CSH Initiatives and Products: Policy and Advocacy

Washington state made a historic move to combat long-term homelessness and improve health yesterday as Governor Jay Inslee signed the Apple Health and Homes Act (HB 1866). State Representative Frank Chopp (D-Seattle) sponsored the bill that intrinsically links healthcare and housing in a way never done before in this country.

The legislation passed with bipartisan support and authorized the state’s Medicaid program to provide tenancy support services paired with housing for people experiencing long-term homelessness.

Over the past several months, Debbie Thiele, Managing Director, Western Region for CSH, and her team worked with Rep. Chopp and other state legislators on crafting the supportive housing provisions of the bill.

In a statement from Washington State House Democrats, Ms. Thiele said, “Apple Health and Homes builds on significant research that demonstrates supportive housing is the most cost-effective and humane way to approach chronic homelessness. Apple Health & Homes will expedite housing production, ensure equitable outcomes, and create upstream solutions to cut down on the public costs of emergency room visits, hospital stays, and incarceration.”

Significant components of the bill:

• invests in preventative and ongoing services, reducing costs to local emergency systems;
• creates more supportive housing statewide;
• expands the capacity of supportive housing providers; and
• ensures oversight and accountability through a new Office of Health and Homes.

Click here to read the complete statement. 

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) authorized $5 billion to help communities across the country address homelessness and affordable housing.  New HOME-ARP guidance from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development released September 13^th offers new flexibility for communities to prioritize and accelerate supportive housing development through new construction and rehabilitation. Read on to learn about these exciting changes and how you can influence decisions about how your community uses the money.

What is Supportive Housing?

Supportive housing pairs deeply affordable housing with tenancy support services that help people get housed and stay housed. It is an evidence-based intervention for people who experience chronic homelessness, unnecessary institutionalization and/or cycle between institutional settings and the streets. Supportive housing helps communities thrive by providing a foundation for households with complex needs to live with autonomy and dignity.

Why is this so exciting?

HUD’s notice outlines many features that make supportive housing even easier with HOME.  Communities can use HOME-ARP funds to braid together capital, operating, and services to create a supportive housing pipeline and meet their communities’ goals to end homelessness.

Key New Features:

1. Per Unit Caps Are Gone: HOME previously capped how much funding could be used on any single unit, making it hard to use in high-cost markets. HOME-ARP has no per unit limit.  This means HOME-ARP can pay for up to the full capital costs for a unit, be used more effectively to fill gaps in projects, and cover other expenses such as operating and services to make projects viable.

• Capitalized Operating Reserves: Project-based rental subsidies are critical to underwriting supportive housing. HUD allows HOME-ARP to be capitalized for up to 15 years to ensure that units can be made affordable for people with little to no income.  HOME-ARP also provides for the pro-rated costs of a resident services coordinator to be capitalized into the operating reserves to provide a baseline of services support in the building throughout the 15-year compliance period.

• Provide Supportive Services: HOME-ARP can be used to pay for services through 2030. This provision makes it possible to pay for support services consistent with housing first approaches.   While the services will not be available throughout the 15-year compliance period, it offers an opportunity for states and localities to bridge to Medicaid-funded or other funding streams to make providers viable.

• Designed to Play Well with Others: HOME-ARP can be braided with other capital, operating, and services sources to create affordable and supportive housing.  These potential resource pairings can include, but are not limited to: 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credits; 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits; project-based Housing Choice Vouchers, state and local rental assistance programs, and State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds provided through ARP. HOME-ARPs more flexible regulations mean that it can be used to cover expenses that may not be fully addressed by other sources.
  
• Build Nonprofit Capacity: Jurisdictions are allowed to use up to 5% percent of their allocation to pay nonprofits for activities related to HOME-ARP funds (not to exceed $50,000 or 50% of the nonprofit’s general operating budget), and an additional 5% to help build nonprofit capacity.  This may include building capacity of developers who may not have traditionally created supportive housing but are interested in expanding into this model, Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) led and culturally-specific organizations.

• Eligibility is Flexible, but Focused: HOME-ARP can be used to assist individuals and families who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, fleeing or attempting to flee domestic/dating violence or human trafficking, or when additional supportive services would prevent homelessness or address housing instability. This allows communities to focus supportive housing on people and systems who may not qualify under the chronic homelessness definition, such as people exiting prisons and jails, people in institutional settings, or youth and families that are unstably housed and identified through child welfare or educational system involvement.

What is the process?

