| TPCH Newsletter - July 2022 |
| TPCH to Host Webinar on Newly Released HUD Funding Opportunity for Unsheltered Homelessness SAVE THE DATE: Friday, July 22, 2022 from 9am-10:30am, TPCH will be hosting an informational webinar to discuss this new funding opportunity. Click here or on the image below to register.  Learn more about the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness, its role in preventing and ending homelessness in Pima County, and and an exciting new HUD funding opportunity available via the newly released HUD Supplemental NOFO (Notice of Funding Opportunity) for Unsheltered and Rural Homelessness. This webinar is intended for current and future HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) Continuum of Care grant recipients and subrecipients. Click here to register! Featured Blog Post form the National Alliance to End Homelessness: Unsheltered Homelessness and the One-time NOFO On June 22, 2022, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the Continuum of Care Supplemental to Address Unsheltered and Rural Homelessness (Special NOFO). This is a first-of-its-kind package of resources to address unsheltered homelessness and homeless encampments including funds set aside specifically to address homelessness in rural communities. During this session, training participants will: Learn about the role of the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness as the Pima County Continuum of Care as it relates to HUD funding, Learn about a newly available HUD funding and how it relates to the strategies TPCH employs to prevent and end unsheltered homelessness, and Receive instructions regarding next steps for agencies interested in applying to the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness for HUD funding through the NOFO to address unsheltered homelessness. Who Should Attend: This webinar is intended for current and future recipients and subrecipients of Continuum of Care funding in Pima County, Arizona. REGISTER HERE Featured Blog Post form the National Alliance to End Homelessness: Unsheltered Homelessness and the One-time NOFO HUD is making $322 million available for communities to address unsheltered and rural homelessness (approximately $267.5 million for unsheltered and $54.5 million for rural). The National Alliance for Ending Homelessness suggests the following approach: Be urgent, but equitable: leverage lessons learned from the work to equitably allocate recent COVID relief resources, such as Emergency Housing Vouchers. Communities that have done the hard work of incorporating people with lived experience, forming diverse committees, developing plans to advance equity, and similar measures, will be best prepared for the funding moment. The Alliance encourages readers to consult existing resources and evidence, including those provided by the Framework for an Equitable COVID-19 Homelessness Response, to guide these decisions. Help people facing the greatest needs: money set aside for unsheltered homelessness is specifically dedicated to serving the highest-need individuals and families, including those living in encampments. Avoid using these funds to serve those who could be aided with other resources. Ensure that people being served through these plans have meaningful choices and that plans adhere to Housing First principles and practices. Incorporate the needed services by collaborating closely with partners, including health care and housing providers, those focused on the needs of older adults, Tribal entities, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, among others. Scoring criteria in the NOFO emphasizes leveraging other resources besides this funding, both for housing and for health care. READ THE ENTIRE BLOG POST HERE VA Program To Provide Legal Services to Homeless Vets Agency Seeks Comments on Program Requirements Detailed in Interim Final Rule The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has authorized a new grant program that will award federal funds to eligible entities that will provide certain legal services for homeless veterans and veterans at risk for homelessness. The agency recently issued an interim final rule, which goes into effect July 1, establishing the program’s eligibility criteria, application requirements, scoring criteria, a list of constraints on the allocation and use of the funds, and other applicable requirements. To be eligible for funding under the program, a public or private entity must: (1) have the capacity to effectively administer the grant; (2) demonstrate that adequate financial support will be available to carry out the services for which the grant is sought, consistent with the legal services grant application; and (3) agree to meet the program’s applicable criteria and requirements. Eligible entities are state, local and tribal governments; local public authorities; school districts; special districts; intrastate districts; councils of government; any other regional or interstate governmental entity; nonprofit organizations; and organizations of past or present members of the U.S. Armed Forces. The VA plans to publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity with instructions on how to apply for this program in September, once the final rule is complete. Stakeholders interested in the program may comment on the interim final rule via Regulations.gov through Aug. 1 by referring to Docket No. VA-2022-VHA-0016. For More Information, read the announcement here and visit the interim rule, available at https://tinyurl.com/4xeaf3zz. Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (SAVAHCS) announces its annual Virtual Homeless Summit Save the Date: Thursday, July 28, 2022 This year's SAVAHCS Virtual Homeless Summit will celebrate the theme of "Perseverance Through Difficult Times." The summit will include remarks from the SAVAHCS VA Director, a discussion of the City of Tucson and the community's response to homelessness, as well as a focus on how special populations can best access employment, peer support, and other critical services. Access this meeting with the following information: ZoomGov Meeting Dial in: Meeting ID: 161 748 2786 Access the meeting using this URL, or click on the image below: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1617482786?pwd=MWRILzFHa1BmSkh4cnIMb3BUdIRDUT09  Arizona Housing Trust Fund Receives $60 million Expansion With the passage of the bipartisan state budget of almost $18 million, Arizona's Housing Trust Fund is getting $60 million to fund affordable housing developments and housing aid across the state. While one-third of the housing funding is earmarked to help rural areas specifically, another $4 million will go to affordable housing programs for the Navajo and Hopi tribal nations. Click here or on the image below to read more.  Advocates in Arizona have long called for committed and enduring expansions to the Arizona Housing Trust fund to address the severe shortage of affordable housing in Arizona. Read this brief from the Arizona State University Morrison Institute of Public Policy for calls to strengthen, not weaken, the Housing Trust Fund during the pandemic. City of Tucson Housing First Resource Line They just need to call a phone number and ask for the resource they're looking for and, you know, ask for the resource. If they don't have it immediately available to them, then they'll escalate that call to somebody that can contact the person and give them the correct information.” -Brandi Champion, Housing First Director at the City of Tucson, in an interview with KGUN9. The City of Tucson has a new resource to help people experiencing homelessness as well as housed people concerned about homeless issues. Available 24/7, the phone line is available for connections to find emergency shelter, access domestic violence resources, to be assessed for housing services, and more. Call anytime, day or night, for these resources.  Call 24/7: Featured Report: “Shoestring Away from Nothing”: Experiences of Housing Insecurity in Pima County With support from the Arizona Community Foundation, the Morrison Institute for Public Policy has published a series examining housing security in Arizona. Using mixed methods, researchers found that focus group participants in Pima County identified a severe shortage of available apartments in any price range as a primary source of concern for their housing stability. Read more in the report and from the entire series here. U of A Southwest Institute for Research on Women releases census updates to Housing Insecurity and Potential Homelessness Report The University of Arizona Southwest Institute for Research on Women has released its thirty-fourth update to its report on Housing Insecurity Indicators and Potential Homelessness Estimates for Arizona and Pima County. This report measures current housing insecurity with newer census data.  Download the report here. The report notes that while the macroeconomic situation has continued to improve steadily at both the national and state levels, some indicators of concern remain. READ THE REPORT HERE. Inside Out Network Connects Returning Citizens With Critical Support for Reentry The Inside Out Network (ION) is a growing statewide network of supportive people on behalf of people coming out of incarceration. Service providers, faith communities, ministries, and volunteers are banding together to offer a better way to help citizens through reentry. Organizations can also join the network as listed providers. This service is completely free to inmates, returning citizens, and their families and works on all smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. Click on the images below to learn more. Community Spotlight: Getting Closer to Ending Homelessness in Houston This New York Times article covers the work being done in Houston to end homelessness: "During the last decade, Houston, the nation’s fourth most populous city, has moved more than 25,000 homeless people directly into apartments and houses. The overwhelming majority of them have remained housed after two years. The number of people deemed homeless in the Houston region has been cut by 63 percent since 2011, according to the latest numbers from local officials. Even judging by the more modest metrics registered in a 2020 federal report, Houston did more than twice as well as the rest of the country at reducing homelessness over the previous decade. Ten years ago, homeless veterans, one of the categories that the federal government tracks, waited 720 days and had to navigate 76 bureaucratic steps to get from the street into permanent housing with support from social service counselors. Today, a streamlined process means the wait for housing is 32 days" READ THE ARTICLE HERE Additional Summer Sun Respite Sites Now Open New sites have been added to the list of cooling centers open to people experiencing homelessness. Please continue to share these resources widely. Download the 2022 Summer Sun Cooling Station flyer (English and Spanish) here.   