The allocation of HUD funds available to the DuPage County Homeless Continuum in the 2006 application is $ 2,757,344. An additional bonus of $ 198,613 was available for a Permanent Housing project for chronically homeless persons for a total of $ 2,955,957.

The key elements in the 2006 HUD Homeless funding program include:

1) The amount available for the Samaritan incentive project was limited to 15% of the Continuum's initial pro rata share for the second year in a row. This amount for the DuPage Continuum was approximately $198,000 for a two year project.

2) All projects recommended must fall within the Continuum's final HUD allocation amount. There were no funds available for any excess (formerly called the "straddle funds).

3) The Continuum has the authority to deselect renewal projects and "re-allocate" their renewal funds if they wished to fund new Permanent Housing projects with this money. This option was not exercised this year. It will be determined on a case by case basis in the next funding year.

4) Each Continuum is now required to meet five HUD national goals and must report their action steps and progress. See HUD goals section following.

5) HUD's national goal is to develop 150,000 beds targeted for the chronically homeless by 2010. Currently there are 50,000 beds nationwide.

6) Each project is required to meet housing performance and outcome measures according to HUD requirements.

1. Create new Permanent Housing beds designated for chronically homeless persons.
2. Increase the percentage of homeless persons staying in Permanent Housing over 6 months to 71%.
3. Increase the percentage of homeless persons moving from Transitional Housing to Permanent Housing to 61%.
4. Increase the percentage of homeless persons becoming employed by 11%.
5. Ensure that the CoC has a functional HMIS system.

The DuPage Continuum will be evaluating each project's achievement in meeting these goals as well as the Continuum's overall achievement. Changes have been made to the Ranking Criteria beginning in October 2006 which reflect these HUD goals.

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING - MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Please mark your calendars for the next Full Membership Meeting on
Friday, 11/17/06!
The meeting will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
At Metropolitan Family Services
222 E. Willow
Wheaton, IL 60187

The next full membership meeting is scheduled for Friday, November 17, 2006 at Metropolitan Family Services from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The topics include:

1) Barriers to Social Security and the Appeal Process - Kerry O'Brien from Prairie State Legal Services.

2) Advocacy and services for Homeless Students from the Regional Office of Education.

A complete agenda will be sent to all Continuum members in October. Please join us for this enjoyable yet informative and worthwhile session. Local legislators, DuPage County Board members, and members of the DuPage Housing Action Coalition are also being invited to this meeting.

The DuPage Continuum computerized client management information system has 18 agencies participating in the ServicePoint system. The reporting of client level data is 80% for emergency shelter beds, 93% for transitional housing beds, and 100% for permanent supportive housing beds.

Recently the system purchased an Advanced Reporting Tool (ART) in order to create custom reports that will meet each agency's particular needs and the Continuum's reporting needs. The DuPage CMIS has purchased 5 licenses for persons who can create reports and 20 viewer licenses which will allow other users the ability to use these custom reports. A consultant is assisting in developing the custom report capability. The HUD Annual Progress Report is now completed for all agencies. Six other reports requested by agencies are in process. For the Continuum, a chronically homeless report and the homeless populations report are under development.

In order to ensure the integrity of data entry, the System Administrator has completed data quality checks at each participating agency.

The DuPage HMIS System also conducts ongoing training. Individual agency training is available on site. A two day systemwide training session was held on June 12 and 13, 2006. It will be repeated in 9-12 months.

Entering client level data in the HMIS system is mandatory in order to receive HUD Continuum funding or Community Development Block Grant funding. The DuPage County CMIS Administrator is Leslie Grevoy. The CMIS Users Group meets monthly, usually in the morning of the second Wednesday. For more information, please contact Leslie at 630- 407-6462.

MAINSTREAM BENEFITS

MAKING THE CONNECTION - QUICK GUIDE TO PUBLIC RESOURCES
A manual of qualifying criteria and contact information for public benefits and supportive services offered by local, state or federal agencies. "Making the Connection Manual" is available to view and download from the Continuum website -
www.dupagehomeless.org
Benefits Updates/Making the Connection

THE HELPER
A quick desk reference guide to agencies in DuPage County providing specific services such as child care, advocacy, employment, etc. The HELPER is available to view and download from the Continuum website. - www.dupagehomeless.org
Benefits Updates/The HELPER

BENEFITS TRAINING
The DuPage Federation for Human Services Reform is conducting specialized training seminars on Public Benefits for a variety of specific segments of the population, i.e. youth, domestic violence victims, immigrants, etc. The basic Making the Connection training as well as Understanding Medicaid Spend down is also available.

This training can assist non-profits, schools, faith based organizations, local governments, businesses and health care providers to identify their customers who may be eligible for mainstream benefits and know how to expedite the application process.

A complete training schedule along with registration information is available at the Continuum website - www.dupagehomeless.org
Benefits Updates/Benefits Training

• focus groups with PADS clients to determine the most likely places to look.
• use of incentives for clients to be counted.
• Divide county into clusters to gain maximum coverage.

2006 RANKING CRITERIA REVISIONS

The project ranking criteria that are used to evaluate CDBG and HUD funded projects are reviewed annually by the Grants Funding Committee. A draft of proposed changes has been completed and is available to any interested parties. To receive the August 2006 draft of the Ranking Criteria, please contact Peg White Lijewski at plijewski@wideopenwest.com

The changes have been discussed at the Needs Assessment, Grants Funding and Leadership committee meetings. Final approval will take place at the Grants Funding meeting on November 7, 2006 and the Leadership Committee meeting on December 6, 2006.

