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Missouri Department of Mental Health
Housing Team
Technical Assistance From DMH Housing Unit Staff
The Continuum of Care Funding Process for Homeless Assistance Funds
Supportive Housing Development Toolkit
Technical Assistance From DMH Housing Unit Staff
The Missouri Department of Mental Health (DMH) Housing Unit is a resource for technical assistance for agencies seeking to develop affordable and/or supportive housing for people with and without disabilities anywhere within the State of Missouri. If your agency is considering such a project, it is suggested that you contact Liz Hagar-Mace, DMH Housing Director, as an initial step (see Liz Hagar-Mace's contact information here).
DMH Housing is primarily concerned with housing development for persons with disabilities in the State of Missouri. If your agency wants to create supportive housing for people who are homeless with disabilities and wishes to apply for funding through a Missouri Continuum of Care (CoC), DMH Housing can help with technical assistance no matter where your project is located. We can provide advice on housing options, funding issues, and numerous other critical aspects of your project. If you're not sure which Continuum of Care to work with (or what a Continuum of Care is), see the next section describing the Continuum of Care funding process.
The Continuum of Care Funding Process for Homeless Assistance Funds
A Continuum of Care (CoC) is a community-based, long-range planning process that addresses the needs of homeless persons in order to help them reach maximum self-sufficiency. The CoC is developed through collaboration with a broad cross section of the community and is based on a thorough assessment of homeless needs and resources. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recommends the CoC model as a comprehensive and strategic approach to addressing homelessness.
If your agency wants to apply for HUD funding to build affordable housing with supportive services for homeless persons with disabilities, the agency must typically participate in its local Continuum of Care. Each CoC coordinates its own application process to HUD for all agencies within the CoC that are seeking HUD Homeless Assistance funds. Each CoC is also charged by HUD to develop a plan to end homelessness within the area covered by the CoC (see below for links to each Plan to End Homelessness).
Visual Aid: click this link to visit the web site of the Missouri Association of Social Welfare to see a map showing all the CoC's in the State of Missouri and the counties that compose the scope of their activities.
The following table gives contact and other information about each Continuum of Care in Missouri:
|
Name of Continuum of Care |
Agency in Charge
|
Contact
|
Web Site
|
Plan to End Homelessness |
Balance of State CoC |
Missouri Governor's Committee to End Homelessness | Denise Heet, Chair, Governor's Committee to End Homelessness | The Plan to End Homelessness in Missouri (PDF); covers entire state | |
Springfield/Greene-Webster-Christian Counties CoC |
Community Partnership | Michelle Garand, Community Partnership | Community Partnership | |
Joplin/Jasper-Newton Counties CoC |
Joplin Homeless Coalition | Carol Thomas, Chair, Joplin Homeless Coalition | Economic Security Corp. of the Southwest Area | |
Kansas City/Independence/Lee's Summit/Jackson County CoC |
Homeless Services Coalition of Greater Kansas City | Cynthia Larcom, Homeless Services Coalition of Greater KC | Homeless Services Coalition of Greater Kansas City | Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness |
St. Louis County CoC |
St. Louis County Dept. of Human Services | 314-615-7258, Dana McAuliffe, Director, Homeless Services |
St. Louis County Homeless Services | Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness |
St. Louis City CoC |
City of St. Louis Dept. of Human Services | 314-612-5900, Antoinette Hayes-Triplet, Director, Homeless Services | St. Louis Dept. of Human Services | Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness |
St. Joseph/Andrew-Buchanan-DeKalb Counties CoC |
St. Joseph Homeless Coalition | Randy Sharp, Chair, St. Joseph Homeless Coalition | ||
| St. Charles-Lincoln-Warren Counties CoC | Community Council of St. Charles | Dottie Kastigar, Coordinator, Community Council of St. Charles | Community Council of St. Charles |
The Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) and the Governor's Committee to End Homelessness jointly conduct quarterly meetings in ten non-metropolitan regions around Missouri as a means of getting local area agencies and governments involved in planning for their own affordable housing and homelessness needs. Any agency or individual involved in providing housing, shelter and/or services for homeless people, housing development and planning, or any activity that impacts local or regional housing needs, is welcome and urged to attend these meetings. The regional meetings provide a forum for the discussion of housing issues such as affordable housing development, housing for persons with disabilities, NIMBY issues ("not in my backyard"), fair housing, and landlord-tenant laws, to name a few.
The Regional Housing Meetings are facilitated by Heather Bradley-Geary, Community Initiatives Manager at MHDC. For further information about future regional housing meetings and the Balance of State Continuum of Care generally, please contact Heather Bradley-Geary at MHDC at (816) 759-7201.
UPDATE: MHDC will be conducting a series of Regional Housing Meetings in September 2008. To see a schedule of meetings, please see the current issue of the DMH Housing newsletter, "Housing News". Each issue of the newsletter contains an updated schedule of meetings.
Supportive Housing Development Toolkit
The Corporation for Supportive Housing has recently rolled out its latest technical asisstance item, the Supportive Housing Development Toolkit. The Toolkit can be accessed here; a hyper-linked Table of Contents can also be accessed from the same site.
CSH's site states, " The purpose of this Toolkit is to provide organizations with access to tools, informational materials, and sample documents that can help them address key challenges in the planning, development, and on-going operation of permanent supportive housing projects. This Toolkit currently contains more than 150 informational pieces, tools, and sample documents."
The Toolkit is an extremely comprehensive collection of informational pieces on understanding supportive housing, financing and development, managing housing operations, and designing and running support services for clients. It includes everything from the broad beginnings of "Building a Development Team" to nuts-and-bolts issues of supportive services like "HIV Services and Suppoprtive Housing". For any agency considering developing its own Supportive Housing Prgram, the CSH Toolkit should prove to be invaluable.
» Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): www.hud.gov
» HUD's Field Offices serving western and eastern Missouri (in Kansas City, KS, and St. Louis, MO):
www.hud.gov/local/index.cfm?state=mo&topic=offices
» Habitat for Humanity: www.habitat.org
Habitat for Humanity has numerous local affiliates in Missouri; to find the one nearest you, visit the link above and enter your zip code in the "Search for Affiliates" search box.
» Housing Assistance Council: www.ruralhome.org/
» USDA Rural Development: www.rurdev.usda.gov
» Federal Home Loan Bank of Iowa: www.fhlbdm.com
» Missouri Housing Development Commission: www.mhdc.com
» DMH Housing Newsletter, "Housing News": Housing News
Every issue of "Housing News" contains a feature called "Funding News" that describes current funding opportunities available from corporations and foundations.
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