Federal funding cuts, policy shift spark confusion for programs serving homeless individuals in Lorain County

Housing programs for homeless individuals in Lorain County stand to lose nearly $600,000 next year due to federal funding cuts. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced policy and funding changes that will drastically cut the funds available for the department's Continuum of Care program, which provides resources for organizations serving homeless individuals. The policy change will see a shift away from permanent supportive housing and back to transitional housing, and a cap of 30 percent of prior years' funding available. The situation is one of confusion for United Way of Greater Lorain County's Community Impact Director Christine Matusak-Plas and Continuum of Care coordinator Cassandra Marr. Despite only learning of the shift two weeks ago, they are now expected to help previously funded programs in the county navigate the change. "The (funding) cut is 70 percent," Matusak-Plas said. " .. It's significant — 100 percent of the programs in our county will be affected in one way or another." Politico first reported the shift earlier this fall, basing its reporting on internal HUD documents obtained by the news outlet. When announcing the change in a news release this month, HUD Secretary Scott Turner said the competitive grant funding will align with an executive order to "restore accountability to homelessness programs and (promote) self-sufficiency among vulnerable Americans." United Way of Greater Lorain County operates the area's Continuum of Care program, which coordinates housing services among several nonprofits serving homeless individuals. It is separate from the larger homeless shelters operated by Neighborhood Alliance and Catholic Charities. Lorain County's Continuum of Care funding includes money for Shelter Plus Care, Faith House, the Elyria YWCA's Women's Campus Project and Women in Secure Housing, and New Sunrise Properties' permanent supportive housing for individuals with mental illness. "None of this is about how well people are being served and how well homeless people do getting jobs, keeping jobs, staying off the dole, staying out of jail, staying out of the hospital," Matusak-Plas said. The Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, or COHHIO, oversees the state's Continuum of Care application for the 80 counties that are not direct-entitlement areas, which includes Lorain County. Direct-entitlement areas are counties with large metropolitan cities: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton counties. In a fact sheet about the shift, COHHIO estimated the change could leave about 10,000 Ohioans unhoused. Continuum of Care funds are the state's largest source of funding for supportive housing and rapid rehousing programs. Currently, Lorain County's programs receive about $850,000 each year in CoC funding, COHHIO Communications Director Marcus Roth said in an email. Those funds support about 90 housing units for previously homeless individuals. HUD's policy change would cut that funding to no more than $255,000 next year for the county. "That will result in many of those residents returning to the streets," Roth said. Piggybacking on the cuts to available funding is a policy shift away from the Housing First model implemented more than two decades ago to a transitional housing model. Housing First looks to provide permanent supportive housing to those experiencing homelessness and connects them with on-site services to address prior barriers to housing like addiction and mental illness. Transitional housing is the more stereotypical homeless shelter meant to serve individuals for a limited time. Of Lorain County's Continuum of Care-funded programs, the YWCA's Women's Campus Project is the only wholly transitional housing opportunity. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition estimated the policy shift, coupled with funding cuts, puts 170,000 people across the country at risk of homelessness going into winter as the bulk of Continuum of Care funding was previously allocated to permanent housing. The NLIHC also anticipates funding gaps between when applications are due to HUD (Jan. 14) and when awards are announced in May, as about a third of Continuum of Care grants are set to expire before June. In announcing the change, Scott Turner said it was an end to "the Biden-era slush fund that fueled the homelessness crisis, shut out faith-based providers simply because of their values and incentivized never-ending government dependency." Heath and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. agreed with HUD's new course. In the same news release, he said the policy reform "will break cycles of addiction, empower self-sufficiency and drive lasting recovery." The policy change implements 40-hour-per-week work and counseling or treatment for providers and hinges scoring for funds, in part, on whether the area a nonprofit operates in has legislation banning public camping of homeless individuals. Matusak-Plas said normally, when HUD rolls out a policy change, there is a grace period for providers to adjust. She questioned whether service providers will have to shift back from permanent supportive housing models to transitional care, as the requirement was unclear even with applications due to COHHIO next month. There are people who need transitional housing, she said, but it does not work for everyone. She would be happy to see more funding for transitional housing, but abandoning permanent supportive housing to do it is not the answer as there is only so much affordable housing to go around and HUD is not expected to increase its funding for voucher programs. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.