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Ann Oliva, the Director of HUD’s Office of Special Needs Assistance Program Office, was the keynote speaker at the CSH sponsored Mid-Atlantic Region HMIS (MARHMIS) Forum which was held in Philadelphia on January 31, 2008. Ms. Oliva in a previous position worked to develop continuum of care plans in Washington DC and other communities. She provided insights on the 2007 Awards, proposed legislation to reauthorize the McKinney-Vento program, two new initiatives for 2008, the relationship between HMIS and the COC and an overview of the 2008 competition. Use the link below to listen to her important comments. Please share this post!

 Ann Oliva on HUD's SNAPS Programs [44:31m]: Download

Among her key points were:

The cut off for new funding in 2007 was more than 90 out of a possible 100. This was an increase from the 2006 cutoff of 86.

More than 6,266 applications from 464 CoC’s were submitted. Of these 94% were approved.

Only 49% of the applications scored higher than the cutoff and were thus able to receive new funding.

The portion of funding for housing versus services was at 64%.

The 2008 grant applications will be electronic but not through grants.gov. She stated that this was being done to expedite the review and approval process. By 2009 she stated the goal is to have awards approved in the same fiscal year they were appropriated by Congress.

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The Jersey Journal published the following editorial today about the importance of ending homelessness.

Homelessness stats not moving, Thursday, January 31, 2008

For the homeless in Hudson County, time has stopped and the words about improving their condition are just echoes of years past.

Tuesday, there was a news conference at Grace Church Van Vorst in Jersey City. It was to coincide with Project Homeless Connect, an annual event where many Hudson County nonprofit agencies set up tables to provide services to the homeless.

Officials are saying the obvious by offering that the basic approach to ending homelessness in the county is to provide housing. County Executive Tom DeGise said that ideally, with housing, service providers can “bring them there and bring the services to them.”

At the press conference, it was noted that the county has about 300 chronic homeless and another 2,700 people who are in and out of homelessness, but enrolled in programs.

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Tags: Ending Homelessness, HUD, Hudson-County, Keys-to-Ending-Homelessness-in-Hudson-County:-Hudson-Co, Project Homeless Connect

Passaic County hosted a successful Project Homeless Connect event on Tuesday January 29, 2008. These are a few photos from the event. Click on anyone to see it full size. Click here to view all of the photos. To view a slide show click here. As they become available more photos will be posted.

The following article was written in Mercer County’s Trenton Times

 

 ‘Point in Time’ draws attention to Trenton’s homeless population: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

‘Point in Time’ draws attention to Trenton’s homeless population

By L.A. PARKER

Staff Writer

TRENTON - Hundreds of city dwellers tumbled into Shiloh Baptist Church yesterday as a U.S. Housing and Urban Development initiative attempted to count the number of homeless people in Trenton and throughout Mercer County.

“I’m trying not to die out there. Hope I don’t die out there,” said one street-battered patron who admitted a chronic alcohol addiction.

He could find assistance from scores of county-based agencies that offered information regarding essentially every need - dental, medical, social, psychological - during the Mercer County Project Homelessness event.

The event coincided with HUD’s Point In Time Count (PITC), an effort to count local homeless.

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Tags: homeless, Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness, Mercer County, Project Homeless Connect

The following editorial written by L.A. Parker was posted in the Trentonian Newspaper:

 

 A time when the homeless count: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A time when the homeless count

The healed cut meandered from the corner of her left eye to an area just under her left cheek, residue of an unwanted barter for alcohol and drugs.

“I was a 15-year-old in the park and partying. I enjoyed the stuff that the guy had, but then he wanted something from me that I wasn’t willing to give,” Jean said.

A broken bottle would eventually leave a scar as a constant reminder of past indiscretion.
She is 42 years old now, no longer homeless, and clean and sober for one calendar year.

In recovery terms, one year away from crack or alcohol is a watermark, although staying clean remains a “just for today initiative.”

Failure could be sparked by anything that life might deliver, whether the circumstance smells like potpourri or urine.

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Tags: homelessness, Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness, Project Homeless Connect

January 29, 2008 brought Project Homeless Connect Events to counties across the state. In conjunction with this service model, Point-in-Time Surveys were conducted to count the homeless population in New Jeresy. The Trenton Times reported on the Point-In-Time efforts in Mercer County.

Counting the homeless

Wednesday, January 30, 2008
BY LISA CORYELL

TRENTON — You won’t find Jeffrey Bakos waiting in line for a bed at any city shelter. You won’t find him enjoying a hot meal at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. You won’t find him applying for welfare benefits downtown.

No, to find the fiercely independent Bakos you have to go to where he lives — in a makeshift shanty covered by a blue plastic tarp deep in the woods off Lalor Street.
And that’s just where volunteers located him yesterday morning during the city’s annual Point in Time count, a daylong tabulation of the area’s homeless population.

Armed with a federal survey, volunteers queried Bakos on everything from his vital statistics to his personal history and medical needs.

…

To read the full article click here

Middlesex County saw a large turn out at their Project Homeless Connect event sites on January 29. People attending the events received services, goodie bags and meals throughout the day. The Home News Tribune highlighted the importance of the Point in Time Count and the differences from previous years.

MIDDLESEX COUNTY — After the first wave of people were fed Tuesday at Elijah’s Promise in New Brunswick, the soup kitchen’s Executive Director Lisanne Finston had recorded 128 homeless in the lunch crowd alone. That’s not counting the 50 or 60 homeless persons she estimated were fed across town at the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

A second wave of homeless would arrive several hours later for dinner.

The count was part of Middlesex County’s annual Point in Time Survey which is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, for municipalities applying for funds for homeless housing. The count serves as a kind of snapshot of the number of homeless people living in the county at a given moment in time.

Tuesday, the count was up.

To read the full article click here