The University of Arizona Southwest Institute for Research on Women has released its thirty-seventh 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. Without further analysis the causes of this locally are unclear, but the prime suspects are rising rents and the lingering aftermaths of the pandemic for the household budgets of lower-income households (via death, illness, and changes in employment and caretaking responsibilities).

Download the report here.

Since the last census wave, there have been considerable improvements. Those include:

• Consistent with national trends, Tucson rent prices appear to be slowing their rate of increase substantially in recent months.
• Mortgage holders in Arizona continue to be in the best financial position we have seen in this survey to date. Only 2.8% reported being not current on mortgage payments and of those that are not current 79% see a foreclosure in the next two months as either “not very likely” or “not likely at all”.

The most recent update to the report also includes many indicators of concern worth noting.

• Most renters are being directly impacted by rising rent prices in Arizona.
  • Renters have experienced 34-39% increases in average and median rents over the past two years.
  • Statewide, 69% of Arizona renters reported an increase in their monthly rent in the last year and 53% reported an increase of $100 or more. This indicates that most renters are being directly impacted by recent increases in rent prices in Arizona.
  • Measures of households not being current on rental payments and those experiencing great difficulty meeting spending needs indicate that low income households in Arizona are slipping behind (again).
  • In the previous survey the vast majority of Arizona renters who are behind on their rent, 94%, were only 1 or 2 months behind on their payments. This fell to 52% of non-current renters only 1 or 2 months behind on their rent this wave. This suggests noteworthy erosion in financial position of renter households in Arizona in recent months.
  • Eviction filings have been rising since April, and September had the largest monthly count of eviction filings observed since the onset of the pandemic.
• Racial/ethnic disparities in financial strain have increased in measures of households not being current on rental payments and experiencing difficulty meeting spending needs.
  • Individuals (nationwide) reporting either a lot of difficulty or no ability to see or concentrate are disproportionately likely to report being behind on rent payments.
  • It appears that members of historically marginalized groups (especially people living with disabilities) are not benefiting from the improving economy as quickly on average as other demographic groups.
  • Generally, a falling unemployment rate is usually associated with reductions in eviction filings, but here we observe rising eviction filings in the context of very low and stable unemployment.

Download the report here.

Click here to download the event flyer as a PDF.

In a follow up to last month's two-day community strategy forum on unsheltered homelessness, the City of Tucson Housing and Community Development (HCD) and Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness (TPCH) will hold a listening virtual session on Wednesday, Sept. 28, from 5:30 to 7 pm. 

Registration is required and you can register here. 

At the Sept. 28 virtual forum, findings from last month’s sessions will be presented followed by opportunity for public input. Local residents, community groups, businesses, and people impacted by homelessness are encouraged to participate.

“The two-day forum provided a good foundation to build upon for an effective community-based collaboration. As a community, we must work together to better address the needs of our unhoused residents and there are many who want to be part of the solution,” said HCD Director Liz Morales. 

TPCH and HCD are working with the Corporation to Supportive Housing to launch a Frequent User System Engagement (FUSE) initiative aimed at housing individuals and families with service needs to reduce costs and trauma associated with recurring episodes of homelessness, incarceration, and emergency services. The FUSE initiative will give HCD and TPCH and its allies the opportunity to align health, housing, supportive services, and other resources to help prioritize unsheltered homelessness, particularly among individuals and families with serve service needs, and maintain permanent housing. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has released a significant funding opportunity to address unsheltered homelessness. State and local governments have received infusions of new federal funding to support the transition of unsheltered individuals to temporary and permanent housing. 

“We hope that we hear from our residents and businesses and invite them to participate on September 28th as we build on the foundation of helping our unhoused, Morales said. 

On August 4, federal officials declared monkeypox a public health emergency. Monkeypox is a communicable disease and people experiencing homelessness may be at increased risk of infection. Congregate settings and a high burden of chronic health conditions like HIV can make people experiencing homelessness more vulnerable to severe illness from monkeypox. The CDC has created a webpage with information related to the signs, symptoms, treatment, and other information about monkeypox, and has issued guidance to help reduce transmission in congregate living settings (such as homeless shelters).

Join TPCH and the Pima County Health Department for an informative, 60-minute webinar for homeless service providers.

September 21, 2022 (10am-11am)

Registration is required. Click here to register.

TPCH and Pima County Health Department will host, "Supporting People Experiencing Homelessness through the Monkeypox Outbreak", a 60-minute webinar for homeless service providers.

This virtual training session will cover:

1. Overview of the current monkeypox health emergency
2. Monkeypox symptoms and risk factors
3. Health promotion and harm reduction strategies to reduce risk of monkeypox transmission in congregate settings and among people experiencing homelessness.
4. Resources for monkeypox testing and vaccination for high-risk community members

Register Now

Registration is required to attend. Click here to register.

Your Input is Needed - Participate in TPCH Community Input Sessions Regarding the FY 2022 CoC Annual and Supplemental Community Applications.

Each year, TPCH is required to prepare a community application for CoC Program funds. The community application plays a critical role in our ability to retain and increase HUD funding for housing and services for people experiencing homelessness throughout Pima County.

