Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program HPRP

1
Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing
Program (HPRP)

• SCANPH Annual Conference
• September 25, 2009
• Dhakshike Wickrema
• Shelter Partnership, Inc.

2
H.R.1, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA) of 2009

• ARRA signed into law by President Obama on
  February 17, 2009
• Provided more than 13.6 billion to HUD
• Congress designated 1.5 billion for Homelessness
  Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program (HPRP)

3
HPRP Funding Allocations

• Funds allocated to states, counties and cities
  based on the Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG)
  formula
• 485 cities and counties received HPRP funding,
  compared to 305 jurisdictions under ESG

4
HPRP and ESG Funding Comparison

• Los Angeles City received approximately 3
  million in ESG funding in FY 2009
• Los Angeles City received approximately 30
  million in HPRP funding

5
HPRP and ESGProgram Comparison

• HPRP funds are not intended to serve persons who
  need long-term and/or intensive supports
• HPRP eligibility requirements and eligible
  activities differ from current ESG
• For example, HPRP cannot fund shelter operations
• Pages 52-54 of the HPRP Notice provide a
  comparison of ESG and HPRP

6
HPRP Guidelines (Notice)

• HPRP Notice released March 19, 2009
  http//www.hudhre.info/documents/HPRP_NoticeRedlin
  e_6_08_09.pdf
• Jurisdictions had to file substantial amendments
  to Consolidated 2008 Action Plan by May 18, 2009
• Jurisdictions must award or enter into legally
  binding grant agreements with all subgrantees by
  September 30, 2009

7
HPRP Funding Term

• HPRP Grantees must expend 60 of funds within 2
  years of the date HUD signed agreement
• HPRP Grantees must expend 100 of funds within 3
  years of the date HUD signed agreement

8
HPRP Eligible Participants

• Household must be at or below 50 of Area Median
  Income
• HUD 2009 income limits for Los Angeles-Long Beach
  are 27,750 for an individual and 39,650 for a
  four-person household
• Household must be either homeless or at risk of
  homelessness AND
• No appropriate housing options identified
• Household lacks financial resources and support
  networks to obtain immediate housing or remain in
  existing housing

9
Intent of HPRP

• HPRP assistance must be targeted and
  prioritized to serve households that are most in
  need of this temporary assistance and are most
  likely to achieve stable housing, whether
  subsidized or unsubsidized, outside of HPRP after
  the program concludes. (HPRP Notice, Page 6)

10
Intent of HPRP

• Generally, the intent of HPRP assistance is to
  rapidly transition program participants to
  stability, either through their own means or
  through public assistance, if appropriate. HPRP
  assistance is not intended to provide long-term
  support for program participants, nor will it be
  able to address all of the financial and
  supportive services needs of households that
  affect housing stability.
• (HPRP Notice, Page 13)

11
Homelessness Prevention vs Rapid Rehousing

• HPRP provides funding for housing for two
  populations
• Homeless households
• At-risk households
• These two populations provide a framework for
  targeting funding and program design
• HPRP funds may be spent on
• Homelessness prevention
• Rapid rehousing

12
Homelessness Prevention

• Targets individuals and families who are
  currently housed but at risk of becoming homeless
• Would be homeless but for HPRP assistance
• Need temporary rent or utility assistance
• Need assistance to move to another unit
• See Section IV.D.3 of the HPRP Notice for
  additional risk factors

13
Rapid Rehousing

• Targets homeless individuals and families who are
  currently experiencing homelessness
• Are homeless but for HPRP assistance
• Need temporary assistance in order to obtain
  housing and retain it
• HUD definition of homelessness
• Assisted individuals retain their homeless
  status while on HPRP assistance
• Assisted individuals do not lose eligibility for
  subsidized housing set aside for homeless

14
HPRP Eligible Activities

• Funding for financial assistance or services to
  pay for housing expenses
• Four categories of eligible activities
• Financial assistance
• Housing relocation and stabilization services
• Data collection and evaluation
• Administrative costs

15
HPRP Financial AssistanceRental Assistance

• Short-term rental assistance (no more than 3
  months)
• Medium-term rental assistance (4-18 months)
• Up to 6 months of rental arrears
• HPRP rental assistance may not exceed 18 months
• If receiving medium-term rental assistance,
  participant eligibility must be re-certified
  every 3 months

