Monarch Housing’s Blog!

The rankings by county for the 2007 Continuum of Care have been prepared. To view a copy in Adobe PDF format click here.

Monarch Housing Associates worked with ten (10) of the thirteen (13) counties that received new funding. The cutoff for new funding was 90.25.

Of the total of fourteen (14) applications submitted by Monarch Housing the average score increased 3.3 points over the 2006 score.

For more information on the projects that were funded in the 2007 round click here.

In this year’s Continuum of Care process, funding up to a maximum of almost $8 million in NJ has been allocated for Rapid Re-housing for homeless families. The challenge is without the NOFA to understand is HUD’s intent. Based on an article from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, this will be a highly competitive application. Among the criteria to be used will be proven experience and the strong performance of the Continuum of Care. The stronger applications will be those that represent continuum wide coalitions. The organizations highlighted in the Ending Family Homelessness video. Click here to watch the video. To find out more about rapid re-housing click here.

The following is a portion of the overview from NAEH. To read the full article click here.

HUD is directed by Congress to select a limited number of sites to receive funds
for this demonstration through the Homeless Assistance Grants competition process (Continuum-of-Care applications). When selecting sites, HUD is directed to select sites that:

Have proven experience in providing Rapid Re-housing services
Strong performance of Continuum-of-Care
Represent geographic diversity

Selected programs can use funds to provide:

Short-term housing assistance (including up to 18 months of rental assistance)
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: continuum-of-care, Ending Homelessness, Family homelessness, hamilton family center, homeless assistance grants, NAEH, rapid exit, rapid rehousing, Re-housing

The National Alliance to End Homelessness featured Rapid Re-housing projects at their 2008 National Conference on Ending Family Homelessness. Information about the structure of successful rapid re-housing programs, as well as which stakeholders need to be involved in the process, was presented at the conference.

Below are links to the presentations on Rapid Re-housing from the National Conference in Seattle Washington.

Housing First For Homeless Families - Rapid Re-Housing

HUD Rapid Re-Housing Initiative

Coordinating Multiple Homeless Interventions in a Rural Community

Duncan Plaza Homeless Re-Housing Initiative

Duncan Plaza Articles

Understanding and implementing this new initiative as the McKinney-Vento application process begins. Congress has appropriated $25 million for demonstration Rapid Re-Housing projects across the country that will be attached to the FY2008 Continuum of Care application. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is seeking to examine the effectiveness of Rapid Re-housing programs in reducing family homelessness in a variety of communities.

Through the new on-line Continuum of Care registration process with E-snaps, Continuums will be able to view the maximum amount of funding available for use in Rapid Re-housing projects. Preliminary estimates show a maximum of $7,949,990 will be available for rapid re-housing projects in the state of New Jersey. This amount equals 30% of the states Continuum of Care funding.

For more information about the many workshops at the conference click here.

To view the Ending Family Homelessness video click here.

The E-snaps website is online and ready to use. E-snaps is the new application and grants management system for HUD’s Homeless Programs. It supports the collaborative application process known as the Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Competition. To access E-snaps click here. The Online Training Navigation Tutorial is a tutorial that will guide you through the key features of navigating your way within this online training.

The e-snaps online training is online by clicking here or in an Adobe format click here.

We were very pleased to hear today from our friend Bob Guarasci,the President of the New Jersey Community Development Corporation that the Birch Street Apartments is up and running. Bob told us “We are very happy that our Birch Street Supportive Housing is up and running and serving formerly homeless individuals who are enormously grateful and can’t believe their good fortune. We’ll work hard to engage our residents to help them overcome obstacles and reach their fullest potential.” The site provides fifteen (15) permanent, affordable and supportive units for very low income individuals who are homeless with a mental illness. Every unit will have it’s own living area, as well as a kitchen and bathroom.

This is a photo of Bob and some of the new tenants of the Birch Street Apartments.

To read our previous post on this project click here. To see photos from the construction click here.

The E-snaps website is online and ready to use. E-snaps is the new application and grants management system for HUD’s Homeless Programs. It supports the collaborative application process known as the Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Competition. To access E-snaps click here.

The first step is the registration by each Continuum of Care. this must be completed by June 15, 2008. E-snaps has an online web-based training curriculum for the CoC registration. This is a must view training for all of the leaders of the Continuums of Care. The module can be viewed online. Click here or on the icon or to view the training. To view the training as an Adobe PDF click here. For more information click here.