2024 Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program – Illinois - fundsforNGOs

The Cook County is accepting applications for its 2024 Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program.

Donor Name: Cook County

State: Illinois

County: Cook County (IL)

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 03/22/2024

Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000

Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned

Details:

The Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) has now been amended by the “Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing” (HEARTH) Act of 2009 to become the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG). The HEARTH Act amends and reauthorizes the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. The primary changes include a greater emphasis on homelessness prevention, the addition of rapid re-housing, the regulatory requirements for Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) use, increased emphasis on performance, and a requirement for greater coordination and collaboration between the recipient and the Continuum of Care.

Eligible Components and Activities

Homeless Prevention: Assistance and services to prevent households from becoming homeless. To qualify as being at risk, households must be under 30% area median income and must also meet the criteria in the “at risk of homelessness” definition in 24 CFR § 576.2. Any assistance a household receives must either be necessary to help the household regain stability in their current household or move elsewhere and achieve permanent stability there. Subrecipients must re-evaluate and re-certify program participants for Homeless Prevention eligibility no less than once every three months.
- Financial Assistance—cannot exceed 24 months during any 3 year period.
  - Rental Application Fees
  - Security Deposits—equal to no more than 2 months’ rent
  - Last Month’s Rent—(if necessary) can be paid at time of security deposit and first month’s rent.
  - Utility Deposits for standard utilities.
  - Utility Payments (A partial payment for a month counts as one month’s payment.)
    - Up to 6 months in arrears for gas, electric, water, and sewage.
    - Up to 24 months of current payments for gas, electric, water, and sewage.
  - Moving costs—eligible costs include truck rental, moving company costs, temporary storage fees for up to three months from when client starts receiving assistance (not arrears) and until client moves into permanent housing.
- Homeless Prevention Services—Staff salaries for assisting individuals and households with housing relocation and stabilization.
  - Housing Search and Placement—includes housing search and placement; assessment of housing barriers, needs, and preferences; locating housing for clients; outreach and negotiation with owners; assistance with rental applications; assessment of housing for ESG requirements for habitability, lead-based paint, and rent reasonableness; assistance with moving and utility connection arrangements; and tenant counseling.
  - Housing Stability case management—evaluating individuals and households receiving homeless prevention assistance; conducting initial intake and assessment; counseling; assisting individuals and households in securing mainstream services and financial benefits; developing an individualized housing plan; and conducting re-evaluations.
  - Mediation—between program participant and property owner or person with whom client is living to keep participant from losing permanent their housing.
  - Legal Services—legal services necessary to keep participant from losing permanent housing or to assist with issues that prohibit a program participant from obtaining permanent housing.
  - Credit Repair—credit counseling or other services to assist program participant in household budgeting. Does not include payment or modification of a debt.
- Rental Assistance—except for rental arrears, this cannot be provided to individuals or households who are receiving other public rental subsidies. Assistance can be project based or tenant based. Rent cannot exceed Fair Market Rent. The subrecipient must have an agreement with the property owner and only make payments directly to the property owner. The program participant must have a legally binding lease with the property owner, other than in the case of rental assistance for rental arrears only. Other than for Rental Arrears, late fees are not an eligible cost.
  - Rental Arrears—a one-time payment of up 6 months in rental arrears, including late fees for arrears. The rent owed to the owner must be sufficiently documented in the owner’s records.
  - Tenant-based rental assistance: The tenant chooses their own housing unit in which to live. The subrecipient can terminate assistance if tenant move out of the unit they lease, or if the tenant becomes ineligible for assistance.
    - Short Term—Up to three months of rental assistance.
    - Medium Term—Four to 12 months of rental assistance.
Rapid Re-housing: Rapid Rehousing assistance can be used to help a homeless household move into permanent housing and achieve stability in that housing. Individuals and households must meet the homeless definition, as described in 24 CFR § 576.2, or must meet the criteria under paragraphs 1 or 4, generally be staying in a homeless shelter or other place not meant for human habitation.
- The same eligible activities that apply to Homelessness Prevention apply to Rapid Re-housing, so long as the program participant meets the definition of being homeless. Services are then Rapid Re-housing Services, instead of Homelessness Prevention Services. A household cannot be served with Rapid Re-housing and Homelessness Prevention funding simultaneously. A household must meet one definition or the other (homeless or at risk of homelessness).
HMIS: Cook County has required subrecipients to use HMIS (and for Domestic Violence services agencies to use a comparable data tracking program), and it is now required by HUD and also the first year it is an eligible component of ESG.
- Costs Connected to HMIS lead agency
  - Costs of maintaining, upgrading, and warehousing data.
  - Conducting HMIS training, including travel costs.
  - Salaries for those operating HMIS: Data entry, analysis, reporting, and training other staff to use HMIS.
  - Travel and attendance costs for HMIS training.
- Costs for Victims’ Services Providers/Domestic Violence Agencies
  - Costs of Comparable Tracking Database (for victims’ services providers only): Costs of establishing and operating database to track longitudinal data; data cannot be entered into HMIS.
Emergency Shelter
- Essential Services: Includes staff salaries and related costs as indicated below.
  - Case management
    - includes costs of coordinated intake and assessment system
    - Counseling services
    - Connecting clients with mainstream services
    - Developing plan and monitoring progress of participants
  - Child care costs for children under 13 (or for disabled children under 18)
  - Basic educational skills: consumer education, health education, substance abuse prevention, literacy, English as a foreign language, and GED classes (includes costs of books, other instructional materials, and referrals).
  - Employment assistance and job training: employment assistance and job training programs; books and instructional material specifically for job training; employment screening.
  - Life skills training: includes budgeting, parenting, conflict resolution, nutrition, using public transportation, and purchasing household supplies.
  - Transportation
    - Program participant’s travel on public transportation
    - Mileage or gas costs or public transportation costs for staff to directly serve participants
  - Services to Special Needs Populations: Eligible costs include all of the above specifically for homeless youth, victim services (Domestic Violence shelters), and services for people with HIV/AIDS.
- Shelter Operations: Includes costs of maintenance/repairs, rent, security, utilities, equipment, insurance, food, furnishings, and supplies necessary for the operation of the shelter, and hotel/motel vouchers, for use only when no emergency shelter spots are available.
Street Outreach
- Engagement: Eligible costs include staff salaries and cell phone expenses for workers who locate, identify, and build relationships with unsheltered persons to provide immediate support and connect them to emergency, community, and mainstream services.
- Case Management: Staff salaries for assessing needs and delivering services for participants.
  - Using centralized or coordinated intake and assessment system.
  - Determining eligibility, delivering services, securing mainstream services, referring clients to other providers,
  - Monitoring and evaluating client progress
  - Developing individualized plans for permanent housing stability for clients.
- Transportation
  - Transportation costs (mileage, gas, or public transportation costs) by outreach workers, and other related workers, and transportation costs for Homeless Assistance providers to transport unsheltered persons to shelters or other emergency facilities.
  - Cost of program participant to take public transportation.
- Services to Special Needs Populations: Eligible costs include all of the above specifically for homeless youth, victim services (Domestic Violence shelters), and services for people with HIV/AIDS.

Funding Information

Minimum application funded: $25,000, can be spread across multiple activities and components.
Maximum application funded: $125,000, can be spread across multiple activities and components.

Eligible Areas

Cook County currently receives ESG funds as an annual entitlement allocation on the basis of its qualification as an urban county. Cook County ESG funds may only be utilized within the limits of the current effective Cook County Urban County area excluding other entitlement communities also receiving ESG funding.

All jurisdictions in Cook County may be served by Cook County’s ESG program in this funding year except for: