The "hold harmless" allocation of HUD funds available to the DuPage County Homeless Continuum in the 2007 application was $ 2,853,709. An additional bonus of $ 198,613 was available for a Permanent Housing project for chronically homeless persons for a total of $ 3,052,322.

The key elements in the 2007 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 third year in a row. This amount for the DuPage Continuum was $198,613 for a two year project.

2) All other projects recommended must fall within the Continuum's HUD "hold harmless" allocation amount.

3) The Continuum has the authority to eliminate or reduce the amount of renewal projects and "re-allocate" their renewal funds if they wish to fund new Permanent Housing projects with this money. The Grants Funding committee examines recaptured funds for all renewal projects as part of their review process. ( i.e. funds that were not expended). The HMIS project had $70,000 in recaptured funds. After projecting future expenditures for the HMIS project, the HMIS Administrator agreed that the annual grant could be reduced by $50,000. The Grants Funding Committee had received two applications for new Permanent Supportive Housing projects. Only one could be funded as the Samaritan project. Therefore the Grants Funding Committee re-allocated $ 50,000 from the HMIS project in order to fund both projects - one as the Samaritan project and one as a re-allocation. Both projects were able to serve the original number of chronically homeless persons projected since the re-allocated project was reduced to a one year term and had no support services costs - only housing costs. The goal was to maximize the number of new beds for the chronically homeless. The Leadership Committee approved this recommendation unanimously.

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) 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 at least 71%.
   
3. Increase the percentage of homeless persons moving from Transitional Housing to Permanent Housing to at least 61.5%.
4. Increase percentage of homeless persons employed at exit to at least 18%.
5. Ensure that the CoC has a functional HMIS system.

1. Opened 7 new beds for the chronically homeless in the DuPage P.A.DS. project - Carol's Place in August 2006. Opened 7 new beds for the chronically homeless in the DuPage Health Department Shelter + Care project in April 2007. Awarded funding for another 7 new beds for the chronically homeless projected to open in September 2007 - DuPage P.A.D.S. Sanctuary House project.
2. 81.5% of homeless persons admitted to Permanent Supportive Housing stayed over 6 months exceeding the HUD goal of 71%..
3. 79.6% of homeless persons leaving transitional housing entered permanent housing in the community exceeding the HUD goal of 62%.
4. 42.6% of homeless persons exited HUD funded projects with employment income exceeding the goal of 25%.
5. The DuPage CoC has a fully operational HMIS System consisting of seventeen DuPage County agencies. They achieved 100% bed coverage in emergency shelters, transitional housing , and permanent supportive housing beds. (excluding the domestic violence programs).

• DuPage CoC achieved sufficient scoring on their application to be awarded Samaritan project funding in both 2005 and 2006.
• Only 11 out of 21 Illinois Continuums achieved this scoring threshold in 2006.
• 81.5% of homeless persons admitted to Permanent Supportive Housing stayed over 6 months exceeding the HUD goal of 71%..
• 79.6% of homeless persons leaving transitional housing entered permanent housing in the community exceeding the HUD goal of 62%.
• 42.6% of homeless persons exited HUD funded projects with employment income exceeding the goal of 25%.
• The DuPage CoC has a fully operational HMIS System consisting of seventeen DuPage County agencies. They achieved 100% bed coverage in emergency shelters, transitional housing , and permanent supportive housing beds. ( excluding the domestic violence programs).
• The first Open Door event for persons on the street was held at DuPage PADS on February 22, 2007. Approximately 40 individuals participated in the event. The following agencies were present: DuPage PADS, Catholic Charities, DuPage County Human Services, Access DuPage, IDHS, Prairie State Legal Services. Future Open Door events are planned.
• DuPage CoC has received an invitation to apply for technical assistance funding from Community Memorial Foundation to evaluate the DuPage Continuum Plan to End Homelessness and conduct strategic planning sessions to update the Plan from 2007 - 2011.
• The Carol's Place Samaritan project became fully operational adding 7 new beds for the chronically homeless.
• DuPage PADS has a goal of housing 50 individuals in Permanent Supportive Housing by 2010. Today, DuPage PADS has 21 permanent supportive housing scattered apartments in DuPage County.
• The DuPage County Health Dept Shelter + Care project became fully operational adding 26 new permanent housing beds with 7 designated for the chronically homeless. They are currently operating 74 permanent housing beds in the communities of Westmont, Warrenville and Wheaton.
• The Prairie State Legal Services Homeless Advocacy project has assisted over 800 homeless persons since opening with barriers to employment, such as the reinstatement of a suspended drivers licenses or expungement of an arrest record. For persons who cannot work due to disability or domestic circumstances; legal assistance was provided to secure disability-based benefits or subsidized housing. Legal assistance was also provided to obtain child support or unemployment insurance benefits. Legal assistance was provided in securing housing that had previously been unlawfully denied, by illegal eviction or unlawful termination or denial of public housing benefits.
• Through the Bowman Systems Community Point module, the HMIS system has successfully re-designed the Resource Point section which allows for easier and more efficient referrals.
• The DuPage County Homeless Continuum continues to increase information to the community and its service providers through enhancements to its website - www.dupagehomeless.org . New pages on Homeless Prevention, the Homeless Management Information System and the Education of Homeless Youth were added as well as continual updates and enhancements to existing pages.
• Due to advocacy efforts across the state, the DuPage County Continuum's homeless prevention fund allocation doubled to $ 701,800. The number of households that will be assisted in FY 2008 will increase to 800 households annually.
• The DuPage CoC street count located 124 unsheltered persons through the efforts of community volunteers, Continuum members, and municipal police departments.

