Local News

The Responder - February 2013

A Monthly Publication of the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County

 

A Year of Changes as HUD Changes

 

Changes included how communities rank projects for funding in the CoC application, the new Emergency Solutions Grant, _________________________________________-

 

On January 18, 2013, as the Collaborative Applicant, the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County, Inc. submitted the Continuum of Care grant application to HUD for $5,613,350. This funding helps support the Homeless Management Information System (known as the UNITY Information Network locally), renewal of 22 existing programs providing services to 1,235 homeless persons, including 347 participating in permanent supportive housing and 888 receiving assistance in transitioning from homelessness to permanent housing, and the implementation of a new project to serve 30 chronically homeless individuals.

 

During the February Tampa/Hillsborough County Continuum of Care meeting the members received an update of the application and a summary of the focus areas for next year. Over the next year we will increase the focus on:

 

1) performance measures,

2) evaluate our ability to increase the number of permanent supportive housing units with an emphasis on chronically homeless,

3) expand rapid re-housing efforts, and

4) develop a coordinated assessment system. A coordinated assessment is a powerful tool for improving system-wide entry, assessment, and referral processes. It is a standardized access and assessment process for all clients and a process is part of the new requirements by HUD, and will be a scoring criteria in future HUD grants.

 

The changes by HUD are also providing opportunities for the UNITY Information Network (our local HMIS). to expand the system's functionality and additional modules for use in the community. Currently, the UNITY staff and advisory group are looking at adding an eligibility module to the system that will enable partner agencies to more easily determine which programs - either within their own agency or in the community - a person might be suited for, as well as methods to market UNITY to other community organizations that are providing homeless and prevention services in the community.

 

The purpose of UNITY, the Tampa/Hillsborough County Continuum of Care's Homeless Management Information System is to provide a mechanism for the community to coordinate services, manage data about homelessness, measure the performance of programs and the overall continuum of care, and provide an understanding of the services needed in the community. The data from the system can be valuable for any organization seeking to better understand the outcomes of their programs, the people they serve and gaps in our current service structure. This is in addition to data the can support funding applications and requests.

 

 

FROM OUR CEO, MARIA BARCUS

This is an exciting time to be involved in the effort to combat homelessness in Tampa/Hillsborough County. So far, I have received a royal welcome. Everyone I've met has been very positive - wanting to help, wanting to be part of the solution.

 

Fortunately, we're not starting "from scratch." There are a lot of worthwhile initiatives that need to be nurtured and expanded. Shortly after my arrival, I witnessed an outpouring of community participation in counting the homeless. During my second week here, community leaders joined together to celebrate the opening of Cypress Landing, an apartment complex dedicated to serving the chronically homeless and a partnership between the County and business leaders. I also toured Eco-Oaks Apartments, a beautifully landscaped, LEED certified complex housing Veterans where there is no electric bill.

 

Over the past year, with the help of the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), the community developed a framework for addressing homelessness. Beginning at the end of last year, a wide cross-section of the community became engaged in formulating a community plan that will identify priority actions, obtain implementation commitments, and produce specific, measurable results. The Coalition is working closely with these committees to chart a course for the community and the organizational structure to implement it. We will once again be assisted in this effort by the CSH, in addition to the resources of HUD and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

 

The committees are building understanding and excitement as they realize that impacting homelessness can be done, has been done in other communities and can be done here. Practitioners throughout the nation already know what works. In the larger picture, it costs less to do what works than to continue doing what we're already doing as a community. The challenge is to re-direct funds and to collectively change what we're doing. We need to organize for impact, measure results, and keep each other accountable.

 

This plan will not be a document that sits on a shelf and is quickly forgotten. Instead, it will chart a course of action, obtain resource commitments to carry out those actions, measure very specific results, and continue to identify and implement the next round of implementation. This will be an on-going process that moves the Tampa Hillsborough community from having one of the highest rates of homelessness to being a leader in ending homelessness. By aligning our efforts toward common goals and creating a process for shared evaluation and accountability, we can achieve unprecedented results.

 

I'm looking forward to getting to know you and this community as we embark on this journey together.

 

Maria Barcus, CEO

 

Homeless Coalition Welcomes New Staff

The Homeless Coalition would like to welcome Tyler Pidgeon as the newest member of our staff. Tyler has been involved with the UNITY system for more than 6 years, through his previous position at Project Return. He's served on the UNITY Advisory Committee, recently as the committee chair and active with the UNITY User Group. In his role as UNITY Resource Specialist, Tyler will be assisting the UNITY System Administrator with Training, Reporting, and Data Analysis.