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The following information is from the Corporation for Supportive Housing and the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Although this post is lengthy it is definitely worth reading in full as it provides a comprehensive overview of the budget issues that affect programs to end homelessness and expand supportive housing.

Appropriations - As we reported on June 24th, the House of Representatives, both the Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) and the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittees passed bills to fund the departments and agencies under their jurisdictions.

A full chart of the T-HUD Subcommittee’s funding levels may be found by clicking here.

The T-HUD Subcommittee suggested McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants be funded with $1.691 billion, an increase of $105 million over FY 08 and $55 million more than the President requested.

HUD’s proposed cuts to the 811/202 programs were rejected and instead received small increases.

Both the project-based and tenant-based Section 8 accounts received substantial increases.

Another round of $75 million for 10,000 new HUD-VASH vouchers was included in the legislation, as well as $30 million for 4,000 new vouchers for the disabled.

Unfortunately the HOPWA program was funded at the same level as last year — at the President’s requested level of $300.1 million.

The Senate T-HUD Subcommittee is scheduled to meet on July 10th to consider their version of the FY 09 Appropriations bill.

The Labor-HHS Subcommittee is responsible for funding the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), which administers several programs that benefit homeless individuals. CSH, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, NAMI, Enterprise, National AIDS Housing Coalition and other partners were successful in advocating for an increase to programs that fund services in permanent supportive housing. The victory was all the more significant in the face of proposed cuts to this account in the President’s budget.

The bill set to be voted will increase SAMHSA’s homeless programs by $21.4 million above the FY 2008 level for a total of $75 million. It appears that nearly all of the increase would go to fund services in permanent supportive housing. This would significantly expand SAMHSA grant funding for supportive housing.

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

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.