Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 6-7-16 Online Edition

Features
Agency To Aid Organizations Suffering From
Shortfall Of Funds For Homeless Services
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
When news came down that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was terminating its grant to aid homeless pro- grams, they immediately started scrambling to find new funding sources.
Agencies like The Spring, Alpha House, and The Salva- tion Army contacted the Tampa Hillsborough Homeless Initia- tive (THHI) to ask for help in keeping their programs func- tioning.
THHI Director, Antoinette Hayes-Triplett, said they are working to cover the basic needs of all three organizations.
“When it comes to home- lessness, no one wants to be homeless. There are always un- derlying factors.
“The shortfall is attributed to HUD’s “Housing First” initia- tive and their mission to con- centrate only on permanent housing.”
Ms. Hayes-Triplett said THHI is looking at the different homeless groups, and they pri- oritize veterans and children as their top two in need.
HUD’s policy goals in 2010, along with a Congressional Di- rective, were to make their pro- grams more competitive, and ensure that lower performing
projects were not automatically renewed.
Also, according to the Fam- ily Options Study on homeless- ness, it was indicated that permanent housing strategies, such as permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing, are more cost effective and achieve the same or better out- comes than other types of homeless assistance.
Over the past several years thanks in-part to increasing in HUD funding for veteran homelessness programs, they have witnessed progress in ending homelessness. Overall the number of people experi- encing homelessness has steadily declined and that progress was concentrated among the most vulnerable populations, including people living unsheltered, those who have disabilities, and families with children.
So what can communities do? Here are some things to consider:
Can these households reunify with family or friends? Using mediation and motivational interviewing tech- niques, case managers can help clients explore if there are safe an appropriate places these households can stay so they do not have to enter shelter or sleep unsheltered.
Can rapid re-housing
ANTOINETTE HAYES- TRIPLETT THHI Director
programs help? Almost all communities have rapid re- housing programs. In the past few Notices of Funding Avail- able (NOFAs), the U.S. Depart- ment of Housing and Urban Development has restricted el- igibility for rapid re-housing funded by the Continuum of Care to exclude households ex- iting transitional housing. However, the Emergency Solu- tions Grants Program has no such restrictions, and many communities’ rapid re-housing programs have other sources of funding.
Talk to your TANF direc- tor. TANF (Temporary Assis- tance for Needy Families) funds can be used for short- term, non-recurrent benefits to help families address a one- time need. Many rapid re- housing programs for families
use TANF funds.
Talk to your Housing Authority. Better FY 2016 funding for Section 8 has al- lowed many PHAs to scale back up their voucher programs after reductions due to funding cuts three years ago.
Do you have HOME funding? The Home Invest- ment Partnerships Program (HOME) can, among other things, pay for tenant-based rental assistance. HOME got a small increase in FY 2016 and that money has already been awarded to states and localities.
What resources can the
households leverage? Some times, all a household needs to exit homelessness is help locat- ing housing and negotiating rent. If your community has housing location support this may be enough to help some households exit homelessness.
Plan as a community. As you can see, most of these sug- gestions require the assistance and even resources of other homelessness programs or community resources. The pri- ority should be ensuring these households do not have to enter shelter or sleep unshel- tered.
Woman Indicted For $250,000 Social Security Fraud
A 36-year-old Haines City resident has been indicted for the theft of government funds. If convicted, she faces a maxi- mum penalty of 10 years in fed- eral prison for each count of theft of government money and up to 5 years’ imprisonment on each of the other charges.
According to the U. S. Attor- ney’s Office for the Middle Dis- trict of Florida, Ms. Tameka O’Hara has been charged with four counts of theft of govern- ment money, four counts of making false statements to, or concealing material facts from the Social Security Administra- tion, and one count of making a false statement to a federal agency.
The indictment also notifies Ms. O’Hara that the United States intends to forfeit any
monies and property that are traceable to proceeds of the of- fense.
According to the indictment, Ms. O’Hara concealed or lied about material facts concerning her household’s true composi- tion, income, and assets, as well as the ownership of her resi- dence, in an effort to maximize or maintain eligibility for Sup- plemental Security Income ben- efits for herself and other members of her household.
The total loss to the federal government is alleged to exceed $250,000.
The case was investigated by the Office of the Inspector Gen- eral for the Social Security Ad- ministration. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Eric K. Ger- ard.
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