HUD has already sent the funding to participating jurisdictions (receivers of HOME funds). To spend HOME-ARP funding, all participating jurisdictions are required to: 1) determine needs and gaps – which should include an analysis of racial and other disparities in need; 2) consult with Continuums of Care Public Housing Authorities and Veteran Serving Organizations – review needs, priorities and potential resources to leverage; 3) develop an allocation plan – a new allocation plan specific to HOME-ARP that states how the fund will be spent by each activity type including supportive housing and the populations served; and 4) post for a minimum 15-day public comment period.

This is a huge opportunity to ensure that your jurisdiction’s allocation plan includes supportive housing, and also a review of people with a high risk of homelessness in other institutional and crisis systems. The CSH National Supportive Housing Needs Assessment can provide valuable data to help you identify needs across your public systems. It is also an opportunity to set goals to address racial and other disparities and equitable allocation plans for populations being served. Communities should also consider strategies that promote access to capital for BIPOC and culturally-specific developers and service providers that represent the demographics from their statement of need. CSH’s Racial Disparities and Disproportionalities Index is a free source of state-level systems data that can support planning.

Do not miss this critical chance to ensure that supportive housing is a central part of your plan to ensure that all people in your community have a home and the support they need to thrive! 

For more information, read HUD’s fact sheets on HOME-ARP.

If you represent a jurisdiction that needs support in leveraging HOME-ARP to develop a supportive housing pipeline, inquire with consulting@csh.org.

Today, the Bring California Home coalition, a diverse group of over 300 elected officials, leaders, and advocates from across California released the following statement about Assembly Bill 71:

“We are disappointed by the news that AB 71 by Assemblywoman Luz Rivas is being held for this year.  Assemblywoman Rivas sought input from a wide range of stakeholders, and fought hard to perfect this ambitious legislation; it is a credit to her grit and her skills as a legislator that the bill made it so far. The fact is, six months ago, many people expressed doubt that AB 71 could get here — passing three different Assembly committees.

As a coalition, we have championed this historic piece of legislation since its inception. We remain committed to its fundamental goals of a statewide approach, and the sorely needed permanent source of funding, to combat homelessness in California. 

Assemblywoman Rivas’ work, and the strength of our coalition, had a ripple effect on lawmakers’ approach to combating homelessness this year, beyond AB 71. Democratic legislators’ inclusion of $1 billion in ongoing homelessness funding for local governments in their budget proposal is a testament to the impact of that work. This is a historic commitment to combating homelessness — the issue California voters say is of primary concern — and we will fight for it.

In the short term, our coalition is clear-eyed about the options on the table for combating homelessness — though many of them, aside from the $1 billion in ongoing funding, do not achieve the long term reforms we know are critical. We believe Governor Newsom’s $12 billion in funding to combat homelessness is a strong start, as is the legislature’s proposal to provide $8.5 billion in new funding for homelessness programs over the next two years.

Going forward, our coalition will continue to pursue alternative options for achieving our fundamental goals of a statewide approach and dedicated, permanent funding to combat homelessness. This could include future legislation, ensuring the provisions from AB 71 are included in a budget trailer bill language, a possible ballot measure campaign, and more. We stand ready to work with leaders who are ready to act boldly in the name of combating homelessness, the defining issue of our time in California.” 

Bring California Home is a coalition of over 300 elected officials and advocates from across California. For more information about the coalition and the plan to reverse the cycle of homelessness, visit www.bringcahome.org. 

CSH believes that everyone should have a safe and affordable place to call home, with the quality services and support they need to thrive. That was true before COVID-19, and it’s even more true now as thousands of our most vulnerable neighbors have been left without access to the resources they need to stay safe from the virus. 

Everyone should have a safe place to lay their head at night. 

That’s why we’re so proud to partner with Bring CA Home — a new initiative to ensure we have the resources to combat homelessness at scale and ensure no family is left without a place to call home during a time of crisis. 

Over the last few years, California has invested billions of dollars to address our homelessness in our communities. While these one-time funding allocations have delivered real results, we need a sustainable, reliable strategy designed to deliver results over the long-term.

Our plan calls for California to invest $2.4 billion annually, which, combined with federal and local resources, would reverse the cycle of homelessness for our state. 

This annual $2.4 billion policy proposal could fund:

• Prevention: help 28,000 people and families on the brink of homelessness by creating new affordable apartments and providing low-cost interventions like rental assistance and other cash payments that allow people to stay in their homes;
• Interim housing: help close to 25,000 individuals and families access a safe place to shelter while they find permanent housing, including innovative programs like leasing motel rooms similar to Project Roomkey, hotel vouchers, or navigation centers with case managers;  
• Permanent housing: allow at least 43,000 people to move into permanent housing through rental housing and capital development, and for at least 22,000 households to connect to family and friends to exit homelessness; and
• Services: provide housing navigation, case management and employment support to about 50,000 people so they can thrive in long-term housing.

