A Pandemic’s Silver Lining: We Can End Homelessness in Florida with CARES Act Funding

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Message from the CEO

A Pandemic’s Silver Lining:

We Can End Homelessness in Florida with CARES Act Funding

BY: SUSAN POURCIAU AND AMANDA ROSADO

The CARES Act passed by Congress in March 2020 included $4 billion in supplemental funding for the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program administered by HUD. The CARES Act ESG funds, known as ESG-CV, provides Florida communities almost $189 million – approximately 14.5 times the amount of the regular 2020 allocation. Combined, the 2020 ESG and the ESG-CV allocations exceed $202 million (see HUD Allocations1).

Even as the ESG monies flow into Florida communities, an estimated 27,000 people are experiencing homelessness at any time in our state. With simple math, we see that the ESG and ESG-CV funding provides almost $7,500 in funding for each person who is homeless in Florida. diabetes, and they are more likely to have severe symptoms from COVID-19 (see CDC.2) The spread of coronavirus is reduced by helping people move out of emergency shelters or encampments and into their own apartments.

In other words, this funding – if used wisely – will be enough to end homelessness in many Florida communities when combined with HUD Continuum of Care (CoC), State Challenge Grant funding, and other ongoing resources. So how should communities use ESG-CV to effectively end homelessness? ESG-CV should be used first and primarily to rapidly rehouse people already experiencing homelessness. Rapid rehousing includes financial assistance to pay security deposits, ongoing rent, and similar expenses, along with case management to support the household to remain stably housed. People who are literally homeless are at great risk of contracting and spreading the coronavirus. Further, many have chronic health conditions such as heart or lung issues or uncontrolled

Only after all homeless households are housed should ESG-CV be used for homelessness prevention. Prevention programs are ineffective at actually preventing ESG-CV should be used first and homelessness because it is primarily to rapidly rehouse people extremely difficult to identify households that would become already experiencing homelessness. homeless but for the assistance. Rapid rehousing includes financial Notably, eviction prevention and homelessness prevention are assistance to pay security deposits, not equivalent. The vast majority ongoing rent, and similar expenses, of households that are behind in along with case management to their rent or even evicted do not become homeless; they find support the household to remain other solutions on their own stably housed. and never enter the homeless assistance system (see, for example, Evans, Sullivan, and Wallskog 20163). This is not to say that eviction prevention is unimportant. Rather, non-ESG funding should be used for that purpose, to reserve ESG funding for people already experiencing homelessness. Sources of prevention assistance include SHIP, HOME, TANF, CDBG, and Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF). By

1 https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/comm_planning/budget/fy20/ 2 https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html 3 https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Impact-of-homelessness-prevention.pdf

coordinating the various funding sources to complement one another, many community needs can be addressed effectively (see HUD Planning and Implementation4 and FHC Webinar5).

An approach that is more effective than typical prevention programs is a diversion program. Diversion is a process during which trained specialists engage with people who have already lost their housing and then help them find alternatives to entering the homeless assistance system. (See HUD, USICH, VA 20196.) By providing the assistance closer to the homeless system, rather than upstream, resources can be better targeted to reducing homelessness.

The Florida Housing Coalition recommends following the Do’s and Don’ts offered by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) to ensure that ESG-CV funding helps end homelessness in your community. (See graphic on right.)

The ESG-CV funding coming to Florida’s communities can make a meaningful difference for persons experiencing homelessness, but only if those monies are administered effectively. For more guidance and information on effectively deploying ESG-CV and other CARES Act funding, contact Amanda Rosado (rosado@ flhousing.org) or Susan Pourciau (pourciau@flhousing.org).

Amanda Rosado is the Ending Homelessness Team Director at the Florida Housing Coalition, and is a strong advocate for housing first and recoveryoriented systems of care. She is passionate about utilizing evidence-based practices and providing effective interventions to work with vulnerable populations. Amanda holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of South Carolina.

Dr. Susan Pourciau is a Technical Advisor for the Florida Housing Coalition. Susan’s areas of expertise include housing first, Continuum of Care (CoC) governance, homeless system design, data analysis, rapid rehousing, CoC funding, and permanent supportive housing. Prior to joining the Florida Housing Coalition, Dr. Pourciau was the Executive Director of several human services nonprofit organizations, worked as the Policy Director for the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), and was on the faculty of Florida State University. Susan has a doctorate in Accounting and a law degree from Duke University. HNN

The graphic above was developed by the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

4 https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/COVID-19-Homeless-System-Response-Rehousing-Activation-Planning-and-Implementation-Tips.pdf 5 https://www.flhousing.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Coordinated-Investment-Planning-Rental-5.26.2020.pdf 6 https://www.usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/Prevention-Diversion-Rapid-Exit-July-2019.pdf