TPCH will be holding a series of Community Input Sessions during which community stakeholders will provide input to improve this year's community applications for the FY 2022 Annual and Supplemental Notices of Funding Opportunity.  Each session will include a review of draft application sections and the opportunity to suggest improvements to our community’s funding application.

TPCH members and community partners are strongly encouraged to attend all community input sessions related to your individual and organizational expertise and role.  

Click here to download the Community Input Session Schedule with Registration Links as a PDF document.

COMMUNITY INPUT SESSION SCHEDULE

Session 1 - Housing and Income System Performance/Outcomes (September 12, 2022, 10am-11:30am)

Topics: Housing First Evaluation, Mainstream Benefits, Reduction in First Time Homelessness, Length of Time Homeless, Exits to and Retention of Permanent Housing, Returns to Homelessness, Increasing Cash Income, Increasing Non-Employment Cash Income

Click here to RSVP for Session 1 - Housing and Income System Performance/Outcomes.

Session 2 - Outreach and Coordinated Entry (September 13, 2022 1pm-2:30pm)

Topics: Street Outreach, Coordinated Entry Process, Participant Centered Approaches to Coordinated Entry

This session will occur during the regularly scheduled TPCH Outreach Coalition meeting. Click here to join the meeting at 1pm on September 13, 2022.

Session 3 - Equity and Inclusion (September 14, 2022 10:30am-12pm)

Topics: LGBTQ+ Anti-Discrimination Policies, Analyzing Racial Disparities, Strategies to Address Racial Disparities, Tracking Progress on Eliminating Racial Disparities, Outreach Efforts to Engage People with Lived Experience in Leadership and Decision Making, Professional Development and Employment of People with Lived Experience, Gathering Feedback and Addressing Challenges of People with Lived Experience, Promoting Racial Equity in Local Competition and Review.  

This session will occur during the regularly scheduled TPCH Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee meeting. Click here to join the meeting at 10:30am on September 14.

Session 4 - Special Populations: Youth, Families, and Survivors of Domestic Abuse (September 15, 2022 2pm-3:30pm)

Topics: Formal Partnerships with Education Providers, Informing Youth & Families About Education Rights, Effectively Counting Youth in the PIT Count, Addressing DV Needs, Annual DV Safety and Best Practices Training, Using De-Identified Aggregate DV Data, Emergency Transfer Plans, Accessing to Housing for DV Survivors, DV Safety, Planning, and Confidentiality, Comparable Databases

Click here to RSVP for Session #4 - Special Populations.

Session 5 - Continuum of Care Processes (September 16, 2022 10:30am-12pm)

Topics: Process for Inviting New Members, Strategy on Preventing and Ending Homelessness, Public Notice, Consultation with ESG Recipients, PHA Admission Preferences, Non-Congregate Sheltering, Partnerships with Public Health Agencies, Collaborating to Address Infectious Disease, Increasing Affordable Housing Supply, Addressing Severe Needs in Project Review, Reviewing Performance in Existing Projects

Click here to RSVP for Session #5 - CoC Processes.

August 29, 2022 Update: the training advertised here is the fourth session of the Critical Time Intervention Series, started in April of 2022. This session is intended for supervisors and managers who completed the Basic CTI training and would like to learn additional skills for training project staff in CTI practices and managing fidelity to the evidence-based model. For supervisors who could not attend the live sessions, please see instructions below for how to access the TPCH Online Training Center. Register here for the training. Training Overview Our three-part Basic CTI training was held on April 6, 13, and 20.  Participants who successfully completed the three-part Basic CTI training received a certificate of training endorsed by the Center for the Advancement of Critical Time Intervention, Hunter College/Silberman School of Social Work.     We strongly encourage supervisors and managers to attend the fourth session of this series in order to meaningfully incorporate CTI into agency programs.  Didn't Attend the initial CTI sessions? Don't worry - if you couldn't attend the live sessions, the recorded session are posted on the TPCH Online Training Center for you to be able to view.   Register here for the training. About Critical Time Intervention Critical Time Intervention (CTI) is a time-limited evidence-based practice that mobilizes support for vulnerable individuals during periods of transition. The CTI model facilitates housing stability, community integration, and continuity of care, and has been successful in supporting the return to housing for people with serious mental illness, people experiencing homelessness, veterans, and many other groups.  CTI is especially well-suited as a case management model in support of housing problem-solving with individuals and families. Key characteristics of the model include: CTI is time-limited; its explicit aim is to provide intensive, targeted support during a critical period and then withdraw. It is compatible with efforts to intervene with people in crisis, especially during periods of housing instability. CTI is not intended to become a primary source of ongoing support for vulnerable people. CTI workers aim to engage clients, locate effective services and supports in the community, and effectively link them together to promote long-term stability. CTI is highly focused: CTI workers do not try to address all needs that vulnerable individuals and families may have. Rather, CTI focuses only on the key areas that place the client at risk of future housing instability.  Meet Our Trainer - Carolyn Hanesworth, LCSW, PhD Dr. Hanesworth is a Critical Time Intervention Trainer, Researcher, and Consultant.  In addition to her work with CACTI, Dr. Hanesworth is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY. She has worked as a service provider, leader, and consultant for organizations serving homeless children and families in Texas and New York City for the past 25 years.  Recently, she served as the Project Director for the CTI for Rapid Rehousing Pilot Study in Connecticut, where she assisted in adapting and implementing CTI for Rapid Rehousing recipients.