16
HPRP Financial Assistance

• Security and Utility Deposits
• Utility Payments
• Up to 18 months total, including 6 months in
  arrears

17
HPRP Financial Assistance

• Moving Costs
• Moving truck rental
• Hiring a moving company
• Up to 3 months storage fees
• Hotel/Motel Vouchers
• Only if no shelter beds are available and
  subsequent rental housing has been identified but
  is not immediately available for move-in
• No more than 30 days

18
HPRP Housing Relocation and Stabilization

• Case Management
• Outreach and Engagement
• Housing Search and Placement
• Legal Services
• Credit Repair

19
Data Collection and Evaluation

• HPRP grantees and subgrantees must participate in
  local HMIS system
• Initial, quarterly and annual performance reports
  due to HUD
• Initial quarterly performance report due October
  10, 2009

20
HPRP Administrative Costs

• Costs limited to 5 of total grant amount
• Do not include costs of
• issuing financial assistance
• providing housing relocation and stabilization
  services
• carrying out eligible data collection and
  evaluation activities, such as staff salaries
• costs of conducting inspections
• other operating costs

21
Ineligible Activities

• HPRP funds cannot be used to pay for
• Mortgage costs or costs needed by homeowners to
  assist with any fees, taxes, or other costs of
  financing a mortgage to make it affordable
• Legal or other fees associated with homeowners
  housing
• Construction or rehabilitation
• Shelter operations

22
Ineligible Activities (contd)

• HPRP funds cannot be used to pay for (contd)
• Work or education related materials
• Cash assistance to program participants
• Financial assistance or services to pay for
  expenses that may be paid through other ARRA
  programs, such as childcare or employment training

23
Ineligible Activities (contd)

• HPRP funds cannot be used to pay for (contd)
• Credit card bills or other consumer debt
• Car repair or other transportation costs
• Travel costs
• Medical or dental care and medicines
• Clothing
• Home furnishings

24
HPRP Resources

• HUD Homeless Resource Exchange page
  http//www.hudhre.info/HPRP/
• HUD HPRP Frequently Asked Questions
  http//www.hudhre.info/index.cfm?doviewFaqsByTopi
  ctopicid102
• HUD HRE Virtual Help Desk http//www.hudhre.info
  /helpdesk/index.cfm?doviewHelpdeskprogram_system
  1

25
HPRP Resources
26
HPRP Resources

• Shelter Partnership summary of HUD HPRP Notice
  http//www.shelterpartnership.org/documents/HPRPGu
  idelines.pdf
• National Alliance to End Homelessness best
  practices and planning documents
  http//www.endhomelessness.org/section/prevention

27
City of LA Program

• Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) is the
  direct grantee.
• Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA),
  the lead agency for the Los Angeles Continuum of
  Care (CoC) will administer the funds on behalf of
  LAHD.
• LAHD, LAHSA, Housing Authority of the City of Los
  Angeles, Los Angeles City Council offices and
  Shelter Partnership worked together to design
  program.

28
City of LA Program

• City of LA Program Design http//clkrep.lacity.or
  g/onlinedocs/2009/09-0846_RPT_LAHD_06-22-09.pdf
• 29.4 million distributed as follows
• Homelessness Prevention 10.6 million
• Rapid Rehousing 15.9 million
• Data Collection and Evaluation 1.5 million
• Administrative Costs 1.5 million

29
City of LA Program
30
City of LA Program

• City of LA program consists of
• Homelessness Prevention
• Rapid Rehousing Regional Coordination
• Rapid Rehousing Vehicular Outreach
• Goal of targeting HPRP assistance such that 75
  of clients served are at 30 AMI

31
City of LA Program - Prevention

• Homelessness Prevention will be provided by a
  collaborative led by the Legal Aid Foundation of
  Los Angeles (LAFLA) in partnership with
  Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS), Inner City Law
  Center, New Economics for Women (NEW), and Lamp
• NLS and NEW will provide prevention services in
  the Valley
• LAFLA and in-house case managers will cover the
  rest of the City
• Inner City Law and Lamp will provide services in
  Skid Row

