Harris County Community and Economic Development Department

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Harris CountyCommunity and Economic Development
Department

• Emergency Shelter Grant Workshop

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Agenda

• Overview of HCCEDD
• Overview of ESG
• Program Objectives
• Eligible and Ineligible Activities
• Recordkeeping Monitoring
• Questions Wrap-up

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Service Area
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Service Area

• Unincorporated Harris County and its 15
  cooperative cities.
• Bellaire Seabrook
• Deer Park Shoreacres
• Galena Park South Houston
• Humble Tomball
• Jacinto City Waller
• Katy Webster
• LaPorte West University Place
• Morgans Point
• Houston, Baytown and Pasadena receive their own
• community development funds and are not included
• in the Harris County service area.

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How it Works
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The Consolidated Plan

• Five-year plan that addresses
• Housing
• Social services
• Infrastructure and
• Community revitalization needs.
• Specifies types of projects to be funded
• Application for federal funds under HUDs formula
  grant programs
• CDBG
• HOME / ADDI and
• ESG.
• Basis for assessing performance

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The Consolidated Plan aids decision makers in
creating strategies to address the following.

• Employment and employability
• Affordable housing
• Adequate streets
• Water, sewage and drainage systems
• Quality education and Workforce Development
• Parks and green space
• Community facilities
• Quality health care
• Crime awareness and public safety and
• Safe, peaceful and productive neighborhoods for
  low- and moderate-income communities

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Request for Proposals (RFP)

• Solicitation and acceptance of proposals
• According to federal and state procurement laws
  and standards
• Applicants must
• Be a non-profit organization or governmental
  agency or entity
• Expend funds within a 12-month period
• Have sufficient working capital
• Meet one Consolidated Plan Objective
• Meet one National Objective
• Benefit eligible residents in CEDDs HUD Service
  Area.

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Annual Action Plan (AAP)

• Detailed description of the allocations of Harris
  County HUD entitlement dollars (CDBG, HOME, and
  ESG).
• Discusses how resources generated by tax dollars
  will be utilized for the upcoming program year.

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Agencies Receive Allocations

• Contracts are developed between Harris County and
  agencies.
• Funds are dispersed on a reimbursement basis.
• Grants Management staff monitors all projects.

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Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation
Report (CAPER)

• Describes progress.
• Reports on and reviews countys use of
  Entitlement funds.
• Benchmark for projects to be funded.
• Allows for self-assessment.

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Emergency Shelter Grant
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Overview

• The Emergency Shelter Grant program is designed
  to be the first step in a continuum of assistance
  to prevent homelessness and to enable homeless
  individuals and families to move toward
  independent living.

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Objectives

• The objectives of the ESG program are to
• Increase the number and quality of emergency
  shelters and transitional housing facilities
• Operate these facilities and provide essential
  social services and
• Help prevent homelessness.

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Match Requirement

• 100 match.
• The following may be used for match
• Cash
• The value or fair rental value of any donated
  material or buildings
• The value of any lease on a building
• Salary paid to staff to carry out the program
  and
• The value of the time and services contributed by
  volunteers at a rate of 5/hour.

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Eligible Clients

• A person must be homeless (or at great risk of
  becoming immediately homeless) to receive help
  from ESG projects.
• HUDs definition of a homeless person is someone
  who
• Is living on the street or
• Is in an emergency shelter or
• Would be living on the street or in an emergency
  shelter without HUDs homelessness assistance.

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Eligible Activities

• ESG eligible activities
• Renovation, rehabilitation and conversion of
  buildings for use as emergency shelters or
  transitional housing for the homeless
• Essential services
• Operating costs such as maintenance, insurance,
  rent, etc. and
• Homeless prevention.

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Emergency Shelter Renovation, Rehabilitation or
Conversion

• Renovation
• Includes rehabilitation that costs less than 75
  of the value of the building before
  rehabilitation.
• Requires the rehabilitated building to be used as
  a shelter for three years.

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Emergency Shelter Renovation, Rehabilitation or
Conversion

• Major Rehabilitation
• Includes rehabilitation that costs over 75 of
  the value of the building before rehabilitation.
• Requires the rehabilitated building to be used as
  a shelter for ten years.

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Emergency Shelter Renovation, Rehabilitation or
Conversion

• Emergency Shelter Conversion
• Conversion means a change in the use of a
  building to an emergency shelter for the
  homeless, where the cost of conversion and any
  rehabilitation costs exceed 75 of the value of
  the building after conversion.

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Emergency Shelter Renovation, Rehabilitation or
Conversion

• Ineligible costs
• Acquisition of real property
• New construction
• Property clearance or demolition
• Rehabilitation administration
• Staff training or fund raising activities
  associated with rehabilitation and
• Building maintenance and repairs.

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Essential Services

• New Service or Quantifiable Increase
• ESG Funds
• Can be used for a new service
• Can be used for a quantifiable increase in
  service
• Cannot be used to replace existing government or
  non-profit funding of the same service.

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Essential Services

• Eligible Activities
• Assistance in obtaining permanent housing
• Medical and psychological counseling and
  supervision
• Employment counseling
• Nutritional counseling
• Substance abuse treatment and counseling and
• Assistance in obtaining other Federal, State and
  local assistance. (mental health benefits,
  employment counseling, medical assistance,
  Veterans benefits, and income support assistance
  such as supplemental Security Income benefits)

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Essential Services

• Ineligible Activities
• Existing services and staff
• Salary of case management supervisor when not
  working directly on participant issues
• Advocacy, planning, and organizational capacity
  building
• Staff recruitment/training and
• Transportation costs not directly associated with
  service delivery.

