ONONDAGA, COUNTY OF
Grant: $897,454 - Department of Housing and Urban Development - Jul. 20, 2009
71% voted satisfied - 29% voted not satisfied - 7 vote(s) cast
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Award Description: The Syracuse-Onondaga County Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Plan centers on the concepts of diversion and rapidly re-housing the community?s homeless and housing vulnerable. The following are key elements of this new approach: a. Single Point of Entry: The Department of Social Services will operate on the Second Floor of the Civic Center a Single Point of Entry to serve the needs of housing vulnerable and homeless. Under the direction of the Department?s Housing Director, Income Maintenance Specialists, Case Managers and Housing Relocators, positions funded with HPRP funds, will work at the SPOE to divert and/or rapidly rehouse housing vulnerable and homeless individuals and families. b. Diversion: Work aggressively with the housing vulnerable to avert homelessness. This may include providing temporary rent and/or utility assistance and assisting in relocation to an affordable residence. c. Emergency Shelters: Adopt a philosophy that shelter stays are brief and limited to days not months. They are to provide basic needs ? food and shelter - not extensive case management. d. Housing First/Rapid Re-Housing: Homeless individuals and families will be given assistance in locating housing and negotiating with landlords. They will be provided home-based case management to promote housing retention and to link families with needed services within the community. The goal is to minimize the time individuals and families are homeless. Aggressive landlord outreach and housing search assistance is critical to the success of Rapid Re-Housing. e. Grow Public and Private Housing Options: Rapid Re-Housing can only be successful if there are safe and affordable housing options in the private and public sectors. Housing re-locators will work to educate private landlords, build trust and work through challenging situations. In addition, efforts must be made to expand public and supportive housing options for those individuals and families needing some degree of on going assistance. f. Accountability: The new approach will monitor short and long-term client outcomes including length of shelter stays, housing stabilization, income, and shelter recidivism. g. City and County Collaboration: City and County government will work together on a unified collaborative approach to address the homeless and housing vulnerable. The City offers resources and expertise in code enforcement, housing court and housing development. The County offers resources and expertise in providing temporary assistance, other public supports and services for those with disabilities. This partnership will bring the necessary leadership to drive a public, private and non-profit collaborative approach. The following outcomes have been projected for the County?s HPRP program: Ø Estimated total of 3837 persons and 2879 households served by HPRP. o 686 persons and 492 households to receive direct financial assistance for rental payments, security and utility deposits, and moving cost assistance. o 3151 persons and 2387 households to receive housing relocation and stabilization services including case management, housing relocation and legal services.
Project Description: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has made available to the City of Syracuse $2,524,997 and the County of Onondaga $897,454 for a combined total of $3,422,451 dollars to assist the homeless and housing vulnerable over the next three years. These new resources will enable the community, through the direction of the Department of Social Services, to implement best practices in the area of homelessness prevention and remediation. Homeless and housing vulnerable will seek assistance through a single point of entry where their needs will be assessed. Homelessness will be averted or homeless clients will be put on a plan to be rapidly re-housed. DSS will take a lead role in working with existing homeless service agencies and case work providers to track and evaluate housing stability outcomes with data from the community?s HMIS software; will work with housing developers and landlords to create affordable, safe decent housing options; and will work with institutional discharge planners to develop strategies to avoid homeless discharges. DSS will use $1.2 million to provide rental and utility assistance to homeless and housing vulnerable and, where applicable, in conjunction with other public assistance. The City and County will contract with a variety of non-profits to provide case management, housing relocation, moving, legal services to prevent eviction, support in obtaining SSI and a HMIS. Outreach and relocation assistance to City residents will be provided for critical conditions (i.e. no water, heat and/or electricity, infestation and eviction). Over 3 years, success will be evaluated by looking at these outcomes: reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness for the first time; increasing the number of people who are diverted from shelter to stable housing; reducing the length of stay in shelter or time being homeless; reducing repeat episodes of homelessness; and reducing the number of people overall who are homeless.
