Baton Rouge RFP for FY 2019 ESGP

Overview

St. Vincent de Paul of Baton Rouge (SVDP), the Regional Applicant for the Funding Year 2019 Emergency Solutions Grant Program (FY 2019 ESGP) administered by the Louisiana Housing Corporation LHC), has released its Request for Proposals (RFP) to include projects in Baton Rouge’s Regional Applicant.

ESGP can fund projects that provide housing and services to people experiencing homelessness, including people fleeing domestic violence, via homeless prevention, emergency shelter, street outreach, and rapid re-housing (rental assistance) projects.

Documents

Click here to download the Baton Rouge RFP.

Questions?

For more information about the FY 2019 ESGP NOFA, please see: https://laboscoc.org/news/2019/7/9/fy-2019-emergency-solutions-grant-program-esgp-nofa

Questions about the Baton Rouge RFP can be directed to Michael Acaldo, Executive Director of SVDP, at macaldo@svdpbr.com.

Questions about the FY 2019 ESGP can be directed to Aimee LeBlanc, ESGP Program Manager at LHC, at aleblanc@lhc.la.gov.

Local Q&As and Technical Assistance - FY 2019 CoC Program Local Competition

Overview

CoC staff will be holding local Q&A and Technical Assistance sessions in each of the LA BOSCOC’s Regions.

Anyone interested in submitting a new or renewal project to the FY 2019 CoC Program Local Competition is very welcome to attend.

CoC staff will not be making formal presentations during these sessions, so please come prepared with your questions, comments, and thoughts.

Topics that might be covered include but are not limited to:

• What does a sustainable budget for a Rapid Re-Housing project in my Region look like?

• How much detail is HUD/the CoC looking for in [question]?

• What does the change from Housing First to Low Barrier mean for my project?

• What are the added challenges involved in a Joint Transitional Housing-Rapid Re-Housing project, and how do I address them?

• What kind of data can I use to support an “evidence-based approach?”

• …and anything else you come up with!

Meetings by Region

Meetings are scheduled as follows.

Baton Rouge

• When: July 25, 1 PM to 3 PM

• Where: The Louisiana Housing Corporation — Board Room (2415 Quail Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70808)

Houma

• When: July 25, 12 PM to 2 PM

• Where: First United Methodist Church — Fellowship Hall (6109 Highway 311 Houma, LA 70360)

• Lunch is provided!

Lake Charles

• When: July 30, 10 AM to noon

• Where: Epps Branch Library (1320 N. Simmons Street Lake Charles, LA 70601)

Natchitoches/Sabine

No meeting has been scheduled; to request a meeting, please email Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov

Plaquemines/St. Bernard

No meeting has been scheduled; to request a meeting, please email Gail Gowland, Plaquemines/St. Bernard Board Member, at gail.gowland@stbernardbwp.org or Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov

LA BOSCOC Board Outcomes - July 16, 2019

Overview

The Board met by conference call to review and approve the FY 2019 CoC Program Local Competition documents.

Attendance

Voting attendance [listed as Name, Organization, (Seat), (Role if any)]

• Winona Connor, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Louisiana Housing Corporation) (Chair)

• Laura Hasenstein, Louisiana Department of Health (Louisiana Department of Health)

• Addie Duval, Start Corporation (Baton Rouge Region)

• Brooke Guidry, Start Corporation (Houma Region)

• Tarek Polite, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury (Lake Charles Region)

• Gail Gowland, St. Bernard Battered Women’s Program (Plaquemines/St. Bernard Region)

Non-voting attendance [listed as Name, Organization, (Role if any)]

• Gordon Levine, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Continuum of Care Manager)

• Aundrea Braniff, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Coordinated Entry Specialist)

Topics

FY 2019 CoC Program Local Competition documents

The Board voted unanimously to approve the following documents:

Timeline and Critical Dates

• Approved as written.

Rating, Ranking, and Selection Policy

• Approved as written.

Request for Proposals

• Approved as written.

New Project Scoring Tool

• Approved with the following changes:

  • Bonus points for Reallocation increased from 6 to 10 to create a greater incentive for older projects to reallocate;

  • Bonus points under Staff Sustainability for “paying staff a living wage” increased from 2 to 3 to signify the importance of retaining high quality staff;

  • Metric under Staff Sustainability for “paying staff a living wage” changed from $15.00/hour to the living wage for a given project’s primary parish or metropolitan service area as determined by the MIT Living Wage Calculator.

Renewal Project Scoring Tool

• Approved with the following changes:

  • Bonus points under Staff Sustainability for “paying staff a living wage” increased from 2 to 3 to signify the importance of retaining high quality staff;

  • Metric under Staff Sustainability for “paying staff a living wage” changed from $15.00/hour to the living wage for a given project’s primary parish or metropolitan service area as determined by the MIT Living Wage Calculator.

Coordinated Entry (One Stop) RFP Selection

Overview

The Louisiana Housing Corporation is pleased to announce that its Scoring Committee has selected Start Corporation to serve as its subrecipient under the Coordinated Entry (One Stop) Request for Proposals (RFP).

The Scoring Committee received a number of excellent proposals, many of which came from organizations that play a critical role in Baton Rouge’s Coordinated Entry System. The Louisiana Housing Corporation and te Scoring Committee extend their sincere appreciation for the applicants’ time, attention, and commitment to Baton Rouge’s coordinated community approach to ending homelessness.

Start Corporation will receive approximately $147,000 in funding to perform intake, diversion, and assessment activities at the One Stop for people experiencing homelessness, at risk of homelessness, and fleeing domestic violence. This funding will likely become available in late Q1 or Q2 2020.

FY 2019 CoC Program Local Competition Now Open

Overview

The Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC), on behalf of the Louisiana Balance of State Continuum of Care (LA BOSCOC), has opened its Funding Year 2019 Continuum of Care Program (FY 2019 CoC Program) Local Competition.

Through this Local Competition, the LA BOSCOC will award approximately $18 million to organizations that provide housing and supportive services to people experiencing homelessness, including people fleeing domestic violence.

More than $1 million of the funding awarded will be for new projects. The LA BOSCOC welcomes ‘first time’ applications from organizations that do not currently receive funding from the CoC Program or HUD.

How to apply

For more information, including how to apply, eligible activities, and grant application training opportunities that will be available over the next few weeks, please refer to the LA BOSCOC’s FY 2019 CoC Program Local Competition page: https://laboscoc.org/fy19-coc-program-competition

The Local Competition closes August 27, 2019.

About the LA BOSCOC

The LA BOSCOC is Louisiana’s statewide coalition of people and organizations dedicated to ending homelessness. It serves more than 20 counties and includes the cities of Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, and Houma. LHC serves as the LA BOSCOC’s collaborative applicant (“lead agency”).

Severe Weather Emergency Shelter by Region - 7/11/19 through 7/14/19

Overview

Updated 7/11/19 at 1:55 PM

The following emergency shelter accommodations are available in each Region of the LA BOSCOC during the severe weather event from Thursday, July 11, through Sunday night, 7/14/19.

Some of these beds are available to people experiencing homelessness as part of regular operations; others are available for this severe weather event only. All of these beds are available to people who expect to sleep on the streets, in their car, in the woods, or any other unsheltered location beginning either Thursday, July 11 or Friday, July 12 through Sunday, July 14.

Baton Rouge

St. Vincent de Paul has emergency shelter for singles and families both through their men’s shelter and via an additional arrangement with the Louisiana Housing Corporation.

To access emergency shelter, follow these instructions:

• Shelter becomes available: beginning the night of Friday, July 12

• Where to go: 1623 Convention Street

• When to go: by 3 PM to reserve a bed;

  • If after 3 PM, for men only, go directly to the men’s shelter to check bed availability

Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless will be open during the day at the following times for people to take shelter:

• Saturday, July 13: 8 AM to 3 PM

• Sunday, July 14: 8 AM to 11:30 AM

The Salvation Army of Greater Baton Rouge’s Center of Hope Shelter will be open 24 hours a day beginning on Friday, July 12, at 4 PM. The Center of Hope Shelter is located at 7361 Airline Highway (around the left side of the building past the guard shack).

Houma

Beds are available as usual through the Beautiful Beginnings shelter:

Beautiful Beginnings
300 Bond Street
Houma, LA 70360

Additional shelters will open on Friday, July 12, at 7 AM. Shelter locations are as follows:

• Municipal Auditorium: 880 Verret Street in Houma

• East Houma Gym: 126 Boundary Road in Houma

A voluntary evacuation will go into effect on Friday, July 12, at 7 AM.

Lake Charles

The Calcasieu Parish Police Jury has emergency shelter for singles and families via an arrangement with the Louisiana Housing Corporation.

To request an emergency shelter bed, call 337-405-8292.

Natchitoches/Sabine

For information about emergency shelter as it becomes available, contact Project Celebration at 318-256-6242.

Plaquemines/St. Bernard

Emergency shelter is available for people fleeing domestic violence. For more information, including whether additional emergency shelter has become available, contact St. Bernard BWP at 504-277-3177.

Public Comment Period - FY 2019 CoC Program Local Competition

Overview

The Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC), as the Collaborative Applicant (or “lead agency”) of the Louisiana Balance of State Continuum of Care (LA BOSCOC), has released its Request for Proposals and associated documents for the FY 2019 CoC Program Local Competition for public comment.

Public comments will be accepted through 4 PM on Monday, July 15, 2019.

All public comments will be submitted to the LA BOSCOC Board for consideration.

Documents

The following documents have been released for public comment as part of the FY 2019 CoC Program Local Competition:

Request for Proposals (RFP)

Timeline and Critical Dates

Project Rating, Ranking, and Selection

New Project Scoring Tool

Renewal Project Scoring Tool

How to submit public comments

You can submit public comments one of two ways:

1. Public comments can be emailed to Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov. If possible, please submit comments on the documents themselves using Microsoft Word’s “Track Changes” and “New Comment” functions.

2. Public comments can be submitted anonymously via Google Forms using this form: https://forms.gle/DitUSuAsY44jPCeLA

3. Public comments can be submitted publicly to the CoC using the LA BOSCOC’s Slack platform. For a free invitation to the Slack platform, please email Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov.

Disclaimers

All Local Competition documents are subject to change at the discretion of the LA BOSCOC Board until their final versions are published.

HUD has not yet published their Renewal Project Application Detailed Instructions or New Project Application Detailed Instructions. While it is unlikely that these documents will change the scoring elements in the Local Competition Scoring Tools, it is possible these documents will affect how points awe awarded within those elements.

LHC strongly encourages applicants who review the public comment versions of Local Competition documents to re-read the final published versions to ensure they are aware of any changes.

FY 2019 Emergency Solutions Grant Program (ESGP) NOFA

Overview

The Louisiana Housing Corporation, as the statewide recipient of federal Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds, has announced more than $1 million in competitive funding for organizations that provide housing and supportive services to people experiencing homelessness.