32
City of LA Program - Prevention

• Each eligible HPRP participant will receive
  integrated prevention services including case
  management, legal services and rental assistance,
  as needed.
• Case managers will be co-located with legal
  services staff
• LAFLA will issue all third-party financial
  assistance checks related to prevention

33
City of LA Program - Prevention

• Targets LA City residents who have received an
  eviction notice (Unlawful Detainer)
• Clients who have been prioritized (living in
  subsidized housing, living with disabilities or
  aged 62 years or older etc.) may be assisted
  before eviction stage
• Links clients when necessary to rapid rehousing
  program

34
City of LA Program - Rapid Rehousing

• Rapid Rehousing services will be provided by
  three regional coordinating agencies (RCAs)
• RCAs will serve three separate regions in the
  City
• San Fernando Valley (L.A. Family Housing)
• Metropolitan Los Angeles (PATH, Weingart and St.
  Joseph Center)
• South of the Santa Monica Freeway (Special
  Service for Groups)

35
City of LA Program - Rapid Rehousing

• RCAs will
• accept referrals from homelessness prevention and
  vehicular outreach components
• screen and identify eligible homeless
  participants
• conduct housing search and locate suitable
  housing
• provide ongoing and follow-up case management to
  ensure housing stability
• RCAs will have separate plans to target
• those in transitional housing
• those arriving at shelters for the first time

36
City of LA Program - Rapid Rehousing

• Vehicular outreach program to focus on areas with
  high concentration of vehicular homelessness in
  the City
• PATH, Weingart, St. Joseph Center and Gateways
  collaborative similar to that providing RCA
  services in the Metro LA area
• Link eligible clients to RCA

37
City of LA Program - Rapid Rehousing

• Rapid Rehousing financial assistance will be
  provided by HACLA
• HACLA will
• determine rent reasonableness
• conduct housing inspections
• monitor lead-based paint standards
• issue third-party financial assistance checks to
  landlords
• provide third-party checks for utility set-up

38
County of LA

• LA County Community Development Commission (CDC)
  is the direct grantee
• Allocated 12 million
• Approximately 10 million will be allocated to
  County Departments for financial assistance and
  supportive services

39
County of LA

• County Departments involved include
• Department of Public Social Services (DPSS)
• Community and Senior Services (CSS)
• Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS)
  
• Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA)
• DPSS will issue financial assistance
• Lead agency for LA CoC, LAHSA, will facilitate
  data collection and evaluation through HMIS
• Referrals into HPRP through County hotline 211
  and web-based pre-screening tool

40
County of LA

• Prevention
• up to 2 months of back rent
• up to 12 months of rental subsidy
• targeted populations include households above
  CalWORKs income and asset limits
• Rapid Rehousing
• move-in assistance
• one-time relocation assistance
• targeted populations include households above
  CalWORKs income and asset limits

41
Other LA County Jurisdictions

• 18 additional jurisdictions in LA County received
  direct HPRP allocations from HUD
• These jurisdictions received a total of
  approximately 17 million
• Three non-entitlement jurisdictions in LA County
  just received awards through the State of CA HPRP
  competition

42
State of California

• Housing and Community Development Department
  (HCD) was direct grantee
• Allocated 44 million
• 31 non-entitlement jurisdictions throughout
  California awarded funds ranging from 500,000 to
  1.6 million
• http//gov.ca.gov/press-release/13339/

43
Long-Term Implications

• HPRP can be seen as the pilot program for new ESG
  program referred to as Emergency Solutions Grant
  in McKinney-Vento reauthorization (HEARTH Act).
• HPRP intent aligns with prevention and rapid
  rehousing focus in HEARTH Act.
• HEARTH Act funding will be more performance-based
  (includes new HUD goal of 30-day turnaround from
  homelessness to permanent housing).

44
Linkages between HPRP and Other Programs

• LA City program
• Eviction prevention gives priority to at-risk
  tenants in subsidized housing
• Rapid rehousing can help with move-in costs for
  clients having VASH vouchers and moving into
  subsidized units in the City of LA

45
Linkages between HPRP and Other Programs

• LA County program
• Rental arrears and rental subsidies available for
  those affected by economic downturn (including
  Veterans and Seniors)
• Move-in assistance and relocation assistance
  available

46
Questions?

• dwickrema_at_shelterpartnership.org
• 213-688-2188 x4583