The University of Arizona Southwest Institute for Research on Women has released its thirty-sixth 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. Without further analysis the causes of this locally are unclear, but the prime suspects are rising rents and the lingering aftermaths of the pandemic for the household budgets of lower-income households (via death, illness, and changes in employment and caretaking responsibilities.

Download the report here.

Since the last census wave, there have been considerable improvements. Those include:

• the proportion of non-current renters fell from 13.3% to to 9.2%;
• of the non-current Arizona renters who see eviction in the next two months as somewhat or very likely, 94%, are only 1 or 2 months behind on their payments. This is up from 66% in the previous wave, suggesting substantial improvement in financial position of renter households in recent months;
• a substantial proportion of non-current renters reporting having both applied for and received rental assistance;
• mortgage holders in Arizona appearing to be in the best financial position in this survey to date. Only 2.9% reported being not current on mortgage payments and of those that are not current 71% see a foreclosure in the next two months as “not likely at all”.

The most recent update to the report also includes many indicators of concern worth noting.

• Most renters are being directly impacted by rising rent prices in Arizona.
  • Rents continue to rise in Tucson with measures of average and median rent increasing 34-39% over the past two years.
  • 65% of Arizona renters reported an increase in their monthly rent in the last year.
  • 49% of Arizona renters reported an increase of $100 or more.
• Racial/ethnic disparities in financial strain have increased in measures of households not being current on rental payments and experiencing difficulty meeting spending needs.
  • Individuals (nationwide) reporting either a lot of difficulty or no ability to see or concentrate are disproportionately likely to report being behind on rent payments.
  • It appears that members of historically marginalized groups (especially people living with disabilities) are not benefiting from the improving economy as quickly on average as other demographic groups.
  • Eviction filings have been rising since April, and June had the largest monthly count of eviction filings observed since January of 2021. An estimate of the number of eviction filings in July suggests that the levels reach in June will be observed in July.
  • Generally, a falling unemployment rate is usually associated with reductions in eviction filings, but here we observe rising eviction filings in the context of very low and stable unemployment.

Download the report here.

ANNOUNCEMENT: AUGUST 18, 2022

TPCH has released the local application materials for the FY 2022 Annual Continuum of Care Program Funding Competition in Tucson/Pima County.  Funding opportunity information and application instructions are posted at https://tpch.net/about/nofa-documents/fy-2022/. 

Organizations interested in applying for FY 2022 Continuum of Care Program and Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project funds should begin by carefully reviewing the FY 2022 Continuum of Care Program Notice of Funding Availability, HUD's funding competition web page, and the TPCH FY 2022 CoC Program Funding Competition Overview, Instructions, and Process for Tucson/Pima County posted at https://tpch.net/about/nofa-documents/fy-2022/.

Visit the FY 2022 NOFO Headquarters page at https://tpch.net/about/nofa-documents/fy-2022/.

Application Due Date

All applications for FY 2022 Continuum of Care Program and Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project renewal/replacement funds are due no later than 12pm Arizona time (noon) on August 31, 2022. 

Funding Available

The Tucson/Pima County FY 2022 funding competition includes four categories of available funding:

CoC Program Renewal Funds: A total of $8,756,385 is available for renewal and/or reallocation of existing Continuum of Care Program grant awards.  Only organizations currently awarded CoC Program grant funds expiring in Calendar Year 2023 are eligible to apply under this category. 

Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project Renewal and Replacement Funds: A total of $2,119,140 is available for the renewal or replacement of existing Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project (YHDP) grant awards.  Only organizations currently awarded YHDP grant funds expiring in Calendar Year 2023 are eligible to apply under this category. 

CoC Bonus Program: A total of $543,776 is available for new project applications for service-rich permanent supportive housing projects dedicated for persons meeting Chronic Homelessness and/or Dedicated Plus eligibility standards.  Organizations which do not currently administer CoC Program funds are encouraged to apply. 

Domestic Violence Bonus Program: A total of $666,650 is available for new project applications for rapid rehousing, joint transitional housing - rapid rehousing, and supportive services only - coordinated entry projects dedicated for persons fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, including victims of human trafficking. Organizations which do not currently administer CoC Program funds are encouraged to apply. 

Pre-Proposal Workshop (August 22, 2pm)

All interested and potential applicants are strongly encouraged to attend the pre-proposal conference scheduled for August 22, 2022 from 2pm-4pm Arizona time. The pre-proposal conference will be held virtually using Zoom software.

Registration is required. Register online at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_S4Yhh20DTR6ALx_nzvzELA.

For More Information

Visit https://tpch.net/about/nofa-documents/fy-2022/ for detailed information about this funding opportunity and application instructions.  Email questions regarding this competition to tpch-nofo@tucsonaz.gov.  Please allow up to 3 business days for a response.