For more information, please refer to the ESGP FY19 NOFA here: https://www.lhc.la.gov/public-comments-and-notices?description=&type=8

How to apply

Each Region of the LA BOSCOC can submit ONE application to the ESGP NOFA for an amount equal to its allocation in the ESGP FY19 NOFA. Each application will contain one or more projects from one or more organizations. Each Region’s application – and its process for selecting projects – is created and managed by one organization elected by that Region’s CoC members to serve as Regional Applicant.

If you are interested in EITHER being Regional Applicant OR submitting a project for funding, please follow the steps below for your Region.

Baton Rouge

• Parishes: Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Point Coupee, West Baton Rouge, West Feliciana

• Contact: Addie Duval @ Start Corporation — Addie.duval@startcorp.org

• Regional Applicants: elected via conference call on 7/11 at 1:30 PM; for call-in information, contact Addie or Gordon at glevine@lhc.la.gov

• Project Selection: to be determined by Regional Applicant; to be added to the distribution list for projects, contact Addie or Gordon

Houma

• Parishes: Assumption, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James, St. John, Terrebonne

• Contact: Brooke Guidry @ Start Corporation — Brooke.guidry@startcorp.org

• Regional Applicants: elected via email during an upcoming week; to be added to the email chain, contact Brooke or Gordon at glevine@lhc.la.gov

• Project Selection: to be determined by Regional Applicant; to be added to the distribution list for projects, contact Brooke or Gordon

Lake Charles

• Parishes: Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis

• Contact: Tarek Polite @ the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury — tpolite@cppj.net

• Regional Applicants: Calcasieu Parish Police Jury will serve as Regional Applicant unless another organization expresses interest; to nominate your organization for Regional Applicant, contact Tarek or Gordon at glevine@lhc.la.gov by 4 PM on July 12

• Project Selection: to be determined by Regional Applicant; to be added to the distribution list for projects, contact Tarek or Gordon

Natchitoches/Sabine

• Parishes: Natchitoches, Sabine

• Contact: Gordon Levine @ the Louisiana Housing Corporation — glevine@lhc.la.gov

• Regional Applicants: no organizations have expressed an interest; if you are interested, please contact Gordon at glevine@lhc.la.gov ASAP

• Project Selection: if no Regional Applicant is selected, no application will be submitted; to be added to the distribution list for projects (if there will be one), contact Gordon

Plaquemines/St. Bernard

• Parishes: Plaquemines, St. Bernard

• Contact: Gail Gowland @ St. Bernard BWP — Gail.gowland@stbernardbwp.org

• Regional Applicants: St. Bernard BWP will serve as Regional Applicant, as they are currently the sole CoC member in this Region

• Project Selection: the RFP is available at www.stbernardbwp.org; project applications are due on July 19 by 3 PM

Specialized Housing and Services for Victims of Human Trafficking NOFA

Overview

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), has released a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for a new demonstration program: Specialized Housing and Services for Victims of Human Trafficking.

This NOFA is intended to fund housing and supportive services for victims of human trafficking. It strongly emphasizes rapid re-housing but also provides funding for crisis housing, host homes, and a suite of supportive services.

This NOFA also requires significant collaboration between applicants and their CoC.

For more information, including the NOFA itself, please see: https://www.hudexchange.info/news/specialized-housing-and-services-for-victims-of-human-trafficking-nofa-fr-6300-n-45/

LA BOSCOC Applications

The Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC) does not intend to apply for these funds. However, LHC is eager to partner with organizations that do intend to apply.

If your organization is interested in applying for these funds, please contact Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov to discuss collaborating with the CoC on this NOFA.

LA BOSCOC Board Outcomes - June 11, 2019

Overview

The Board met by conference call for its regular bimonthly (every other month) meeting.

Attendance

VOTING ATTENDANCE [LISTED AS NAME, ORGANIZATION (SEAT) (ROLE, IF ANY)]

• Winona Connor, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Louisiana Housing Corporation) (Chair)

• Laura Hasenstein, Louisiana Department of Health (Louisiana Department of Health)

• Eric Gammons, Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless (HMIS Lead)

• Antiqua Hunter, Louisiana Department of Education (Louisiana Department of Education)

• Addie Duval, Start Corporation (Baton Rouge Region)

• Tarek Polite, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury (Lake Charles Region)

• Gail Gowland, St. Bernard Battered Women’s Program (Plaquemines/St. Bernard Region)

NON-VOTING ATTENDANCE (LISTED AS NAME, ORGANIZATION, (ROLE, IF ANY)]

• Gordon Levine, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Continuum of Care Manager)

• Terry Hale, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Board Secretary)

CoC Manager Report

The CoC Manager provided an overview that included the following items:

• The Point in Time (PIT) Count;

• The CoC’s System Performance Measures (an overview of project outcomes at the CoC level);

• The CoC does not expect to merge with any other CoCs during calendar year 2019;

• LHC intends to hire an additional CoC Coordinator in the near future; LHC intends for that person to be based in Lake Charles to provide localized support to the Lake Charles and Natchitoches/Sabine Regions.