This moment calls for bold action if we’re serious about supporting those experiencing homelessness or on the brink of losing their home. Bring CA Home is spearheading the transformational approach we need to ensure housing stability for everyone who calls California home.

Find out more on their website on how you can help: bringcahome.org. 

Data on New Jersey’s racial disparities are critical for advancing racial equity through public policy and practice. Our new report highlights the significant racial disparities for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPoC) across multiple public systems in New Jersey due to historic and systemic racism and marginalization, with a focus on the homeless/housing and justice systems.

The overview highlights housing and justice reform findings and recent recommendations from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and the New Jersey Reentry Corporation, as well as actions organizations can and should take to integrate racial equity into their existing work.

Our report pulls heavily from CSH’s Racial Disparities and Disproportionality Index (RDDI) tool, a free and public resource that looks at 17 unique systems and categories and measures whether a racial and/or ethnic group’s representation in a particular public system is proportionate to, over, or below their representation in the overall population. The tool was created to support multi-sector partnership’s that design and sustain change grounded in racial equity that have long been hampered by system-level data silos.

Please read and share this report, particularly with local leaders and policymakers who are pursuing anti-racist policies and practices and whose work can benefit from leveraging the information available within the CSH tool.

Data on New Jersey’s racial disparities are critical for advancing racial equity through public policy and practice. Our new report highlights the significant racial disparities for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPoC) across multiple public systems in New Jersey due to historic and systemic racism and marginalization, with a focus on the homeless/housing and justice systems.

The overview highlights housing and justice reform findings and recent recommendations from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and the New Jersey Reentry Corporation, as well as actions organizations can and should take to integrate racial equity into their existing work.

Our report pulls heavily from CSH’s Racial Disparities and Disproportionality Index (RDDI) tool, a free and public resource that looks at 17 unique systems and categories and measures whether a racial and/or ethnic group’s representation in a particular public system is proportionate to, over, or below their representation in the overall population. The tool was created to support multi-sector partnership’s that design and sustain change grounded in racial equity that have long been hampered by system-level data silos.

Please read and share this report, particularly with local leaders and policymakers who are pursuing anti-racist policies and practices and whose work can benefit from leveraging the information available within the CSH tool.

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Navigating Finances with Supportive Housing Clients, with a Discussion on Racial Equity

We’re hosting a free webinar for New Jersey Supportive Housing Providers on Thursday, November 12, 10:00am – 11:30am ET.

The webinar will feature special guest speakers: Zoraida Reyes, the Director of Financial Services at the Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey (CSPNJ), and Rev. Dr. Sidney Williams, the CEO of Crossing Capital Group, Inc., and a community builder, social impact fund advisor and practical theologian.

We hope to see you there!

Everyone should have the right to live in a thriving community they choose to call home. Research has demonstrated when a neighborhood includes affordable housing, home values do not decrease. In light of the Administration’s recent repeal of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, we all must amplify this message to counter claims to the contrary. 

A cornerstone of racist housing policies was the pernicious and enduring myth that diverse communities devalue real estate. To address these housing policies, the AFFH required nothing more of communities than to identify patterns of housing discrimination, implement corrective actions, and report results; in short, it enforced the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the case law on the disparate impact that followed.

By no longer enforcing AFFH, families and individuals living on the margins are shut out of opportunities to thrive themselves.

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What the Research Shows

Research on the impact of supportive housing for low income and formerly homeless people in New York City found that over time home values were not adversely affected by proximity. The effects did not vary based on the size, characteristics, or density of the development.

Trulia looked at the impact of affordable housing in 20 high-cost cities and suburbs across the country. What they learned was simple: “low-income housing has no impact on nearby home values.”

The groundbreaking research of Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren on economic opportunity found that neighborhoods have a powerful effect on life-long success: “every extra year a child spends growing up in an area where permanent residents’ incomes are higher increases his or her income.” The disparities between higher-income/higher cost and lower-income/lower-cost neighborhoods are the result of segregating communities by race and class via the history of racist housing policies.

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The Need for Fair Housing Now More than Ever

The elimination of AFFH comes at a time when it has never been more urgent to expand affordable housing opportunities. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition’s 2020 Out of Reach report found that the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment was out of reach for 11 million, or one in four, renter households.

Rising housing costs have had a disproportionate impact on Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. 54.7% of Black renter households are cost-burdened (i.e., pay more than 30% of gross income toward housing costs) versus 42.7% of white households.

The elimination of AFFH also comes on the heels of the 30^th anniversary of the ADA, which promises “equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency.” Yet people with disabilities are 2.25 times more likely to live in poverty, and 3 times more likely to be out of the labor force.

