The Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition is seeking one or more nonprofits to help it expand the county’s inventory of permanent supportive housing.
The coalition and its parent entity, the Lancaster County Redevelopment Authority, recently secured $187,281 in new U.S. Housing & Urban Development grant funding. It is to be used to provide services for 14 single-occupancy residential units.
Permanent supportive housing is for chronically homeless individuals with disabilities or other special needs. As the name implies, it comes with wraparound services to assist people to maintain stability and keep a roof over their heads.
Those services can include case management, physical and mental health care, food, transportation and so on, depending on individual need.
It is the highest level of service in Lancaster County’s homelessness continuum of care, said Deb Jones, who heads the coalition’s administrative office as the authority’s director of human services.
This week, the coalition and authority issued a request for proposals for organizations to handle the expansion. The application deadline is Aug. 19.
The initial contract period is expected to run from Oct. 1 through the following September, although that’s negotiable to some degree. Data will be tracked in Empower Lancaster, the county’s homeless management information system.
The county currently has 65 permanent supportive housing units, so adding 14 more will increase the stock by just over 20%. They won’t be new construction, Jones said: Rather, providers typically help clients lease apartments in the local rental market, then provide the additional services.
The $187,281 that the county received from HUD is based on a set formula, Jones said. It requires a 25% local match, or $46,820, which can be either monetary or in-kind.
Tenants in permanent supportive housing pay a limited amount of rent based on their income and other factors, with a subsidy making up the balance. A full 60% of the funding, $112,560, is for rental assistance, leaving $67,677 (36%) for supportive services and $7,044 (4%) to cover provider administrative costs.
Jones noted that HUD this week announced its first-ever funding, $175 million, for agencies to build, remodel or buy buildings for permanent supportive housing, rather than merely provide services.
“Simply put, we need to build more housing and we need to repair the housing we have,” HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman said in a statement. Providers are invited to apply by Nov. 21.
The coalition is planning to add further to the county’s supportive housing supply: It is planning 22 units with one to four beds each, at the homelessness services hub it is developing on South Prince Street.
The goal is to work with clients to help them maximize their independence, eventually moving them into housing in the community. Typically, they would stay at the hub two years or less, Jones told the Zoning Hearing Board last year, though some stays might need to be longer.
The board granted an exception at that meeting for stays up to four years.