CoC Program Local Competition

The CoC Manager briefed the Board on LHC’s plans for the Funding Year 2019 (FY 2019) CoC Program Local Competition. Highlights included:

• Several projects have reallocated; as a result, there will be additional new project funding available;

• LHC anticipates that new project funding will be as follows (subject to the actual funding made available by HUD):

  • ~$450,000 available to all Regions for projects that exclusively serve people fleeing domestic violence;

  • ~$400,000 prioritized to Baton Rouge for new rapid re-housing (RRH), permanent supportive housing (PSH), and joint component transitional housing/rapid re-housing (TH-RRH) projects;

  • ~200,000 prioritized to Lake Charles for new RRH, PSH, and TH-RRH projects;

  • LHC will apply for ~$700,000 in new project funding to create Coordinated Entry Access Points in the Houma, Natchitoches/Sabine, and Plaquemines/St. Bernard Regions; to fund the Access Point at the One Stop Homeless Services Center in Baton Rouge; and to fund 1.0 FTEs of a Coordinated Entry Navigator through St. Vincent de Paul of Baton Rouge;

• NOTE: prioritized funding is restricted to Baton Rouge and Lake Charles only insofar as projects that propose to serve those Regions score at least 70 points on their application; if no such projects exist, or if any money remains after such projects are funded, those prioritized funds become available to all projects in all Regions;

• The Scoring Tools and Detailed Instructions will have similar content and substance to last year, but their texts have been drastically simplified (shortened by ~50%).

Vice Chair

The Board was scheduled to elect a new Vice Chair; however, given that many of the Regional seats were not present during that point of the meeting, this election was tabled and scheduled to be held via email.

Board Seat for the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence

The Board voted unanimously to add a designated seat to the Board for the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. This seat will remain in place until the next LA BOSCOC General Meeting, at which time the general membership will need to ratify the seat as part of the LA BOSCOC Governance Charter.

Early Outcomes from Coordinated Entry

The Board discussed early outcomes data for the Coordinated Entry Policies and Procedures v2.0 (CES P&P). Early data indicates that the new mechanisms (30 day wait, Diversion and Intervention required) are working: a comprehensive survey of every person who visited a Coordinated Entry Access Point during April 2019 indicated that nearly half returned to housing with friends, family, or on their own.

The CoC Manager cautioned not to overextend this data, as it requires additional details (breakdowns by subpopulation, especially chronically homeless, youth, and DV) and more data points to be truly predictive.

The Board voted unanimously to recommend to the Coordinated Entry Committee that the Committee consider revising the CES P&P to empower the Board to grant exemptions to portions of the CES P&P for CoC Program projects funded before 2015. The Board voted unanimously to recommend to the Coordinated Entry Committee that the Committee consider not revising the CES P&P to create other ‘loopholes’ for target populations until LHC has aggregated more data.

Options Foundation Waiver of Good Standing

The Board voted to deny Options Foundation’s request for a waiver of the Good Standing requirement for the FY 2019 CoC Program NOFA. The vote roll recorded 1 vote to approve, 3 votes to deny, and 1 abstaining.

Next Board Meeting

The next Board meeting will be held in Baton Rouge and via conference call on Tuesday, August 6, from 1 PM to 3 PM. More information can be found on the LA BOSCOC Events page.

Coordinated Entry (One Stop) RFP - Webinar

Overview

The Louisiana Housing Corporation hosted a webinar to present information about the Coordinated Entry (One Stop) Request for Proposals and to answer questions about it.

The webinar was recorded and can be viewed here.

The webinar’s PowerPoint can be downloaded here.

The RFP can be downloaded here.

Request for Proposals - Coordinated Entry (One Stop) - FY 2019

Overview

The Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC), as the Collaborative Applicant for the Louisiana Balance of State Continuum of Care (LA BOSCOC), has released this Request for Proposals (RFP) in advance of the anticipated Funding Year 2019 (FY 2019) Continuum of Care (CoC) Program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA).

LHC expects to apply for up to $150,000 in funding for a new project under the Coordinated Entry project type under the FY 2019 CoC Program NOFA. If funded, LHC expects to contract with one sub-recipient through that project to create and operate a Coordinated Entry Access Points at the One Stop Homeless Services Center in the City of Baton Rouge.

This RFP is intended to generate a list of eligible and interested organizations to serve as the project sub-recipient. LHC expects to select one organization from that list.

LHC expects to make up to $150,000 available to the sub-recipient during the first year (renewable each subsequent year subject to the requirements of the CoC Program and the LA BOSCOC) under the project.

Click here to access the full RFP, including information about requirements and eligible expenses.

How to Apply

Proposals are created and submitted online through Google Forms: https://forms.gle/pZFaTAeSsFo43WESA

Applicants that cannot submit their proposal electronically may request a waiver to submit their proposal via postal mail instead. Waiver requests can be submitted to Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov or by postal mail:

Continuum of Care Manager
Louisiana Housing Corporation
1690 N. Boulevard, 2nd Floor
Baton Rouge, LA 70802

Timeline and Deadlines

Proposals must be submitted by July 12, 2019 at 11:59 PM.

The LA BOSCOC encourages potential applicants to attend its Coordinated Entry Request for Interest Webinar, which will be held on June 24, 2019 from 1:30 PM to 3 PM. The webinar’s details, including its login information, will be announced via the LA BOSCOC email list. To be added to the email list, please email Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov.

Questions

Questions can be submitted to Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov.

LA BOSCOC Board Outcomes - Week of June 10, 2019

Overview

The Board voted by email throughout the week of June 10, 2019 on several issues.