20TH ANNIVERSARY MCKINNEY HOMELESS ASSISTANCE ACT!

On July 22, 2007 the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act turned 20 years old-marking the day in 1987 that President Reagan signed the act into law.

The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, now known as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, was first enacted in 1987 in response to the rapid and dramatic growth of homelessness in the United States during the 1980s.

More than a decade has passed since Congress last reauthorized the programs and addressing homelessness is more urgent than ever. Annual surveys by the U.S. Conference of Mayors have found increases in the number of persons seeking shelter and services in their survey cities every year since 1987.

Congress is seeking to give communities new and more effective resources for ending homelessness through new McKinney Reauthorization bills.

Senate
Senator Reed (D-RI) along with Senator Allard (R-CO) introduced the Community Partnership to End Homelessness Act (CPEHA), S 1518, in late May. The bill has since gained 19 co- sponsors.

House
Representative Maxine Waters (D- CA), Chair of the Subcommittee with jurisdiction over this issue - the Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, will write a McKinney reauthorization bill this fall.

There is also a McKinney reauthorization bill - the HEARTH Act - that was introduced in the House in February.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is supporting passage of S. 1518 Community Partnership to End Homelessness ( CPEHA). It important features include:

1. The addition of homeless prevention assistance.
2. Housing and support services for families with children.
3. Assistance for families with children who are "doubled- up".
4. Eliminates the requirement for permanent housing that the person have a disability.
5. Includes families in the definition of "chronically homeless".
6. Assistance to rural communities.
   

For more information on the proposed legislation and advocacy efforts, go to www.endhomelessness.org and search for CPEHA.

DUPAGE HOMELESS CLIENT MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (CMIS)

The DuPage Continuum computerized client management information system has 16 agencies participating in the ServicePoint system. The reporting of client level data is 100% for emergency shelter beds, 100% for transitional housing beds, and 100% for permanent supportive housing beds (excluding domestic violence beds).

The System Administrator made individual site visits 2006-07 to all sixteen participating agencies to view the quality and consistency of the data entered. The System Administrator runs a null data report at least monthly.

80% of all user agencies have implemented good in-house training programs. These in-house training programs are now open to the other user agencies staff. There are 3 all agency trainings annually and there were 6 individual agency trainings held on site last year.

Report capability has increased tremendously since the Advanced Reporting Tool is now fully functional. The DuPage County CMIS now has 9 licenses for persons who can create reports and 20 viewer licenses which will allow other users the ability to use these custom reports.

Duplication of client records has been a significant challenge that hopefully is now resolved effective April 15, 2007. ServicePoint changed from a closed client system to an open client demographic system on that date. Now all users can call up any existing client record and add to it without seeing the other information entered. Previously the system did not allow for this. The next challenge is examining and eliminating the previous duplicate records.

