Monarch Housing’s Blog!

Talking Politics TV show is streaming reruns of their coverage of the 2007 Point in Time count in Hudson county. Rerun - If you missed it, watch our show on last year’s January Homeless Count Day. Meet some of the folks involved with helping the homeless whether through the County or private shelters. Come with us as Bob DuVal, TP’s cameraman, Tom Harrigan from PERC, a private emergency shelter, and I meet some of the homeless who live under the viaduct in Union City. Hear their stories. Get the insights on one of three private emergency shelters in HC as I talk to the Director of PERC in Union City. Many of those living in these shelters are the working poor, the minimum wage earners.

To watch the show click here.

CSH and Monarch Housing Associates invites you to a free lobbying training refresher session in preparation for the February 26, 2008 National Low Income Housing Coalition Lobby Day and the July 30, 2008 Congressional Reception (attended by over 100 NJ advocates and consumers in 2007) both of which will be held in Washington, DC. For more information click here.

Do your part to let our Congressional representatives hear about housing issues facing NJ!

Training Date: February 14, 2008

Time: 11am to 2pm

Place: NJ Housing Mortgage Finance Agency

Trainer: Jordan Press, Director of Federal Policy, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Washington, DC

Please e-mail [Email address: NJHHA1 #AT# csh.org - replace #AT# with @ ] your registration information including name, agency and email address.

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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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

Essex County held their Second Annual Project Homeless Connect on January 29, 2008. The event was even more successful than last year. More details and photos will be posted later this week.

These are random 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.

The Paramus Post of Bergen County highlighted the upcoming Project Homeless Connect event taking place in Hackensack on January 29, 2008.

McNERNEY ANNOUNCES PROJECT HOMELESS CONNECT

By Mel Fabrikant Wednesday, January 16 2008, 07:45 PM EST

Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney and the Department of Human Services today announced that on Tuesday, January 29 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., the county will be participating in Project Homeless Connect (PHC) at the Bergen County Community Action Partnership Drop-In Center in Hackensack.

PHC is a successful homeless outreach program that began in San Francisco, California and offers the community an opportunity to aid the homeless by providing much needed services and support.

To read the full article click here.

Camden DREAMS, the thirteen unit permanent, affordable and supportive housing project in Camden for aging out and homeless youth, had their grand opening on Friday January 25, 2008. The thirteen young adults will be moving in on Monday the 28th. More photos and video will be posted during the week.

The following video was produced by Mike Henderson with photos by Asish Patel [Email address: apatel #AT# monarchhousing.org - replace #AT# with @ ]. Click the screen to watch. The video requires the free QickTime player from Apple. Click here to download the player,

 

 Camden DREAMS Grand Opening [3:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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As we noted last month, Sussex County has adopted their Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. The New Jersey Herald published an article about the plan on January 27th entitled “Helping the homeless in Sussex County“. To read the full article click here. The article included this portion.

Betsy Towle, of the Sussex County Division of Social Services, said the planning process came out of the Continuum of Care Concept introduced by HUD to support communities in the effort to reduce homelessness. The plan evolved into a program to end the problem.

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Tags: Ending Homelessness, homeless, homelessness, HUD, Sussex County