HUD HOMELESS PROJECTS FUNDED !

The announcement was much later than usual this year but on January 25, 2005 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the largest single commitment of federal funds designed to provide shelter and care for those without a home of their own. More than 4,400 local homeless programs across America received $1.4 billion in grants.

The DuPage Homeless Continuum received $ 2,626,754 in funding for nine projects. The DuPage Continuum increased its funding by $600,000 from the previous year and has increased its funds for the sixth year in a row.

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING - MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Please mark your calendars for the next Full Membership Meeting on
WEDNESDAY, 4/13/05!
The meeting from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Metropolitan Family Services
222 E. Willow
Wheaton, IL 60187

The theme of the meeting will be legislative advocacy for affordable housing and strategies for the development of more affordable housing units.
Representatives will be presenting from:

• Statewide Housing Action Coalition
• DuPage Housing Action Coalition
• Supportive Housing Providers Association
• Corporation for Supportive Housing

A complete agenda will be sent to all Continuum members shortly via mail. 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.

NOTICE OF FUND AVAILABILITY AND REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
HUD 2005 SUPERNOFA HOMELESS APPLICATION PROCESS

All Continuum members were notified by email that the Needs Assessment Committee began the application and selection process for HUD's 2005 Continuum of Care funding. The programs covered include the Supportive Housing, Shelter Plus Care, and Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy for Homeless Individuals (SRO) programs. While the amount of funds available has not been announced, last year the DuPage Continuum had an adjusted pro rata share of $1.8 million with an incentive amount up to an additional $750,000 for a new Permanent Housing project for homeless persons with disabilities. There are significant renewals in 2005 that will impact the ability to fund new activities other than a new Permanent Housing project. However, a small project of $100,000 or less may be possible.

Agencies are encouraged to submit new Permanent Housing projects for consideration by the Needs Assessment Committee for the upcoming HUD 2005 Continuum of Care application.

Initial oral presentations of only new proposed projects were held at the Needs Assessment Committee meeting on February 17, 2005.

Written Business Plans of all new and renewal projects will be reviewed by the Needs Assessment Committee at their meeting on March 17, 2005 1:30 p.m. at Metropolitan Family Services in Wheaton. All members of the Continuum are encouraged to attend!

All potential applicants must attend that meeting with 20 paper copies of their Business Plan. At that meeting, a timetable for the Supernofa Continuum of Care application process will be distributed to all applicants.

If you need the Business Plan or Cost Forms, please contact Peg White Lijewski at plijewski@wideopenwest.comand they will be emailed to you.

DUPAGE CONTINUUM LOGO AND WEBSITE

Thanks to the generosity of Robert Brandt and Associates, the DuPage Continuum now has an official logo. We have also registered a domain name of dupagehomeless.org and are in the process of developing a website.

John Cicero and Eileen Clark, faculty of the College of Business at Benedictine University, are donating their time and expertise to develop a fully functional website which should be up and running shortly. You will receive email notification when it is complete.

The website will be designed to:

• Provide information on the Continuum
• Describe the extent and nature of homelessness in DuPage County
• Add resources to the Continuum by getting persons to donate time and/or services
• Link persons with participation in the Continuum.

A special thanks to Dennis Smith, Northern IL Food Bank who linked us with Benedictine University!

A special thanks to Mike Brosnahan, West Suburban Bank, who recommended us to Robert Brandt and Associates!

DUPAGE CONTINUUM - ENDING HOMELESSNESS

Members of the DuPage Homeless Continuum have been taking action to implement the Continuum's Plan to End Homelessness which was adopted in April 2004.

The DuPage Plan to End Homelessness endorses the Housing First approach- get persons in housing and then address service needs instead of trying to resolve all issues while in shelter or transitional housing. We are working to create a community infrastructure, including homeless prevention, sufficient income and affordable housing units that can support permanent housing for everyone.

Here are the highlights of our progress to date: (by objective numbers)

#1 - The CMIS System is upgrading to ServicePoint 3.8 as part of progressing to a fully functional homeless management information system. New user training is ongoing to ensure the integrity of the data.

#2 - A baseline of Homeless Prevention funding and persons served has been completed. A written Coordination Agreement has been completed with the 4 major prevention providers.

#3) The DuPage Continuum has a representative on the Regional Roundtable Discharge Planning team. Have identified current laws in each public discharge system and best practices in discharge planning.

#3) Formal agreements have been completed and a list of key contact persons in all the mainstream benefit offices have been distributed to Continuum members.

#3) A PowerPoint training education mainstream offices on the Continuum of Care has been completed and training scheduled with the IL Dept of Human Services.

#3) " Making the Connection" training on accessing mainstream benefits is scheduled throughout the year in order to accommodate staff turnover. HUD and the state of Illinois are in the process of funding this training to all Continuums in Illinois.

#3) As of October 2004, casework, life skills, and screening for public benefits are available at designated DuPage P.A.D.S. night sites in order to increase benefits enrollment to the chronically homeless population and assess their housing needs.

#5) Standards for shelters and transitional housing programs to use in securing permanent housing quickly are in draft form. A special subcommittee is developing a quarterly utilization report on shelters and transitional housing programs noting waiting list issues, gaps and unmet needs.

