COVID Kills 2020 CoC Competition for Homeless $$

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

HUD has yet to drop this year's NoFA, and it's probably not going to.

It's now all but certain that SARS-CoV-2 has killed the 2020 CoC Program funding competition.

On May 15, 2020, the House narrowly passed the HEROES Act (H.R. 6800) with Representative Maxine Waters' NAEH-supported provision to cancel the 2020 CoC Program NoFA and renew CoC's 2019 awards:  

Yesterday, more than two months after the House passed its fourth stimulus bill, the Senate dropped the bill for the HEALS Act.  According to the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, the Senate bill would require HUD to renew all projects with existing Homeless Assistance Grants expiring during calendar year 2021 for one 12-month period without additional competition.  (See NAHRO Monitor (paywall)). 

Despite the "stark disparities" between HEROES and HEALS, the difficulty facing HEALS in the Senate, and the odds against the House taking it up even if it does pass -- the two bodies appear to be  in agreement on canceling the 2020 CoC Program competition.  Given that HUD has yet to drop the 2020 NoFA and it's almost August, when under normal circumstances the competition would be in full and frantic swing, that provision of the HEALS bill means the competition's as good as canceled.

What this means for the newly-formed Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance is not entirely clear.  In the split with the Rural Oregon Contiuum of Care (ROCC), the Alliance took projects run by the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, Shangri-la, and the Center for Hope and Safety.  See here.  But, some of those funds were not spent and had to be reallocated.  Also, the Alliance (being new) did not have a 2019 planning grant.  HUD could, under the Senate's HEALS bill, award planning grants for 2020.  We'll just have to wait and see, assuming this provision makes it into the final stimulus bill and is signed into law.  This post will be updated as events unfold.

7/31/20 The ROCC newsletter contains this entry about the 2020 NoFA:

It was stated at the 7/24/20 COVID office hours that the GIW [Grant Inventory Worksheet] would be out sometime the following week. Typically, the NOFA follows 4-6 weeks after the GIW is released. It is not known if it will follow the same time frame this year, but it is worth preparing as this means the grant cycle is moving forward.  

ROCC appears to be assuming that the fact that the "grant cycle is moving forward" means there will be a funding competition.    

8/2/20  Pertinent parts of the Alliance's GIW.  Note the estimated annual renewal amount/demand is $769,919.  

12/28/20 Update:  yesterday, President Trump signed the 2021 Appropriations Act into law.  As expected, the Act provides a one-year renewal of Continuum of Care funding, without competition, for programs expiring in calendar year 2021.  Other details:  the Act provides $223M more in Homeless Assistance Grants than in FY 2020.  Of the total $3B allocated by the Act, not less than $2.569B is reserved for the Continuum of Care (CoC) and Rural Housing Stability Assistance programs, and $7 million for technical assistance for the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS).  The CoC Program will see a $219M increase over FY 2020, while ESG remains flat.  The Act also includes language requiring HUD to award CoC grants based on CoCs' system performance and to prioritize funding for CoCs that strategically reallocate to high performing projects.

News from the Continuum

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

"Mayor Bennett's Monday Message 7/13/20" (a 5' risible video about City's homeless response)

The outreach position Salem Housing Authority asked for back in February has been funded by the remnant of Willamette Valley Community Health (the area's CCO before Pacific Source took over) and filled, and Redwood Crossings is expected to open August 1. 

The State of Oregon gave Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency (MWVCAA) a way around an uncooperative Marion County with new rules that allow the City (vs. the county) to request about $400K reimbursement for sheltering approximately 100 medically fragile homeless households in motel/hotels during the spring.  Only ~10% or so of participants exited to housing.  Since the program ended, the number of infections statewide has tripled.

The City estimates up to 200 of Salem's unsheltered are known to be camping in Wallace Marine and Cascades Gateway parks.  By all accounts, the City and ODOT are adhering to guidance/instructions not to clean up or remove camps elsewhere because of the pandemic.  This is known about ODOT because the City asked ODOT to conduct one or more clean ups in a state right-of-way and was told, basically, no.   

As with the protests, the City seems helpless and somewhat fixated on the negative effects of the camping on City services/resources.  Parks operations generally "continue to be strained", according to the City Manager, because of the pandemic.  Staffing and volunteers are down, inmate crews are not available, and restrooms, drinking fountains, and playground equipment have to be cleaned more frequently. See Public Works Operations Manager Mark Becktel's 6/11/20 report to the Salem Parks and Rec Advisory Board (SPRAB), below.

Back in May, we reported on SEMCA's concerns about camping at Cascades Gateway Park (see "Has Council 'moved the needle' on Homelessness?" (2 May 2020)).  A couple of weeks after that report was published, the West Salem Neighborhood Association (WSNA) (which  voted last December 2019 to "oppose use of West Salem parks as official designated locations for homeless camping") created a "homeless committee", to be chaired by Fay DeMeyer of "Hope Crest" fame (see "Zombie Hillcrest Project Revives" (29 November 2019)).

The May minutes don't reflect how or why the committee was formed, but DeMeyer stated at the June WSNA that the committee had "a mandate to look at not allowing our parks to be a homeless shelter."  She also said, however, that "any temporary move from the park would be detrimental to future plans."  What "future plans" she didn't say, but she talked a good deal about Hillcrest at the May meeting, and she mentioned it twice at the June meeting.

