1. We Make Housing Affordable
Efforts to Codify State Housing Assistance
for
Homeless Households and Persons with Special Needs
2016 Annual NCSHA Conference
September 26, 2016

2. Trust Fund Appropriations
Annual Increases in Appropriations;
FY : Total appropriation of $ Million
FY : Total appropriation of $175 Million
FY : Total appropriation of $200.1 Million

3. 2016 Florida State Legislation
State Housing Trust Fund
Provides Florida Housing the authority to award forgivable loans to non-profits for financing small rental developments mainly in rural areas targeted to homeless persons;
Allows Florida Housing to reserve a minimum of 5% of its annual appropriations for forgivable loans to projects serving persons with a disabling condition, with priority given to projects serving persons with developmental disabilities
Increases the minimum percentage of appropriations for financing housing for homeless households from 5% to 10%;

4. 2016 Florida State Legislation
State Housing Trust Fund
Revised the minimum percentage of appropriations for financing housing for persons with special needs from not more than 10% to not less than 10%;
Appropriated an additional $10 million to provide grant funds to finance housing for persons with developmental disabilities.

5. 2016 Florida State Legislation
Local Government Housing Trust Fund
Recognizing the need for permanent rental and supportive housing for homeless and persons with needs, the legislature increased the amount of appropriations that may be used for rental housing to 25 percent;
Requires that at least 20% of the annual appropriation is used to serve persons with special needs;
Authorized $5.2 million to provide funding for local CoC to support services and housing for homeless households;
@$200,000 may be used to provide technical assistance and training to the Local CoCs and individual members for capacity building;

6. 2016 Florida State Legislation
Local Government Housing Trust Fund
Allows local government housing offices to create partnerships across jurisdictional boundaries through the pooling of appropriated funds to address homeless housing needs as identified by the local government
Codified that appropriations may be may be used for:
Eviction prevention not too exceed 6 months' rent; plus
Security and utility deposit assistance;
A rent subsidy program of up to 12 months for very-low-income households with at least one adult who is a person with special needs or who is homeless;

7. 2016 Florida State Legislation
Related Legislation – Medicaid and Behavioral Health
$10 Million in State Appropriations to fund a pilot to demonstrate the provision of housing coordination services for Medicaid consumers with mental illness;
Directed State Medicaid Office to apply for Federal resources to provide housing coordination and stability resources for Medicaid consumers with disabling conditions;
Requires State Office on Substance Abuse and Mental Health to require their behavioral health managing entities to provide housing coordination services and develop effective relationships with local rental housing providers.

8. How Did We Get Here
Florida Housing took a lead role at the State level regarding serving homeless households and persons with special needs;
Educating, building trust and developing good working relationships with the advocates, state supportive housing or services provider associations, and State agency staff;
Working to get a diverse group of advocates and providers to address their households’ housing needs and preferences, not their consumers’ diagnoses or conditions;
Encouraging stakeholders to be part of the decision process regarding how housing resources are allocated;

9. How Did We Get Here
Gaining broad acceptance of the philosophy that “one housing model does not fit all”;
Facilitating policy and program discussions regarding how issues such as Fair Housing, Home and Community Services Rule, ending homelessness goals, data and best practices affect our funding strategies and requirements;
Getting better at working together to access sufficient State resources to fund housing assistance for homeless and special needs populations and then breaking it down;
Through Florida Housing’s executive director and senior management, the legislature and governor’s office trust us to be good stewards of the resources, be responsive, and get to resources “on the street” quickly and effectively; Key legislators are strong advocates for homeless households and persons with special needs;

10. How Did We Get Here
Legislature approved transitioning from a Universal Application Cycle to Requests for Applications in order to tailor distribution of financing resources based on available resource requirements, geography, strategies, housing models and intended residents;
National Mortgage Settlement Funding in 2013 as a catalyst;
Contracted with CSH to convene a short-term Permanent Supportive Housing workgroup of relevant State agencies;
Responding to State policymaker request for data and best practices specific to Florida’s homeless and special needs housing needs

11. Presenter: Bill Aldinger, Assistant Policy Director
THANK YOU
We Make Housing Affordable
Presenter: Bill Aldinger, Assistant Policy Director