#6) An Affordable Housing seminar on 9-8-04 brought over 15 agencies in attendance. It demystified the different layers of financing in developing housing and how to put them together for both small and large projects.

#6) Two organizations are in the process of becoming new Community Housing Development Organizations - Catholic Charities and Bluestem Housing Partners, NFP. The goal is to develop housing for the most chronic homeless populations.

#7) Efforts to develop new support services without HUD funds have been successful.

• The Martin Russo federally qualified health center (FQHC) has added a fifth physician and a psychiatric social worker. Both staff are bilingual. This permits the Russo Center to provide mental health services for persons who are not as severely mentally ill as those served by the Health Department.
• A second FQHC will be opened by April 1 in West Chicago. This center will provide pediatric and adult medicine and mental health services.
• A third center is planned for the Bensenville/Addison area.
• The DuPage County Board has awarded $300,000 to implement recommendations on expansion of mental health services to serve those who cannot currently access mental health services. (i.e. those not severely mentally ill). Funds are for pragmatic solutions that can be implemented quickly and where sustainable funding sources can be identified. These funds may be matched with an additional $300,000 of Medicaid money.
• Non-profits may become certified Medicaid providers of mental health services and subcontract with DuPage County to receive federal reimbursement.
  
  

#8) The major barriers to enrollment in mainstream programs have been identified by a special subcommittee. A baseline regarding use of benefits vs. number of persons living in poverty has been completed. Census data has been gathered regarding vulnerable populations who need benefits.

#8) Possible solutions to barriers are being evaluated including an ombudsman who is the linkage and problem solver or possibly an interactive website that accesses multiple benefits programs.

#9) The DuPage Housing Action Coalition is actively working on the passage of a statewide rental subsidy program for low income persons which would reduce the number of persons becoming homeless.

#9) Seventeen new units of permanent housing for the chronically homeless were funded in the 2004 HUD Continuum of Care awards.

#9) Twenty two new units of permanent supportive housing for homeless persons with disabilities became operational in November 2004.

Each committee of the DuPage Continuum has oversight over certain components of the Plan to End Homelessness. Activities and time frames to accomplish the objectives are in process. For more information, contact the Continuum Consultant at plijewski@wideopenwest.com.

"MAKING THE CONNECTION" TRAINING

"Making the Connection - A Guide to Mainstream Programs in DuPage County" has been copyrighted. The sessions contained practical information in an easy to understand format regarding the many programs available to assist low income persons, including homeless liaisons at all local offices, user friendly application tips, and client advocacy hints.

The manual has been revised to allow users to locate information quickly and update information easily. The training is now an all day session and includes time for:

• Case studies
• IDHS policy updates on new Transitional Food Stamps, Linkup Illinois, and new methods for obtaining medical information for disability applications
• Manual has marginal headings to assist readers to locate needed information quickly and income charts are in a separate section so they can be easily replaced as the information is updated by the mainstream agencies.
• Senior Care, Illinois Health Women, and Breast and Cervical Cancer programs are included in the revised manual.

Training sessions are ongoing throughout the year. To register, please call Amy at DuPage Federation at 630-782-4703

PROVIDER SURVEY AND STREET COUNT

The DuPage Continuum conducted a one night count of both sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons on January 27, 2005. Data was collected from the DuPage Continuum's homeless service providers which included the inventory of beds available, the number of persons that night and the needs for housing which were not met that night.

Data was collected on all beds within the emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, and permanent housing beds.

A street count was conducted on that same date to assess the number of unsheltered homeless persons.

The subpopulations were also counted - including the number of chronically homeless persons and their housing needs.

The results are now being tabulated. The information will be used in the 2005 Continuum of Care application and highlights will be forthcoming in the July 2005 Update.

Special thanks to Kathryn Nelson of the DuPage Federation for conducting the Homeless Provider Survey interviews and compiling the data.

Thanks also to Jean Rosio, Deborah Carr and Jane Tyschenko for coordinating the Street Count.

DUPAGE CLIENT MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (CMIS)

In 2001, Congress established a national goal that every homeless Continuum collect unduplicated client level data by 2004. The DuPage Continuum client management information system (CMIS) went "live" in December 2002 using ServicePoint by Bowman. ServicePoint is an Internet-based system whereby all agencies that provide services to the homeless, persons at risk, and low-income persons can enter and maintain client information.

The DuPage Plan to End Homelessness has a goal of implementing a fully functional CMIS system. All HUD funded agencies will be fully entering data into the required fields in the next six months. Due to confidentiality issues, HUD has agreed not to require domestic violence providers to participate in the system. The system is now in the process of converting to version 3.8. Upon completion, the report capabilities should be significantly enhanced for all users.

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 her new phone number of 630- 407-.6462

MEETING CALENDAR

A revised calendar of all Continuum committee meetings for the period from July 2004 through July 2005 is enclosed for your information. The only change is that meetings formerly held in the Community Development conference room in the 421 N. County Farm Road building have now been changed to Room 2700.

DUPAGE CONTINUUM LEADERSHIP

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Last Updated July 26, 2009