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Operating Costs

• Eligible Activities
• Operation
• Insurance
• Utilities
• Furnishings
• Payment for shelter
• maintenance

• Rent
• Repairs
• Security
• Fuel
• Equipment
• Food
• Maintenance

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Operating Costs

• Limitations on Funding
• Staff salaries (including fringe benefits) are
  limited to 10 of the grant.
• Maintenance and security salary costs are not
  subject to the 10 cap.
• Example An organization receiving 55,000 in
  ESG monies for operational costs could only use
  5,500 (10) for operational staff costs.

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Operating Costs
Ineligible Activities

• Recruitment or on-going training of staff
• Depreciation
• Public relations or fund raising

• Staff training, entertainment, conferences, or
  retreats
• Bad debts/late fees
• Mortgage payments

• Costs associated with the organization rather
  than the supportive housing project
  (advertisements, pamphlets about organization,
  surveys, etc.).

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Homeless Prevention

• Includes financial assistance to families who
  have received eviction notices or notices of
  termination of utility services if
• The family cannot make the payments due to a
  sudden reduction in income
• Assistance is necessary to avoid the eviction or
  termination of services
• The family will be able to resume payments within
  a reasonable period of time and,
• Assistance will not supplant funding for
  preexisting homelessness prevention activities
  from other sources.

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Homeless Prevention

• Eligible Activities
• Short-term subsidies (90 days) for rent and
  utilities for families that have received
  eviction or utility termination notices
• Security deposits or first months rent for
  homeless families
• Mediation programs for landlord-tenant disputes
• Legal representation programs for indigent
  tenants in eviction proceedings
• Payments to prevent foreclosure on a home and
• Other activities designed to prevent homelessness.

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Homeless Prevention

• Ineligible Activities
• Housing/services to homeless persons
• Long-term assistance (beyond 90 days)
• Direct payments to individuals

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Program Requirements

• Documentation of Homelessness
• Termination of Participation and Grievance
  Procedure
• Participation of Homeless Persons in
  Policy-Making and Operations
• Ensuring Confidentiality

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Program Requirements Documentation of Homelessness

• Documentation must be
• Obtained from the participant or a third party
• Obtained at the time of referral, entry, intake
  or orientation to the ESG-funded project
• Maintained in the client file to determine the
  eligibility of persons served
• In the form of either the Individual Eligibility
  Form or other acceptable documents for different
  situations.

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Program Requirements Termination of
Participation and Grievance Procedure

• Organizations must have a procedure that
  describes
• Program requirements
• Termination process and
• Grievance procedure.

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Program Requirements Participation of Homeless
Persons in Policy-Making and Operations

• Policy-Making
• Service providers of ESG funds are required by
  law to provide for the participation of at least
  one homeless or formerly homeless person in a
  policy-making function within the organization.
• All applicable policy-making homeless person(s)
  must be noted by organizations board of
  directors.

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Program Requirements Participation of Homeless
Persons in Policy-Making and Operations

• Operations
• Homeless participants must be involved in the
  operation of the ESG funded program.
• Involvement can include participants employment
  or volunteerism in project activities.

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Program Requirements Ensuring Confidentiality

• To ensure the safety of participants fleeing
  domestic violence situations, ESG-funded
  organizations are required to
• Implement procedures to guarantee
  confidentiality
• Not publicly disclose the address/location of the
  family violence shelter (except with written
  authorization of person(s) responsible for the
  shelter facilitys operation) and
• Keep written records or files of families under
  lock and key with limited access to those files.

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Recordkeeping Monitoring

• Overview
• General recordkeeping requirements
• Access to records
• Retention of records
• Monitoring
• Reporting requirements

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General Recordkeeping Requirements

• Records should be
• Accurate, complete, orderly and
• Maintained in order to
• Document all ESG funded activities and
• Demonstrate compliance with all applicable
  program and other requirements.
• According to U.S. Department of Housing and
  Urban Development Department (HUD) 24 CFR Part
  570 and Part 570.208.

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General Recordkeeping Requirements

• ESG funded organizations must establish and
  maintain
• Administrative records
• Financial Records, and
• Project/case files.

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Access to Records

• Records are used to create audits,
  examinations, excerpts and transcripts. The
  following have access to records of ESG funded
  organizations
• CEDD representatives
• HUD representatives
• Comptroller Generals Office of the United
  States
• Other authorized governmental agencies
• Citizens (24 CFR 570.508).

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Monitoring

• The primary mission of monitoring is to ensure
  that organizations are
• In compliance with all regulations governing
  their
• Administrative
• Financial and
• Programmatic operations and
• Achieving their performance objectives within
  their schedule and budget, as outlined in the
  Agreement.

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Monitoring

• Five steps in a monitoring visit
• Notification letter
• Entrance conference
• Documentation, data acquisition and analysis
• Exit conference
• Monitoring letter

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Reporting Requirements

• Reporting requirements are specified by the
  Grantee (CEDD) in the Subrecipient Agreement.
• Programmatic and Financial Reimbursement Request
  Reports are due monthly.
• Quarterly and Annual reports may also apply.

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Questions And Answers
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Questions?

• Contact
• Shanna Lebrum
• Senior Program Analyst
• [phone], ext. (2051)
• shanna_lebrum_at_hctx.net
• Or visit our website at
• www.cedd.hctx.net