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Presentation, discussion, and possible action on State Fiscal Year 2025 Homeless Housing and Services Program Awards.
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RECOMMENDED ACTION
recommendation
WHEREAS, the Homeless Housing and Services Program (HHSP) was created by the 81st Texas Legislature to be administered by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (the Department) to fund homelessness prevention and homeless services in Texas municipalities with populations over 285,500;
WHEREAS, the Texas Legislature has, through the enactment of House Bill (HB) 1 (88th Legislature), provided General Revenue funds of $5,899,984 each year of the biennium for HHSP;
WHEREAS, HB 1 included Rider 16, designating $1,500,000 of HHSP funds each year of the biennium to provide services to unaccompanied homeless youth and homeless young adults 24 years of age and younger to be distributed through a youth set-aside within HHSP;
WHEREAS, after a reduction of $44,000 for annual Department administrative expenses, funds in the amount of $4,355,984 are available for award for the HHSP general set-aside;
WHEREAS, the allocation formula for HHSP is set forth in 10 TAC §7.23, Allocation of Funds and Formula;
WHEREAS, the cities in Texas with a population that meet the threshold criteria for HHSP are Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Plano, and San Antonio; and
WHEREAS, the Previous Participation Review Approval Process (PPRAP) included a review of the awards and compliance history, and recommends the 2025 HHSP awards to the City of Arlington, City of Austin, City of Corpus Christi, City of Dallas, City of El Paso, City of Fort Worth, City of Houston, City of Plano, City of San Antonio, and Haven for Hope of Bexar County with no conditions;
NOW, therefore, it is hereby
RESOLVED, that the Director and his designees, be and each of them hereby are authorized, empowered, and directed, for and on behalf of the Department, to take any and all such actions as they or any of them may deem necessary or advisable to effectuate the award of not less than $4,355,984 in SFY 2025 HHSP Contracts for general funds, and $1,500,000 in SFY 2025 HHSP youth set-aside funds in the amounts reflected in Attachment A, to the municipalities in Texas with a population of 285,500 or more (or their designee).
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BACKGROUND
HHSP funding is allocated to municipalities with a population of 285,500 or greater for the provision of homeless assistance and homeless prevention activities. HB 1 passed in Regular Session by the 88th Texas Legislature authorized state general revenue funding totaling $11,799,968 over the biennium for HHSP. Rider 16 requires that of the total authorized funds, $3,000,000 is set-aside for provision of HHSP homeless assistance to youth under the age of 25. The Department programmed $8,711,968 of the funds to be awarded to HHSP eligible Subrecipients, and retained the remaining $88,000 ($44,000 per year) for its administration.
The Department administers HHSP in accordance with Tex. Gov’t Code §2306.2585 and 10 TAC Chapters 1 and 2, and Chapter 7, Subchapters A and B. Allowable activities include case management for households experiencing or at-risk of homelessness; construction, conversion, or rehabilitation of structures targeted to serving Homeless persons or persons at-risk of homelessness; essential services for Homeless persons or persons at risk of homelessness; provision of direct services; operation of emergency shelters or administrative facilities; and other Homeless-related activity, as approved by the Department in writing. For the HHSP youth set aside funds, Rider 16 specifically lists eligible services as case management, emergency shelter, street outreach, and transitional living.
In accordance with 10 TAC §7.21, Purpose and Use, HHSP provides funding to areas in municipalities with populations of 285,500 or greater, as determined by the most recent available One Year American Community Survey (ACS). HHSP is allocated to Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Plano, and San Antonio. The allocation formula, as outlined in 10 TAC §7.23, resulted in the allocations listed in Attachment A to each municipality. The most recent full Point-In-Time Count as referenced in 10 TAC §7.23, which includes a full demographic count for sheltered and unsheltered persons, was conducted in 2023; therefore, the Department utilized the 2023 Point-In-Time Count in allocating the HHSP funds.
In accordance with 10 TAC §7.22, municipalities eligible for an award based their population may designate a nonprofit organization to administer the HHSP, and the City of San Antonio has designated Haven for Hope to administer its award of general set-aside funds; however, the city will self-administer the youth set-aside.
The Previous Participation Rule at 10 TAC §1.302 includes a review of HHSP entities prior to Board recommendation. All Subrecipients completed the review and were recommended for approval with no conditions. The effective Contract Term for both the HHSP general funds, and the HHSP youth set-aside funds will be September 1, 2024, through August 31, 2025, unless a different term is requested by the Subrecipient and agreed to by the Department, but in no case will the Contract start later than December 31, 2024.