The CMIS Users Group meets monthly, usually in the morning of the second Wednesday. The DuPage County CMIS Administrator is Leslie Grevoy. 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 upated 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

BENEFITS UPDATES
The most recent updates to state and federal benefits can be found on the Continuum website. An index has recently been added to enhance a quick glance of all recent updates.
www.dupagehomeless.org
Benefits Updates/State Benefits Updates

HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS

ACCESS Community Health Network has a Health Care for the Homeless Grant and would like to increase the numbers of homeless patients they see in order to be able to continue this service.
In order to access these health care services for your homeless clients, please:
1. Call one of the Health Centers for appointments:

2. Identify the patient as a homeless person (this includes those in transitional housing, and those living in other Continuum supported programs, as well as those in interim housing and those on the street).

If there are questions, please contact : Candace M. King, Executive Director, DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform, Telephone: 630-782-4782 or at cking@dupagefederation.org

NEEDS ASSESSMENT

A One Night survey conducted on January 25, 2007 indicated that 766 persons in DuPage County were homeless on that night.

• 190 persons in emergency shelter including 18 family units.
• 452 persons in transitional housing including 105 family units.
• 124 unsheltered persons on the street including 8 unsheltered family units.

173 of these persons were chronically homeless. - 71 in shelters and 102 on the streets.

There were 56 unaccompanied youth between the ages of 18-21 in shelter or transitional housing on that night.

For more complete information please see the 2007 Homeless Populations Chart under Homeless Demographics.

A Provider Survey was completed on January 25, 2007 to update the Housing Inventory of beds and units available for emergency shelter, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing in the DuPage Continuum. There are 228 year round emergency shelter beds, 128 individual transitional housing beds, 445 family transitional housing beds, 83 individual permanent supportive housing beds, and 170 family permanent supportive housing beds. There were 46 permanent housing beds occupied by chronically homeless persons on the night of the count.

The 2007 Housing Inventory Charts are available to view and print on the Continuum website - www.dupagehomeless.org. Click on Homeless Demographics and then select Housing Inventory Charts. Then select a specific chart. For help in interpreting the charts, click on Explanation of Forms.

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. Changes recommended for the 2008 Ranking Criteria include:

• #2 is being changed to Eligibility Criteria to ensure we are in compliance with HUD requirements. The previous self-sufficiency criteria is being added into #6.
• #6 adds a statement describing the project's self sufficiency outcomes and also replaces HUD APR goals with the Logic Model goals for each project. Also scoring on Performance measures will be based on Continuum baselines, not HUD minimums. Any project not meeting HUD minimums will be considered for re-allocation.
• #11 mainstream chart will have additional information requested that will evaluate whether all persons in the program have a source of cash income and health care.
• #11 employment measure will be based on the Continuum baseline of 42.6%, not the HUD minimum of 18%. It will only be based on exiting clients.

A draft of proposed changes has been completed and is available to any interested parties. To receive the August 2007 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 14, 2007 and the Leadership Committee meeting on December 12, 2007.

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 2008 HUD Supernofa application process.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) FUNDING

Applicants have been notified by email with the details of how to obtain instructions and application forms in August 2007. Any non-profit interested in applying must attend one of these informational meetings - Wednesday, August 29 at 9:00 a.m. or Thursday, August 30 at 2:00 p.m. The meetings are located in Room 3500B of the JTK Building, 421 N. County Farm Road, Wheaton, IL.

As of Monday, August 27, 2007, the CDBG and ESG applications will be available on line at http://www.dupageco.org/cdc.

These applications are due to the DuPage County Community Development Department by October 1, 2007.

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 216 to 253 in the 2007 Housing Inventory.

This includes 83 individual beds and 170 family beds (Housing Inventory Chart 2007 - Permanent Housing.) Of the 83 individual beds, 46 were designated for the chronically homeless.

These totals include 33 new beds which became available for occupancy between February 2006 and January 2007. Fourteen of these beds are designated for the chronically homeless. The new beds include 26 Shelter plus Care beds from the DuPage County Health Department. (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 are operated by DuPage P.A.D.S. in the Carol's Place project.

There are another 7 chronically homeless beds scheduled to become operational by September 2007. This is the DuPage P.A.D.S. Sanctuary House project. That makes a total of 40 new beds in the last two years - 21 new beds dedicated to the chronically homeless.

The goal in the 2003 Plan to End Homelessness was to create 20 new beds for the chronically homeless by 2008. The DuPage Continuum now has 46 beds for the chronically homeless. We are exceeding the goal!

MEETING CALENDAR

A new calendar of all Continuum committee meetings for the period from July 2007 through July 2008 is available on this website. (Continuum Overview/Calendar)