The Texas Homeless Network (THN) is pleased to announce that Eric Samuels has joined our
staff full time as the Balance of State Manager. Eric is taking on a huge job working to build homeless coalitions and coordinating local planning processes in areas of the State not currently covered by established Continua of Care. Through this process, participating communities have the opportunity to work with THN staff on the Continuum of Care (CofC) planning process which ultimately allows them the potential to apply for critical homeless funding through a statewide application. THN helped coordinate the first Balance of State Continuum of Care application to HUD in May 2006 and is continuing to work around the State toward next year’s application.

Homeless Network News will include a Q&A section from Eric on the Balance of State in each issue to keep us up to date on the project’s status.

Q: Since beginning work here at THN in late August what have you been up to?
A: I’ve been trying to catch up to the pace Paula Harper set for me on this project. She did excellent work with communities around the state last year. Did you know that she assisted communities around the state to submit project proposals as part of the statewide continuum of care application that exceed 17 million dollars in funds requests? That’s a tremendous response from communities who largely have never applied for HUD CofC funds in the past.

Q: What have you been doing to “catch up”?
A: Of course, when I first started, we had our statewide conference so that was a good time for me to meet some of the people I would be working with on this project as well as to catch up with some of those I worked with in the past when I was involved with THN. After the conference I began to review notes from the 2005-06 project year and call up participants to introduce myself and ask their opinions on the continuum of care needs in their area. Finally, I began setting up meetings with each of the regions and setting off to meet the people involved and learn about their agencies.

Q: What did you try to accomplish during your first meetings with these groups?
A: First of all, I wanted to introduce myself to the regional continuum representatives and emphasize to them that I was there to assist them in their work to build stronger continuums so that they may better serve the homeless in their communities. Then I wanted to introduce the project for the 2006-2007 year.

Q: What did you do to introduce the project?
A: I began by explaining why the project came about and what its purpose was to meeting attendees. Some agency representatives are just now getting on board so a certain amount to project history was needed during these initial meetings. We would then discuss the project timeline which includes planning process benchmarks as well as the date for the point-in-time survey, January 25th, 2007. However, most importantly we talked about the need for agencies within the continuums to formally commit to this project.

Q: What are you asking them to commit to and how do they “formally commit”?
A: We’re asking each agency within a participating continuum to send us a signed letter of commitment to the project by December 1st, 2006. In this letter, the commitments that agencies must make to this project are outlined in nine points. In essence, we are asking that agencies: (1) commit to the continuum of care planning process deadlines including those of the point-in-time survey and proposal submissions; (2) that they work collaboratively with other members of the continuum and actively seek out methods to eliminate gaps in services within the continuum; (3) and that they participate in THN’s Balance of State HMIS project (if it is funded and if the agency does not already participate in a HMIS project or cannot because of VAWA restrictions).

Q: Sounds like you have been busy, what’s next?
A: I have been busy; I’m not sure how many hundreds of miles I’ve driven but I’ve definitely become aware of just how large Texas is again! Next for me is helping communities prepare for their needs/gaps analyses and point-in-time homeless count/survey. Of course, with the holidays approaching time is not on our side but considering the great group of people working in these regional continuums I like our chances.

Common Questions about the Balance of State:

Q: If our community participates, we can only apply for the funds available to our city and county, right?
A: If you were preparing a standard Continuum of Care application then, yes, that would be the case. However, if you participate in the Balance of State process, your community’s pro rata share (that is the amount of money set aside for your city and county by HUD) is added to a statewide pool of funds. The statewide pool of funds will allow communities to apply for a greater amount than was possible before.

Q: So, are the Continuum of Care funds distributed by THN?
A: No, we only help facilitate the process and submit the overall application. If projects are funded through the Balance of State, that funding goes directly to the applicant. THN doesn’t have nor would we want any control over that process.

Q: Some of the agencies that provide shelter or services to the homeless do not wish to receive government funding. Do they need to commit to this project?
A: The Continuum of Care planning process is supposed to be centered on improving our service to those who are homeless with the mission of ending homelessness; it’s not solely about the CofC funds available though HUD. Therefore, we encourage every entity that is a part of that work to plan together to better work towards that goal we share as homeless service providers.

Q: When will we find out if our project proposal was chosen for funding?
A: We’re hoping to find out sometime in December. We received 21 proposals for the 2006 application and, of course, we’re hopeful that the majority will be funded.