For a map of these cooling centers. hydration stations, pools and splash pads, see this link. Resource Corner: Tools, Conference Opportunities and Upcoming Trainings USICH WEBINAR: SUPPORTING RESILIENCY IN HOUSING AND HEALTH PROFESSIONALS July 15, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern Time (11:00am-12:00pm PT) Health and housing professionals work tirelessly to support individuals and communities facing some of the most significant public health issues. These staff exemplify many strengths including passion, compassion, and determination. These strengths may also be qualities that increase the risk for secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout—interrelated conditions that can stem from occupational stress. Join this webinar to learn about promoting self-care and resiliency among staff. Hear from subject matter experts on organizational well-being as they share tools and resources to support supervisors in engaging in their own self-care and encouraging it among supervisees. Register here. GLSEN WEBINAR: CREATING SAFER SPACES FOR LGBTQ+ STUDENTS Thursday, July 21, 2022 5-6pm This training is an excellent way to begin conversations about fostering adult-allyship for LGBTQ students in secondary schools. Educators play a critical role for LGBTQ students as adult allies and advocates. According to GLSEN’s national research on the experiences of LGBTQ youth in schools, nearly 4 in 5 LGBTQ students don’t see positive LGBTQ representation in their curriculum and nearly 9 in 10 experience verbal or physical harassment at school. In this workshop, we will present national data on LGBTQ student experiences, work through classroom-based case studies, and provide resources and strategies for creating inclusive schools where all students feel welcome. Register here. ARIZONA HOUSING FORUM August 17-19, 2022 at The Scott Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, AZ The Arizona Housing Coalition is hosting the 2022 Arizona Housing Forum in partnership with the Arizona Department of Housing. This event attracts approximately 350 attendees representing public and private sectors and showcases speakers and sessions on innovations in housing, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) best practices, and timely topics in the housing industry. It is an unparalleled opportunity for networking among Arizona's leaders in the affordable housing and ending homelessness fields. Register here. NATIONAL ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS UNSHELTERED SUPPLEMENTAL NOFO RESOURCE SERIES The 2022 Continuum of Care (CoC) Supplemental Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to Address Unsheltered and Rural Homelessness (FR-6500-N-25S) makes $322 million available to help communities address unsheltered and rural homelessness. This represents an extraordinarily important opportunity to reverse course on punitive tactics, and demonstrate the effectiveness of evidence-based best practices. The following resources are intended to summarize the application process, policy priorities, scoring criteria, and other key factors that will be central to a successful application. Access the series here. NATIONAL ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS PRESSURE POINTS SERIES The Alliance’s new Pressure Points Resource Series outlines specific strategies, practices, and philosophies that can help relieve the pressures experienced by providers and systems alike. PREPARE FOR THE NOFO WITH THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS SYSTEM SERIES The 2022 SYSTEM Series is a new collection of webinars, blog posts, and resources designed to help communities build more effective systems to end homelessness. The updated series addresses emerging priorities in the field, as well as insights on issues and areas the Alliance expects HUD to prioritize in the upcoming NOFO. JOIN THE WAITLIST - 2022 NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENDING HOMELESSNESS Due to extremely high demand immediately when conference registrations became available, the 2022 National Conference on Ending Homelessness sold out very quickly. If you and your colleagues were hoping to attend the conference and were unable to, NAEH is taking names to add to a waitlist if a spot becomes available. If a spot becomes available, organizers will contact you by July 8, 2022. JOIN THE WAITLIST JULY EVENTS TPCH Meetings & Training Events Meetings and events added regularly. Find details and locations on the TPCH calendar at https://www.tpch.net July 6, 1pm TPCH Webinar - CoC, YHDP, ESG, HOPWA Waiver Update July 7, 3pm Homeless Youth Coalition July 8, 9am Built for Zero Coalition July 11, 1pm Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee July 12, 1pm Community Outreach Coalition July 12, 3pm System Performance Evaluation Committee July 13, 3pm Homeless Management Information System Meeting July 14, 5:30pm Youth Action Committee July 28, 3pm Continuum of Care Board Meeting July 28, 1pm Coordinated Entry Committee July 28, 5:30pm Youth Action Committee For the most up-to-date meeting information, visit the TPCH calendar at https://www.tpch.net. |
We need 300+ volunteers to spread throughout Pima County. Volunteers will join a team to visit camps in washes and deserts, bus stops, meal sites, abandoned buildings, and other areas where people without housing may shelter on the morning of Wednesday, January 29, 2025. Learn More and register to volunteer
Operation Deep Freeze (ODF) is Tucson's winter severe-weather emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness. ODF goes into effect when weather predictions are for overnight temperatures of 40°F or lower with rain, 35°F or lower without rain, or when wind chill factors indicate a health hazard from exposure. You do not need an ID or a TB card to participate in ODF.