DeMeyer indicated that the committee planned to consult campers and come back to WSNA with a proposal that DeMeyer said would need to be executed in the next three months.  The WSNA chair asked her to coordinate with WSNA Parks Chair Micki Varney (see WSNA June meeting minutes). Varney represented SPRAB on the City's Food Task Force (see "Should the City Regulate Homeless Meal Distributions?" (9 May 2019).  As of the June meeting, DeMeyer's committee had not identified a funding source for any endeavor.

The U.S. District Court for the District Court of Oregon last week granted plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment in Blake v. City of Grants Pass on a number of issues that have implications for the City of Salem's camping and sit-lie bans. See Green, E. "Houseless plaintiffs win in lawsuit against Grants Pass."  (23 July 2020, Street Roots.)  It should be discussed at the Council work session on Police Department "responses to, and resources for, non-criminal status and behaviors (persons in mental health crisis, unsheltered persons)", which has been scheduled for September 21.  U.S. Magistrate Judge Clarke's opinion is informative, despite the surfeit of dicta, and worth the read ahead of the work session.  The decision is one more reason to believe conditions will not allow the City to enforce the camping ban at Wallace Marine or Cascades Gateway before March 2021 at the earliest.

The City is still planning to use 2640 Portland Road NE as a warming shelter for up to ~75 people, possibly in conjunction with a small (10-25) tent camping program in the parking lot, to be run by MWVCAA's The ARCHES Project.  The current plan calls for a seasonal (November-March) shelter at Portland Road and Church at the Park, supported by the Salem Warming Network.  The network consists largely of volunteers and some paid lead workers and is run by MWVCAA's outreach coordinator Ranette Gonzales, who replaces KayLynn Gesner.  See "MWVCAA's Cold-Weather Shelter 2019-2020."  (16 May 2020.)   

Pre-pandemic, the network had four locations, but not enough workers to use them all.  This season, the risk of coronavirus infection may mean even fewer volunteers.  The need to maintain social distancing certainly will reduce shelter capacity and require the use of partitions and a lot more cleaning.  So, more work, more resources, fewer workers, fewer bed nights. Weather is another unknown.  Last winter was mild; the network was "activated" for only 17 nights.  Early forecasts for the PNW this winter call for above-normal snowfalls, but MWVCAA has lowered the activation threshold for this winter to 35 degrees Fahrenheit, up from 32 degrees last winter. 

Funding is always an issue.  Although the City continues to suggest publicly that state shelter funding is a near-term possibility, the sharp drop in the state's lottery income due to the pandemic made impossible the sale of $273 million in state bonds needed to pay for such projects (e.g., affordable housing preservation ($25M) and affordable/market rate housing acquisition ($15M)).  "Funding for 37 Oregon projects killed by economic downturn from coronavirus pandemic."  (9 July 2020, AP/Statesman Journal.)  

 

12/5/20 update:  Harrell, S. "Housing Authority’s navigator acts as a bridge, connecting people on the street to help." (5 December 2020, Salem Reporter.)

7/21/20 Minutes

Members: Barbara McReal, Kourtney Linebaugh

Organizations: Emily Reiman and Erin Dey, DevNW

City, County and State Representatives: none

Guests: none

The regular meeting of the CANDO Board of Directors was called to order at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, July 21, 2020.  The meeting was conducted by video-conference.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The agenda and minutes of the February meeting were approved unanimously.  

The board heard a presentation by DevNW CEO Erin Dey and Emily Reiman, Director of Real Estate Development, on the revised plan to develop the Evergreen Presbyterian Church property at the corner of D and Cottage Streets, border of CANDO and Grant, inside Grant. The property is on the market because of the prohibitive cost of making the church building ADA-accessible and other needed upgrades.  The basic plan is to provide ~20 smallish (studio/1BR) units of affordable housing while maintaining the building exteriors as conditions of approval of any rezone, except as needed to comply with ADA/safety standards (a rezone of the property is needed).  Funding sources require affordable rents be maintained for a minimum of 20 years.  DevNW currently rents an office in CANDO at 437 Union Street NE.  DevNW is recognized by the City of Salem as a Community Housing Development Organization.  A 3d-party traffic study concluded the development will not increase traffic.  The original plan was to convert the manse/parsonage into an office for DevNW.  The plan was revised in response to objections from the Grant neighborhood association board (GNA) and the City Council.  GNA indicated at its July 9 meeting that it will oppose the revised plan as well.              

All board members present reside within a few blocks of the proposed development.  Comments included concerns that GNA still opposes the project, and that the GNA isn’t representative of the neighborhood feeling on the project.  Rebekah Engle stated that all the people she knows in the area directly around her apartment building are very supportive of the project.  The board recognized the acute need in the neighborhood for smaller (studio/1BR) residential units.  

Michael’s motion to spend $500 of communications funds to renew CANDO’s sponsorship of Mid Valley Resources at the silver level passed unanimously.  His motion to submit letters of support for DevNW’s plan to develop affordable housing on the Evergreen Presbyterian Church property passed four to one, with Woody Dukes voting against.

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 7:00  p.m.

Mid Valley Resources Sponsors

CANDO FY 2019/2020 Finance Statement