Attendance

VOTING ATTENDANCE [LISTED AS NAME, ORGANIZATION (SEAT) (ROLE, IF ANY)]

• Laura Hasenstein, Louisiana Department of Health (Louisiana Department of Health)

• Antiqua Hunter, Louisiana Department of Education (Louisiana Department of Education)

• Addie Duval, Start Corporation (Baton Rouge Region)

• Brooke Guidry, Start Corporation (Houma Region)

• Tarek Polite, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury (Lake Charles Region)

• Mitzi Harris, Project Celebration (Natchitoches/Sabine Region)

• Gail Gowland, St. Bernard Battered Women’s Program (Plaquemines/St. Bernard Region)

LA BOSCOC Committee and Attendance List

The Board voted unanimously (7-0) to maintain a public-facing list of the attendance records for all general meetings, committee meetings, and Board meetings retroactive to 2018 and moving forward. This list will also contain information about each organization’s Good Standing status. This list will be maintained by LHC. For more information about Good Standing, please refer to: https://laboscoc.org/good-standing

Coordinated Entry Request for Proposals - One Stop

The Board voted unanimously (6-0) to approve LHC releasing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to fund up to $150,000 in Coordinated Entry activities at the One Stop Homeless Services Center in Baton Rouge, LA through the upcoming Funding Year 2019 Continuum of Care (FY 2019 CoC Program) Competition. This amount will be deducted from the competitive amount prioritized to the Baton Rouge Region. The LA BOSCOC anticipates that there will still be a significant amount of competitive funding available to the Baton Rouge Region.

HUD Technical Assistance: Governance

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has invited the LA BOSCOC to join a Community of Practice (CoP) related to CoC governance. These CoPs are remote group learning opportunities where multiple CoCs collaborate on sharing best practices and learning from HUD TA providers on a given topic.

This CoP will last roughly 6 months; Addie Duval will attend for the Board and Aundrea Braniff will attend for LHC.

Vice Chair

No members of the Board were nominated for the Vice Chair position. As such, that position will remain open until such time as someone is nominated to fill it.

HMIS Committee Outcomes - June 12, 2019

Overview

The HMIS Committee met on June 12, 2019.

Attendance

VOTING ATTENDANCE [LISTED AS NAMES, ORGANIZATION (ROLE, IF ANY)]

• Clay Boykin, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Chair)

• Gail Gowland and Joyce Watson, St. Bernard Battered Women’s Program

• Betty Grant, Capital Area Human Services District

• Keneisha Keener, Volunteers of America Greater Baton Rouge

• Weston Schild, Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless

NON-VOTING ATTENDANCE (LISTED AS NAME, ORGANIZATION, (ROLE, IF ANY)]

• Gordon Levine and Aundrea Braniff, Louisiana Housing Corporation

CoC Manager’s Introduction

The CoC Manager presented his vision for this meeting and this Working Group: that during this meeting, the group would set its intentions for the next 12 months and hold biennial elections for its chair.

Chair’s Introduction

The Chair indicated that his intention for the Committee was that it help improve providers’ familiarity with and valuation of HMIS data as a tool rather than a requirement. He also expressed a desire to assist providers in learning how to request and produce reports on their data.

EmpowerDB and HMIS

The Committee discussed many of the practical aspects of data sharing between EmpowerDB and HMIS, specifically the process for referring a participant from EmpowerDB to HMIS and how a DV provider can check to see participant status on the Prioritization List.

Training

The Committee voted unanimously to instruct the Louisiana Housing Corporation to provide HMIS training as follows:

• Every other month and by project type, open to all providers operating projects of that type;

• One instance of HMIS training for PATH providers in partnership with the Office of Behavioral Health.

Committee Chair

The HMIS Committee tabled its biennial Chair election.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held by conference call. The next meeting has not yet been scheduled. To join this Working Group or be informed about its next meeting, please contact Gordon Levine, CoC Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov, or Clay Boykin, Committee Chair, at cboykin@lhc.la.gov.

DV Working Group Outcomes - June 16, 2019

Overview

The DV Working Group met on June 16, 2019.

Attendance

VOTING ATTENDANCE [LISTED AS NAMES, ORGANIZATION (ROLE, IF ANY)]

• Delma Porter, Southwest Louisiana Law Center (Chair)

• Gail Gowland, St. Bernard Battered Women’s Program

• Pam Hutcheson, Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence

• Trashica “Keysha” Robinson, IRIS Domestic Violence Shelter

• Tammara Crawford and Krysta Heathcock, Empower 225

• Antiqua Hunter, Louisiana Department of Education (by phone)

NON-VOTING ATTENDANCE (LISTED AS NAME, ORGANIZATION, (ROLE, IF ANY)]

• Gordon Levine, Aundrea Braniff, Clay Boykin, Louisiana Housing Corporation

CoC Manager’s Introduction

The CoC Manager presented his vision for this meeting and this Working Group: that during this meeting, the group would set its intentions for the next 12 months, review and approve the referral form from EmpowerDB to HMIS, and hold biennial elections for its chair.

Referral Form

By general acclamation, the Working Group approved the EmpowerDB-to-HMIS Referral Form. This Form will be submitted to the Coordinated Entry Committee for review, then submitted to the Board for final approval.

Coordinated Entry Policies and Procedures v2.0 Discussion

The Working Group discussed many of the changes implemented in the Coordinated Entry Policies and Procedures v2.0 (CES P&P 2.0), particularly the 30-day wait requirement. Many of the providers presented made the case that the 30-day wait will lengthen the amount of time people fleeing DV spend waiting to enter housing; the CoC Manager requested data to support that position and committed to reviewing the CES P&P in light of that data. LCADV committed to collecting that data from providers, while the CoC Manager and LCADV jointly committed to discussing the issue further with national technical assistance providers.