Repealing laws designed to ensure fair access to housing for everyone sets us back decades as record numbers of people are experiencing homelessness, face housing insecurity, and live in inadequate institutional settings. Now is the time to expand housing opportunities so that everyone has the right to live in a community they choose to call home.

This past weekend we celebrated the 30^th  anniversary of the enactment of the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA). The “Findings and purpose” of the law declare that “the Nation’s proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals.” While rightly hailed as landmark civil rights legislation, the promises of the ADA remain to be met. From curb cuts, to ramps, to transit improvements, ADA expanded physical accessibility in ways that we now take for granted. It has dramatically increased access to communication and technology. It has modestly expanded employment opportunities. Yet people with disabilities still lag far behind. People with disabilities are 2.25 times more likely to live in poverty, and 3 times more likely to be out of the labor force.

The picture is even more disturbing when we consider the intersection of race and disability. According to the National Disability Institute, 14% of working-age (18 to 65) Black people report some form of disability compared to 11% of white people. Disability rates increase significantly with age. 20% of white people age 61 to 65 experience disability versus 30% of Black people, a powerful reminder of the myriad of racial inequities from food security to health care access to housing experienced by Black people in America. The triple jeopardy of poverty, disability, and racism consigns far too many to institutional systems that have failed to meet their needs, and in the face of the COVID pandemic, threatened their lives.

Understanding the intersectional implications of marginalized identities: race, (dis)ability,  gender, and age across institutional systems means that we must embrace nuanced anti-oppression, anti-racist frameworks that center equity to move us closer to realizing the promise of the ADA for our most vulnerable neighbors. To that end, CSH is lifting up the Compact for Thriving Communities, a collective commitment of health, choice, and equity, instead of institutionalization.

As we continue to respond to the COVID pandemic and as a nation finally come to grips with systemic racism, the prospect of mere survival is not enough. It’s time to realize the promise embedded in ADA: the opportunity for everyone to thrive.

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Source for disability data points: Goodman, Nanette; Morris, Michael; Boston, Kelvin. Financial Inequality: Disability, Race and Poverty in America. National Disability Institute. 2019

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund announced an award of $50 million in New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) to CSH (Corporation for Supportive Housing) as part of their 2019 round of allocations.

“This year’s allocation comes at a crucial time as communities across the country work to revive their local economies while meeting the health and service needs of their most vulnerable residents,” said CSH President and CEO Deborah De Santis. “As with our prior awards, CSH will leverage this valuable federal resource to create new jobs in distressed areas while bolstering community-based health services. Our work is needed now more than ever.”

CSH is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) dedicated to creating opportunities for individuals and communities to thrive through affordable housing and community-based services. CSH will use its allocation to expand housing opportunities and access to health care for those experiencing homelessness, struggling with disabilities, the elderly, families and youth, veterans, and formerly institutionalized individuals. The housing and community facilities developed with CSH’s NMTC financing will help to develop critically needed support services for people who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness, including primary healthcare; behavioral and mental health services; medical respite care; health and wellness programs; case management; and educational and job training programs.

This is CSH’s sixth NMTC award with all awards totaling $285M. CSH has used its prior rounds to leverage other sources of capital to finance projects resulting in over a thousand supportive housing units and nearly 500,000 healthcare visits annually for many who have lacked access to care in the past. CSH investments have poured millions of dollars into economically depressed areas and supported over 4,000 high-quality construction and permanent jobs.

Jill Steen, CSH’s Director of NMTC noted that “CSH is very happy to have received this award as a key funding source to continue to invest in projects that provide supportive housing and critical supportive services to those most in need, including those that address health and racial disparities in the low-income communities we serve.”  

To learn more about CSH’s New Markets Tax Credit strategy visit our lending page or contact our Community Investment Team.

What this new Announcement Means for Supportive Housing & Homeless Response

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced the remaining $2.96 billion in Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) funding allocations to support homeless Americans and individuals at risk of becoming homeless because of hardships such as job loss, wage reduction, or illness due to COVID-19. You can view the breakdown of state and territory funding allocations here and learn more about the formula for how the allocations were awarded here.

The CSH CARES Act overview for supportive housing and homeless response providers offers a breakdown of the CARES act funding and includes recommended uses for: the FEMA Disaster Relief Fund, Emergency Solutions Grant and Community Development Block Grants/Coronavirus (CBBG-CV).

Following yesterday’s announcement we have updated our CARES Act Overview. Our recommendations for using ESG in supportive housing and homeless response to COVID-19 include:

• Leasing motels/hotels for isolation/social distancing and reduce density in shelters and housing
• Acquiring/operate emergency shelter
• Purchasing personal protective equipment
• Housing stability case management
• Housing navigation services to support people moving into non-congregate settings and out of non-congregate settings into permanent housing