Jobs Summary: Onondaga County?s HPRP program will partially fund 15 new positions over the course of the next three years, as follows: 5 Housing Relocators: One each will be employed by the Rescue Mission, Catholic Charities, Salvation Army, CNY Services, and NE Community Center. Relocators will be responsible for working closely with case management and intake staff in order to provide personal assistance to housing vulnerable or homeless clients to obtain decent, affordable permanent housing rapidly. Relocators will be required to maintain relationships with landlords, private and non-profit, who will work with the organization?s clients. Rapid Rehousers will be the ?sales? team to recruit and sell the Rapid Rehousing program and convince landlords to accept tenants they would normally screen out. B) 4 Case Managers: One each will be employed by Syracuse Behavioral Healthcare and Salvation Army, and two by CNY Services. The Case Manager works collaboratively with the Single Point of Entry?s organizational team, representatives from its hiring agency, other shelter agencies, representatives from DSS and other non-profit agencies to create and facilitate a rapid rehousing and housing stability strategy for housing vulnerable or homeless households. Case Managers will meet clients at the on-set of their housing crisis on the same day that the client is determined to be eligible for HPRP assistance by DSS Income Maintenance Specialists. Case Managers will complete with clients the homeless matrix and barriers to housing stability assessment in compliance with HPRP requirements. A uniform process to assess barriers to housing stability will be used and interventions will be prioritized based on risk and cost. People with low risk of homelessness and fewer barriers to housing stability will receive less intensive interventions while people with higher risk and more barriers will receive more intensive supports. Case Manager will coordinate referrals for those with the highest level of needs to the most intensive programs. C) 1 SOAR Caseworker: Will be employed by the Salvation Army and will provide personal assistance to housing clients to obtain SSI/SSD determinations rapidly. Will work collaboratively with the Single Point of Entry?s organizational team, as well as with representatives from its hiring agency, other shelter agencies, representatives from DSS and other non-profit agencies to facilitate income procurement for mutual clients through the SSA SOAR program. D) 2 Legal Service Attorneys ? One each will be employed by Hiscock Legal Aid Society and Legal Aid of Society of Mid-NY. These agencies will provide legal services to help people stay in their homes, to assist program participants with legal advice and representation in administrative or court proceedings related to tenant/landlord matters or housing issues. E) 2 Income Maintenance Workers ? Will be hired by Onondaga County Division of Social Services. These staff will determine need, income eligibility for Emergency Temporary Assistance, loan repayment if appropriate and housing affordability. The following activities will be undertaken: review client income; calculate rent affordability estimate; review whether utility costs are a barrier to housing; determine move-in date for an affordable housing option; review and make determinations for shelter stays and extensions as appropriate; make emergency move-in determinations and payments to landlords for first month rent, subsidies, and security deposits; make short-term (up to 3 months), medium-term (4-18 months), security deposits, emergency utility payments to vendors from HPRP monies after all other public assistance options have been reviewed; and make rent/utility arrears payment to vendors from HPRP monies when determined appropriate. F) 1 Mover ? Will be employed by Catholic Charities and oversee work crews to provide moving assistance to the homeless and housing vulnerable. (Total jobs reported: 15)
Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed
This award's data was last updated on Jul. 20, 2009. Help expand these official descriptions using the wiki below.
Funds from this award have been disbursed to sub-grantees. Click here to see a list of sub-grantees.
Sub-grantees
| Recipient | Amount | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic Charities of The Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse | $50,577 | SYRACUSE | NY |
| Central New York Services, Inc | $125,550 | SYRACUSE | NY |
| County of Onondaga | $386,767 | SYRACUSE | NY |
| Frank H Hiscock Legal Aide Society | $7,994 | SYRACUSE | NY |
| Legal Aid Society of Mid New York Inc | $7,994 | UTICA | NY |
| Rescue Mission Alliance of Syracuse, NY | $32,022 | SYRACUSE | NY |
| Syracuse Brick House, Inc. | $46,764 | SYRACUSE | NY |
| Syracuse Northeast Community Center, Inc. | $32,022 | SYRACUSE | NY |
| The Salvation Army | $162,892 | WEST NYACK | NY |
| The Salvation Army | $23,524 | WEST NYACK | NY |
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