DV Working Group Chair

By general acclamation, the Working Group selected Trashica “Keysha” Robinson from IRIS as its new Chair.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held by conference call. The next meeting has not yet been scheduled. To join this Working Group or be informed about its next meeting, please contact Gordon Levine, CoC Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov, or Trashica “Keysha” Robinson, Working Group Chair, at krobinson@stopdv.org.

LA BOSCOC General Meeting Outcomes - April 1, 2019

Overview

The general membership of the LA BOSCOC met in person in Baton Rouge on April 1, 2019.

Attendance

VOTING ATTENDANCE [LISTED AS ORGANIZATION ONLY]

• Alexandria Veterans Administration Medical Center

• Amerihealth Caritas

• Calcasieu Parish Police Jury

• Calcasieu Parish School Board

• Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless

• Capital Area United Way

• Catholic Charities of Southwest Louisiana

• Empower 225

• Education and Treatment Center (ETC)

• HIV/AIDS Alliance for Region Two (HAART)

• Healthy Blue

• Joseph Homes

• Liberty Dwelling

• Laurant-Lewis Consultancy

• Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence

• Louisiana Department of Education

• Louisiana Housing Corporation

• Maison des Ami

• O’Brien House

• Options Villa

• Our Lady of the Lake

• Particular Council of St. Vincent de Paul of Baton Rouge, the

• Salvation Army of Baton Rouge

• Start Corporation

• St. Bernard Battered Women’s Place

• South Central Louisiana Human Services Association

• Southwest Louisiana Law Center

• Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government

• United Way of SWLA

• Veterans Administration

• Youth Oasis

Governance Charter v4.0

The general membership voted unanimously to approve the LA BOSCOC Governance Charter v4.0. Significant changes include:

• Clarifies and provides additional structure for LA BOSCOC voting;

• Added several sidebars to answer common questions in plain language (e.g. “Who Actually Belongs to the CoC?”);

• Requires each Regional Subcommittee to develop a street outreach plan;

• Explicitly clarifies the authority of each of the CoC’s governing authorities (the general membership, the committees, and the Board); broadly:

  • General membership: approves the Governance Charter, which defines the powers of the committees and the Board;

  • Committees: complete tasks specified in the Governance Charter; review and approve policies to recommend to the Board for final approval;

  • Board: complete tasks specified in the Governance Charter; provide final approval for policies recommended by the committees;

• Board Chair and Board Vice Chair are now elected from the Board’s membership.

The full text document can be found here: https://laboscoc.org/policies-and-procedures

LA BOSCOC Board Outcomes - April 1, 2019

Overview

The Board met in person to discuss a variety of issues on April 1, 2019.

Attendance

VOTING ATTENDANCE [LISTED AS NAME, ORGANIZATION (SEAT) (ROLE, IF ANY)]

• Winona Connor, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Louisiana Housing Corporation) (Chair)

• Eric Gammons, Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless (HMIS Lead)

• Antiqua Hunter, Louisiana Department of Education (Louisiana Department of Education)

• Addie Duval, Start Corporation (Baton Rouge Region)

• Brooke Guidry, Start Corporation (Houma Region)

• Tarek Polite, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury (Lake Charles Region)

• Gail Gowland, St. Bernard Battered Women’s Program (Plaquemines/St. Bernard Region)

NON-VOTING ATTENDANCE (LISTED AS NAME, ORGANIZATION, (ROLE, IF ANY)]

• Aundrea Braniff, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Acting Secretary)

• Gordon Levine, Louisiana Housing Corporation (Continuum of Care Manager)

• More than a dozen members of the CoC sat in on the meeting; roll was not taken

PIT Count

The CoC Manager provided an overview of the Point in Time (PIT) Count, both the January 2019 count and the LA BOSCOC’s PIT Count in general.

Strengths highlighted included:

• Baton Rouge’s count is improving its methodology every year;

• Lake Charles implemented an innovative single night shelter option to collected sheltered data;

• Starting next year, each Region will have a CoC Program-funded Coordinated Entry Access Point to help develop the PIT Count capacity.

Vulnerabilities highlighted included:

• Natchitoches/Sabine continues to conduct no count;

• Plaquemines/St. Bernard continues to conduct no unsheltered count;

• Lake Charles needs to conduct a more comprehensive unsheltered count;

• No Region is conducting an effective rural count;

• Planning needs to start earlier (September/October rather than December/January) to build capacity;

• Baton Rouge count needs to identify a new PIT Captain for January 2020, as the previous PIT Captain (Joe Keegan) is retiring).

Coordinated Entry

The CoC Manager provided an overview of the Coordinated Entry System (CES) after its first 12 months of operation.

The key finding is that while the CES is ensuring the CoC is serving people in order of their level of need, the CoC’s ratio of referrals to successful intakes is very low (approximately 10%). This is primarily due to poor or incomplete contact information collected by Coordinated Entry Access Points and outreach workers, particularly regarding people experiencing chronic homelessness.

As a remedy, the Board unanimously authorized funding from the FY 2019 CoC Program NOFA for a Coordinated Entry Navigator, whose job will be to (1) establish and record the required documentation for people experiencing homelessness who are high on the LA BOSCOC’s Prioritization List and (2) ensuring contact information is correct and current. The authorized funding is up to $80,000 and will be drawn from the Baton Rouge Region’s annual allocation.

Scoring Committee

Historically, the LA BOSCOC’s project applications to the CoC Program NOFA have been scored by members of the Governor’s Council on Homelessness using exclusively information present in those project applications.