If you wish to weigh in on these proposed changes, please contact Phil Smith at 407-6420 or email him at phil.smith@dupageco.org. Any approved changes to the Ranking System criteria will take effect for the 2007 HUD Supernofa application process.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) FUNDING

Applicants will notified by email with the details of how to obtain instructions and application forms in August 2006. Applicants may request individual assistance in completing applications by calling Carolyn Engle at 407-6603. These applications are due to the DuPage County Community Development Department by October 2, 2006. The Grants Funding committee will be evaluating the CDBG/ESG funding applications for the Homeless Cluster. The Grants Funding Committee will review the scoring of all CDBG applications prior to final determination by the Community Development staff.

CREATING PERMANENT HOUSING

The DuPage Homeless Continuum continues to assess its progress in creating new permanent supportive housing beds available for the homeless. The number of Permanent Supportive Housing beds increased from 208 to 216 in the 2006 Housing Inventory.

This includes 62 individual beds and 154 family beds (Housing Inventory Chart 2006 - PH.) Of the 62 individual beds, 14 were designated for the chronically homeless. This number will increase as the DuPage Health Dept. has agreed to designate 50% of all their HUD funded beds for the chronically homeless. This will result in a total of 24 existing beds for use by the chronically homeless within the next 5 years. The changeover will occur as these beds become open. Ken Edminster, DuPage County Health Dept., gave information on the admission policies and procedures for referral of chronically homeless persons at the July 2006 Needs Assessment meeting. If you need further information, please contact him directly at kedminst@dupagehealth.org.

In fiscal year 2006, there are 33 new Permanent Housing beds projected to open. Fourteen of these beds will be designated for the chronically homeless. This includes 26 Shelter plus Care beds from the DuPage County Health Department. These 26 beds include 12 family beds and 14 individual beds - 7 of which are dedicated to the chronically homeless. Another 7 new beds dedicated to the chronically homeless will be operated by DuPage P.A.D.S.

In summary, there will be 33 new beds - 21 individual beds and 12 family beds. Fourteen of the 21 individual beds will be for the chronically homeless. This brings the Continuum's total beds dedicated to the chronically homeless to 28 at the end of 2006 with an additional 24 existing beds being converted within five years. The goal in the Plan to End Homelessness was to create 20 new beds for the chronically homeless by 2008. We are exceeding our goal!

Further development of permanent housing beds is in the works:

• DuPage P.A.D.S. has received approval as a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO). Under development is 11-units of Permanent Supportive Housing. There are 8 units for individuals and 3 units for families.
• Catholic Charities will add four units of permanent supportive housing as a part of the Ogden Manor Apartments acquisition in Naperville. They will be able to rent 4 two-bedroom units to homeless families. Also their application to become a CHDO is under review.
• Bluestem LLC just received 501(c)3 status and is applying for CHDO Status. Bluestem is looking for an service provider to partner with this fall for a spring 2007 project. This includes any social service provider that needs housing for their clients. If you are interested, please contact Bluestem by emailing ahamernik@hotmail.com.
  

HOMELESS PREVENTION

Due to advocacy efforts of the DuPage Housing Coalition and other groups across the state, the Homeless Prevention Fund in Illinois is being funded at $11 million in FY 07, an increase from $5 million in FY 06. These funds are coming from the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The DuPage Continuum's Homeless Prevention funds increased from $ 325,007 to $ 701,800. These funds will be distributed in DuPage County through the agencies who are part of the DuPage Homeless Prevention Provider Network. This includes: Catholic Charities, DuPage County Community Services, Outreach Community Ministries, and the People's Resource Center.

The DuPage Homeless Continuum is charged with the responsibility of determining the allocation of these funds to each prevention provider. In April 2006, the Grants Funding Committee began a process of re-examining the distribution of these funds to determine the appropriate percent allocations. The Homeless Prevention Providers Network is currently engaged in a study, overseen by the Grants Funding Committee, which will lead to some recommendations for the Continuum Leadership Committee.

The core issues identified by the Homeless Prevention Providers Network in their study include:

• Agreement on common principles and consistent application of guidelines by all providers;
• Identification of best practices in services and accountability for all providers;
• A system that insures equal access and wrap-around services for all qualified residents, geographically and culturally, with emphasis on serving high need/underserved areas;
• Creation of recommendations for the best possible allocation of resources
  
  If you are interested in further information, please contact Mary Ellen Durbin, Chair of the DuPage Homeless Prevention Providers Network at mdurbin@peoplesrc.org
  

DUPAGE CONTINUUM WEBSITE

Please visit the DuPage Homeless Continuum website at www.dupagehomeless.org to access relevant information on the activities and accomplishments of the Continuum.

If you have suggestions for enhancing the website or If you would like to add announcements or a link to your organization, please email it to plijewski@wideopenwest.com( All links need to have a 1-2 sentence description. )

Special thanks to Eileen Clark, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Benedictine University who makes an outstanding contribution in keeping the site updated. Her timeliness and interest is invaluable.

MEETING CALENDAR

The calendar of all Continuum committee meetings for the period from July 2005 through July 2006 is available from Peg White Lijewski at plijewski@wideopenwest.com

Following is a listing of the DuPage Homeless Continuum Leadership individuals.