ESG+Information

Information Notice about ESG Funding Announcements
I am sure many of you have heard recent references to the new Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) changes that have recently been released by HUD. I wanted to discuss this a bit and what the impact may or may not be on your HMIS data collection.

On background, you may remember Jenny talking about the HEARTH ACT. HEARTH was a “reauthorization” of the earlier national McKinney Vento Homeless Program. In May of 2009 Congress undertook this reauthorization process for several reasons. The issue of homelessness was first recognized in the mid 80’s; much research and practice had developed and regulations needed to be revamped to reflect new knowledge. The HEARTH Act also aimed to eliminate bureaucratic complexity, fund required CoC Coordination (not envisioned in the original McKinney Vento Act), and implement new understandings about best practices in preventing and ending homelessness.

Although HEARTH was passed in 2009, the majority of any new regulations are still not published. It is anticipated that HUD will publish the HEARTH regulations in 2012, but in the meantime a new rule on homeless definitions and the ESG funding will lead the way with a hint of things to come.

The release of the ESG Rule on November 15, 2011 affords us the opportunity to begin preparing for future changes to the way we provide homeless services. If you currently receive ESG funds or plan to apply in the future you will want to stay on top of these changes by viewing the HUD Webinars and learning the new rules.

If your program is not ESG funded but provides homeless services through CoC or CDBG funding - you will still need to become proficient with the new HUD Definitions around Homelessness and Chronic Homelessness. Links provided at the bottom of this page take you to good web pages to get started. //Jenny and I recommend the new definitions be adopted for EVERY provider/program participating in the ServicePoint HMIS regardless of funding source, because their entire purpose is to standardize the definitions used by other federal sources.//
 * IMMEDIATE IMPACT OF HEARTH AND ESG ON YOUR PROGRAMS **

The second area you should begin to learn is around new Documentation Requirements for homeless and at risk clients served. Jenny has created a page on the CoC Wiki, which among other things, links to a document that summarizes these changes. The requirements and the document may change slightly as more becomes known, but starting discussions about these requirements with your program staff should be a top priority.

**Both the Definitions and Documentation changes go into effect January 4, 2012. **

Now that the ESG regulations have been released, we are beginning to plan for the new ESG program, but we can’t tell you much on this yet. Historically, local ESG funding has been a small allocation, so rather than administer multiple contracts it has been awarded to a single agency. Many local agencies have had State FESG contracts, which will also be governed by the new rules. If you are applying for County CDBG/ESG/HOME dollars or Human Services funding for homeless dedicated or prevention services, you should prepare yourself with a basic understanding of ESG when you come to the Public Services Hearings in March. You should also plan to stay abreast of information we post in the CDC-Funding Wiki. Remember the CD Staff will make final determinations about which type of funding your agency will operate under should you be awarded.

In regards to our HMIS a new, and very highly prioritized HMIS Rule, has been published by HUD Friday December 9, 2011. Although we have had little change to review, the new HMIS standards will no doubt include the new homeless and at risk definitions and their documentation requirements, and will likely include data standards for the new ESG program. At this time, not knowing the full extent of what the rule will cover, I am confident our HMIS implementation is positioned very favorably for whatever comes down the pike. With the submission of our AHAR, virtually every bed being tracked in the system was reconciled and our Missing Data checks were either zero or less than 3% of the total records.
 * HMIS and ESG **

Our Vendor, ServicePoint has indicated they will begin to make changes to the software as these rules become final so we probably won’t see anything until we move to the version 5 next year. Carol Alexander and I have added some new “sync” checking fields for Chronic Homelessness to the newly combined 9242 (0242 & 0213) report in the ART gallery and Jenny and I will be asking housed programs to begin checking the errors reflected in the new fields.

In summary, the best way to ready yourself and your staff is to thoroughly learn the new definitions, review the documentation requirements and stay in tune with the Wikis. Jenny and I will be providing updates as they become public along with the impact to our HMIS. In the meantime to get an excellent overview of ESG and it's impact click here to view a reference paper created by HomeBase AND Jenny has created a Definitions of Homeless information page in her wiki - click here to view.



HUD Homeless Programs Summary New Homeless Definition <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">New HMIS Rule
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">Additional Information Links: **