The Board voted unanimously to include a mechanism in the LA BOSCOC’s project application scoring process by which Scoring Committee members could ask clarifying questions of the project application’s organization and adjust the project’s score as appropriate.

Board Meeting Frequency

The Board voted unanimously to meet on a bimonthly basis. (Previously, the Board was convened approximately quarterly on an ad hoc basis and in response to specific needs.)

Next Board Meeting

The next Board meeting will be held in person in Baton Rouge with a dial-in option. Some portion of the Board meeting will be open to the public. The Board has not yet set a date for this meeting; however, it will be scheduled for early June.

Coordinated Entry Policies and Procedures v2.0 Approved and Released

Overview

The LA BOSCOC Board has unanimously approved for release the LA BOSCOC Coordinated Entry Policies and Procedures v2.0.

This document significantly revises the LA BOSCOC’s Coordinated Entry System (CES). The LA BOSCOC urges all organizations that receive funding through the CoC Program, ESG, PATH, and SSVF to read the new policy in full.

This document goes into effect April 1, 2019.

The LA BOSCOC Coordinated Entry Policies and Procedures v2.0 can be found here.

Training

The LA BOSCOC will provide comprehensive training on the new CES policies and procedures to all organizations that receive funding through the CoC Program, ESG, PATH, and SSVF, and to any other agencies that use CES to refer people experiencing homelessness to housing or to receive referrals for housing.

Organizations are STRONGLY encouraged to send outreach workers, case managers, etc. to training (in addition to manager- and director-level staff).

Training will be provided by the Louisiana Housing Corporation, Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless, and the Coordinated Entry Committee. Training will include:

• “Mini guides” for each project type that is required to interact with CES (e.g. CoC Program PSH, ESG Emergency Shelter, etc.) summarizing each project’s CES process in simple-to-understand language;

• Updated HMIS workflows for Diversion, Intervention, and other elements of the updated CES process;

• Louisiana Housing Corporation staff will provide on-site training to each CoC Program-funded Coordinated Entry project as requested (as soon as possible, schedule permitting);

• Louisiana Housing Corporation staff will provide some level of online training via webinar in March;

• Louisiana Housing Corporation and Coordinated Entry Committee staff will provide training during the Baton Rouge Subcommitee meeting on March 12, 2019 in Baton Rouge;

• Louisiana Housing Corporation staff will provide training during the LA BOSCOC General Meeting on April 1, 2019 in Baton Rouge.

Additional training and materials may be available. If you have a specific need that isn’t addressed by the list above, please submit a training request to Gordon Levine, CoC Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov or Laura Martinez, Coordinated Entry Committee Chair, at laura.martinez@startcorp.org.

Changelog

This document is a comprehensive rewrite of the v1.X Coordinated Entry Policies and Procedures; the LA BOSCOC encourages you to read the entire document.

A selection of core changes include:

• Document has been rewritten to provide specific guidance to each project type (broken down by funding source) regarding which components of the Coordinated Entry System it is required to implement;

• The Coordinated Entry process has been broken down into several stages (“components”), each of which has specific actions and requirements;

• A new component, Diversion, has been added:

  • Diversion occurs at the time a person initially presents for housing to a Coordinated Entry Access Point or outreach worker;

  • All Access Points and outreach workers are required to provide Diversion;

  • Diversion means “a one-time service, recorded in HMIS or an HMIS-comparable database, in which a case manager or outreach worker attempts to return a person to housing before enter an emergency shelter or spend the night on the streets or in place not meant for human habitation”;

  • Diversion is intended to be our CoC’s first response to people experiencing homelessness; it will reduce the number of people experiencing first time homelessness by ensuring people who can return to housing with few barriers do so as quickly as possible;

• A new component, Intervention, has been added;

  • Intervention occurs any time after a person initially presents for housing to an Access Point or outreach worker;

  • All Access Points and outreach workers are required to provide Intervention;

  • Intervention means “a service, recorded in HMIS or an HMIS-comparable database, in which a case manager or outreach worker attempts to return a person to housing via their existing support networks and/or other non-permanent housing benefits before they are referred to the Coordinated Entry Prioritization List”;

• The Coordinated Entry Prioritization List will be kept in a database outside HMIS and will draw referrals from HMIS, HMIS-comparable databases, the RRH to PSH Bridge, and the Emergency Transfer Plan;

  • HMIS referrals will be taken directly from HMIS by the LA BOSCOC’s HMIS Specialist (i.e. our current practice);

  • HMIS-comparable databases will need to refer participants by email or fax to the HMIS Specialist using a dummy name for participants to ensure confidentiality is maintained;

  • The RRH to PSH Bridge allows RRH projects to — rarely — request that the CoC Manager approve transferring an eligible participant from RRH to PSH;

  • The Emergency Transfer Plan allows participants who are fleeing domestic violence and who are already enrolled in a TH, RRH, or PSH project to be quickly transferred to another TH, RRH, or PSH project in a different Region;

• Participants cannot be added to the Coordinated Entry Prioritization List until they meet BOTH of the following criteria:

  • The participant has received at least one instance of Intervention (recorded in HMIS or an HMIS-comparable database);

  • At least 30 days have passed since the participant initially presented for housing (measured as 30 days from the participant’s date of entry into the Coordinated Entry project in HMIS or using an equivalent measure in an HMIS-comparable database);

    • RRH to PSH Bridge and Emergency Transfer Plan participants do not need to meet either of the above criteria.

