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Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness Updates

FFY 2022 NOFO & SNOFO Virtual Meeting Recording

Deadline for NOFO: 08/30/2022

This year, HUD has released two funding opportunities – the Continuum of Care (CoC) competition Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) and the Special Notice of Funding Opportunity to address Unsheltered Homelessness (SNOFO). 

Unsheltered & Rural Homelessness NOFO

CoC Competition & Noncompetitive YHDP  

The project applications are available on the website: https://aceh.org/nofo 

Local Housing & Homelessness Highlights

Landlord Housing Partnership (LHP) Tenant Success Story

Recently LHP heard of a tenant who had experienced being unhoused for over 23 years! The choices of his past produce limited opportunities for his future, despite his personal changes. With the amazing help of the Alex hotel and case management support from Catholic social services (CSS) – shout out to case manager, Heather – This tenant was able to build confidence, advocate for his future, and secure housing within a week of working with her. 

“the landlord was able to interview me and see that I was a person not my past. The landlord gave me an opportunity at a better life and having an apartment of my own. I am currently working and paying my own rent at this time however I know that there’s support if available if needed. I am also seeing Heather weekly…” – JP

National Housing & Homelessness Highlights

Community Solutions

Using data to improve homeless response

Portland, Oregon, is adopting proven strategies implemented by other large cities in the Built for Zero movement
Over 650,000 residents call Portland home, making it one of the top 20 largest cities in the United States. The city is currently in the process of building out a by-name database of every unhoused person, with the plan to use that data to improve coordination across agencies. 
“That’s really the big challenge here in Portland,” shared Lori Kelly, a Planning and Evaluation Manager at the Joint Office of Homelessness Services, during a recent interview on The Bridge podcast by OR360.
For Kelly, Built for Zero reflects a clear set of competencies that is directing Portland’s approach to process improvement.

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Addressing Equity

Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus on promoting equity and inclusion through programs to prevent and end homelessness remains the same. Black, Indigenous, and all people of color as well as individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+ and individuals with disabilities are substantially overrepresented in the homeless population across the country. These efforts are aligned with the Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government. As stated in the Executive Order, “because advancing equity requires a systematic approach to embedding fairness in decision-making processes, executive departments and agencies (agencies) must recognize and work to redress inequities in their policies and programs that serve as barriers to equal opportunity.”

CoCs are encouraged to pursue a vision and mission that explicitly embeds equity in the operation of the homelessness system. Understanding the disparities in outcomes of individuals and families that go through the homelessness system should inform changes in policies, assessment tools and process, and prioritization practices to create more equitable outcomes.

Resource List
The following resources provide further guidance for addressing racism and disparities in the homelessness response system with the goal of ending homelessness:

• Disease Risks and Homelessness
• Racial Equity
  • Rehousing Activation and Racial Equity (Part 1): Equity as a Foundation
  • Data and Equity: Using the Data You Have
  • Advancing Racial Equity through Coordinated Entry (CE) Assessment and Prioritization
  • Equity Driven Changes to Coordinated Entry Prioritization
  • Prevention to Promote Equity
  • Increasing Equity through Procurement
  • Racial Equity Tool
  • Stella P