CoC Annual Meeting

The CoC’s Annual Meeting will take place Friday, January 20, 2023, 9 – 10:30 am on Zoom – register here to receive the link: https://forms.gle/rCPa86Wpk48fmm5JA

Agenda

  • Data: State of homelessness response in Hampden County
  • CoC Year in Review
  • What’s Next? 2023 Priorities
  • Election of 2023 Board Members
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FY2022 CoC Special Unsheltered Competition

The Springfield-Hampden County Continuum of Care has posted its FY22 Special Unsheltered Competition Application, which will be submitted to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on October 20, 2022. There are two parts to the application–click on each title to access the document.

Board of Directors Meeting 9/30/2022

The Springfield-Hampden County Continuum of Care Board of Directors is meeting Friday, September 30, 2022, 9 – 10:30 am.

The meeting is open to the public and will take place on Zoom. Please email gmccafferty@springfieldcityhall.com for the Zoom link.

Agenda:

  1. Welcome and Introductions
  2. Review of minutes from June 24, 2022 meeting
  3. State budget, legislative and electoral update – Pamela Schwartz
  4. Draft CoC Racial Equity Strategy
  5. FY22 CoC applications: learning from this year’s process – Members of the application review committee
  6. Board membership – recruitment of slate of Board members in advance of Nov. annual meeting (see current Board list with vacancies)
  7. Updates on CoC business: Domestic Violence programming; Coordinated Assessment and Prioritization – for individuals; Youth Homeless Demonstration Project (YHDP); HMIS Capacity-Building
    • Next meeting date – Annual meeting in November

FY22 CoC Competition Final Project Ranking

The CoC Application Scoring and Ranking Committee met on September 7 and 9th to review, score and rank project applications. The Committee has selected the following projects to be included in the CoC’s consolidated application to HUD:

Tier 1
1HMIS$61,992
2CSO-FOH Coordinated Entry$243,000
3DV Coordinated Entry$230,263
4YWCA-Alianza TH-RRH$685,148
5MHA Chestnut St$119,790
6MHA CoC PSH$777,211
7MHA Next Step$538,673
8CHD Family PSH$589,259
9RVCC CoC Program$324,797
10Gandara SHINE RRH$381,340
11Way Finders Turning Point$67,809
12Way Finders Safe Step$211,891
13CSO-FOH PSH$249,983
14Catholic Charities RRH3$383,731
Tier 2
15VOC Family PSH$211,128
16HMIS Expansion$176,000

The Committee’s explanation of the basis for its decisions is provided in the memorandum below, which was sent to all the providers.

Special 2nd CoC Competition to Respond to Unsheltered Homelessness

The CoC has released a Request for Proposals for the Special Competition to respond to Unsheltered Homelessness.

The CoC is seeking programs to provide outreach and housing to the unsheltered population throughout Hampden County. Selected projects will be included in the CoC’s application to HUD for a 3-year $5,157,415 grant, which will be renewable after the initial term.

An information session for this opportunity will take place September 1, 2022 at 3 pm, and a bidder’s conference will take place September 12, 2022 at 3 pm. See the RFP for Zoom links to these sessions.

The deadline for this RFP is September 20, 2022.

FY22 CoC Competition Opens

The CoC has released the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the FY22 CoC Competition.

Appendix A of the RFP provides the scoring tool, which indicates the factors that will be scored in the competition, and available point values.

The competition is for renewal, expansion and new projects that provide permanent supportive housing (PSH), rapid rehousing (RRH) or a combination of transitional housing and rapid rehousing (TH-RRH). Proojects that will provide coordinated entry may also apply. There is a bonus amount of funds available only for projects that serve victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

There are two parts to the required submission. Part 1 is an application in HUD’s esnaps system. HUD has not yet opened the esnaps portal. Applicants will be notified as soon as it is open.

Part 2 is the local application, which will be available later today.

Applications are due by 5 pm on August 31, 2022.

FY21 CoC Competition Awards

HUD has released the FY21 CoC competition awards. The Springfield-Hampden County CoC has been awarded $6,470,022. In addition to regular and YHDP program renewals, the CoC also received funding for three new or expansion projects:

  • YWCA-Alianza-VOC DV Transitional Housing-Rapid Rehousing Project (7 TH and 22 RRH units), $709,877
  • MHA Chestnut St – Permanent Supportive Housing (20 units), $119,790
  • VOC Family Supportive Housing Expansion (4 units), $77,761

HUD’s announcement includes links for the full list of awards.

CoC Funding Opportunities

The Springfield-Hampden County Continuum of Care has released notice of two funding opportunities. Deadline for both applications is noon March 11, 2022.

Permanent Supportive Housing

The Springfield-Hampden County Continuum of Care seeks a nonprofit organization to operate an existing scattered-site permanent supportive housing program for 32 chronically homeless individuals.

For more information and to apply: https://www.cognitoforms.com/CityOfSpringfield1/PermanentSupportiveHousingProvider

Housing for Homeless Young Adults

The Springfield-Hampden County Continuum of Care is making up to $450,000 in capital funds available for a nonprofit organization to create affordable housing units in Hampden County for homeless young adults aged 18-24.

For more information and to apply: https://www.cognitoforms.com/CityOfSpringfield1/FundingAvailabilityHousingForHomelessYoungAdults

2022 Point-in-time Count

The Hampden County 2022 homeless point-in-time count will take place Wednesday, February 23, 2022. The first attachment to this email is an explanation of the count. Feel free to forward to anyone you think may be interested. There are two great ways you can help make sure we get a comprehensive count:

1.     COLLECT SURVEYS FROM HOMELESS PEOPLE WHO VISIT YOUR AGENCY

You can help us identify unsheltered people by collecting information on people you serve who are unsheltered. For two weeks after the count, you can ask people where they slept on the night of Feb. 23. If they were unsheltered on that night, you will use this survey form to conduct a brief survey with them. No need to count people who stay in shelters—the shelter staff count their guests.

If you would like to participate in this type of information gathering, please attend a brief orientation/training on the count. Trainings are scheduled for: 

·       Thurs., Feb. 17, 3:30 – 4pm,  Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83581935710?pwd=enpQZC82Y0luR1lPczEwckpjMzdiQT09

·       Wed., Feb 23, 11 – 11:30 am, Zoom link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87806876812?pwd=NjdDLzZiOCt1Z0QxRUJzMGw4QW10Zz09

2.     JOIN THE SPRINGFIELD STREET COUNT

You can also be part of the Springfield street count on February 23. If you would like to be part of the team that goes out that evening, please contact Dave Havens at dhavens@mhainc.org or 413-244-4650. Dave will fill you in on training for the street count.