FY 2018 CoC Program Funding Awards

Overview

The LA BOSCOC is pleased to announce new and renewal funding for Continuum of Care (CoC) Program projects for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.

The full list of projects can be found here under LA-509: https://www.hudexchange.info/onecpd/assets/File/2018-louisiana-coc-grants.pdf

Congratulations to every organization that received funding! This funding recognizes that you submitted competitive grants to fund necessary, exceptional projects. The LA BOSCOC looks forward to working with all of you this coming year and in years to come!

Project Awards by Type

Renewal Projects

All renewal projects submitted received full funding.

In addition, those projects that provide housing tied to fair market rent values received small increases (above what was requested) to compensate for changing fair market rent values.

In total, the LA BOSCOC received $16,786,308.

New Projects

All new projects submitted under the Permanent Housing Bonus received full or nearly full funding. One of two projects submitted under the Domestic Violence Bonus received full funding.

In total, the LA BOSCOC received $1,093,851 in new funding (excluding planning project funding).

Those projects are:

DV Coordinated Entry Access Point - St. Bernard/Plaquemines

Organization: St. Bernard Battered Women’s Place
Funding Amount: $100,000
Project Type: Coordinated Entry
Service Area: Plaquemines/St. Bernard Region
Project Description: Funding for Coordinated Entry activities, including access, intake, assessment, and diversion, for people fleeing domestic violence in St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parish.

HMIS Expansion

Organization: Louisiana Housing Corporation
Funding Amount: $77,178
Project Type: HMIS
Service Area: LA BOSCOC
Project Description: Additional funding for the LA BOSCOC’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), the statewide database of information and services for people experiencing homelessness. This expansion project primarily funds another full time staff person to provide monitoring and technical assistance to the LA BOSCOC’s growing roster of HMIS-compliant organizations.

HP Serve RRH for Individual Youth

Organization: Empower 225 (formerly HP Serve)
Funding Amount: $231,470
Project Type: Rapid Re-housing
Service Area: Baton Rouge Region
Project Description: This project provides short- to medium-term scattered site rental assistance to 12 single-person households of youth experiencing homelessness aged 18-24. It also funds 20 hours/week of street outreach to better identify youth experiencing homelessness and to connect them with resources, including diversion case management.

Louisiana Housing Corporation-RRH Expansion

Organization: Louisiana Housing Corporation
Funding Amount: $242,787
Project Type: Rapid Re-housing
Service Area: Baton Rouge Region
Project Description: This project provides short- to medium-term scattered site rental assistance (estimated at 9-12 months of assistance for each household) to 5 single-person households and 3 families of people experiencing homelessness, focusing on families, people with mental illness, and people experiencing chronic homelessness. It also funds 40 hours/week of street outreach to connect the project’s target population with resources, including diversion case management.

Partners in Health & Housing for Baton Rouge

Organization: Start Corporation
Funding Amount: $297,588
Project Type: Permanent Supportive Housing
Service Area: Baton Rouge Region
Project Description: This project provides open-ended, scattered site permanent supportive housing to 20 single-person households of people living with severe and persistent mental illness who are experiencing chronic homelessness. It also funds 20 hours/week of street outreach to connect the project’s target population with resources, including diversion case management.

TPCG Rapid Re-housing

Organization: Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government
Funding Amount: $144,828
Project Type: Rapid Re-housing
Service Area: Houma Region
Project Description: This project provides open-ended, scattered site permanent supportive housing to 5 single-person households 8 families of people experiencing homelessness. It also funds 20 hours/week of street outreach to connect the project’s target population with resources, including diversion case management.

Request for Proposals - Coordinated Entry - FY 2019

Overview

The Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC), as the Collaborative Applicant for the Louisiana Balance of State Continuum of Care (LA BOSCOC), has released this Request for Proposals (RFP) in advance of the anticipated Funding Year 2019 (FY 2019) Continuum of Care (CoC) Program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA).

Under the FY 2019 CoC Program NOFA, LHC expects to apply for up to $450,000 in funding for a new project under the Coordinated Entry project type. This funding will be used to create and operate Coordinated Entry Access Points in three Regions: Houma, Natchitoches/Sabine, and Plaquemines/St. Bernard.

If LHC receives funding for this new project, it will select one sub-recipient from each of the above Regions to receive up to $150,000 (during the project’s first year and renewable each subsequent year) to operate the Coordinated Entry Access Point in that Region.

This RFP is intended to generate a list of eligible and interested organizations in Houma, Natchitoches/Sabine, and Plaquemines/St. Bernard. LHC expects to select three eligible organizations — one from each Region — to serve as sub-recipients under its proposed new project.

Click here to access the full RFP, including information about requirements and eligible expenses.

How to Apply

Proposals are created and submitted online through Google Forms: https://goo.gl/forms/lIfNnwBrmYTedrjt1

Applicants that cannot submit their proposal electronically may request a waiver to submit their proposal via postal mail instead. Waiver requests can be submitted to Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov or by postal mail:

Continuum of Care Manager
Louisiana Housing Corporation
1690 N. Boulevard, 2nd Floor
Baton Rouge, LA 70802

Timeline and Deadlines

Proposals must be submitted by March 15, 2019 at 11:59 PM.

The LA BOSCOC encourages potential applicants to attend its Coordinated Entry Request for Interest Webinar, which will be held on June 24, 2019 from 10 AM to noon. The webinar’s details, including its login information, will be announced via the LA BOSCOC email list and on the LA BOSCOC website at https://laboscoc.org/new-blog/.

Questions

Questions can be submitted to Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov.