A Coordinated Entry Equity Leadership Committee is forming. The purpose of the committee is to ensure our approaches within the homeless system are equitable and that services are accessible to all who need them. The team will be representative of the populations that we serve with a specific focus on BIPOC populations and persons with…

Monroe County has been allocated $144 million in ARPA funds from the federal government. These funds are time-critical and Monroe County is looking for input on how to invest this funding to move toward recovery. Monroe County’s Recovery Agenda has been named “Bring Monroe Back”. Six priority focus areas have been identified: Economic Recover, Infrastructure…

The Coordinated Entry Training Workgroup,has been meeting over the past few months to plan and implement a training session for users of Coordinated Entry. The workgroup has created a brief online survey that we are hoping you and your staff will complete. We will use the responses to identify areas of focus for the training…

The Empire Justice Center released their Policy Matters newsletter for September 2021. This edition covers efforts at federal SSI reform, their 2022 policy agenda and an update on the Sanctions bill. Of particular interest – in 2014 a new state law improved the process by which public assistance recipients can respond to an allegation they…

The New York State Office of Temporary Disability Assistance (OTDA) has released four YouTube videos to address Overcoming Vaccine Hesitancy and Overcoming Mistrust for People Experiencing Homelessness. These videos are available in English and Spanish. They feature shelter clients and staff who have rreceived the COVID-19 vaccine and believe that others should be vaccinated as…

Spiritus Christi Prison Outreach (SCPO) is excited to announce the Open House for the new location of Nielsen House. The new location, formerly the Sojourner House site, will allow for expansion of SCPO services. The event will be held on September 29th from 3pm – 7pm; blessing will be held at 4pm. SCPO would love…

Partners Ending Homelessness is currently recruiting for two SOAR Benefit Specialists. The SOAR Benefit Specialists will assist individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness who have a serious mental illness, medical impairment, and/or a co-occurring substance use disorder to apply for Social Security disability benefits. The Benefits Specialists will initiate the SSI/SSDI applications and stay…

Governor Hochul has extended the NYS Eviction and Foreclosure Extension through January 15, 2022. Under the new law, all protections of the Tenant Safe Harbor Act for residential tenants who are suffering financial hardship as a result of the pandemic will remain in place, along with new protections on commercial evictions. Please encourage any households…

Several federal unemployment benefit programs will expire across the country on September 5, 2021. These include Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, Extended Benefits and $300 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. To be considered eligible for Unemployment Insurance after September 5, 2021, a claimant must be unemployed AND be in the first 26 weeks (or…

HUD has released the FY2021 CoC Program Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) and it is due November 16th. For Monroe County, the maximum funding that can be applied for is $15,255,883. This amount includes $12,850,453 for renewal projects, $385,514 for the CoC planning grant, and the potential for $642,453 in Bonus Projects and $1,377,393 for…