.1 |
|
148 |
|
100 |
|
67.6 |
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Imperial County CoC |
0 |
|
0 |
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0 |
|
32 |
|
18 |
|
56.3 |
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San Luis Obispo County CoC |
214 |
|
45 |
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21.0 |
|
222 |
|
57 |
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25.7 |
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Total: |
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50,760 |
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16,166 |
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31.8 |
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56,416 |
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19,879 |
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|
35.2 |
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*CoC did not submit a CoC Program application to HUD in 2016.