FHCHI - youth house - CPC application-FINAL.docCOMMUNITY PRESERVATION
PROJECT APPLICATION COVER SHEET
I: Project Information
Project Title: Permanent supportive housing for homeless youth
Project Summary: Friends of Hampshire County Homeless Individuals (FHCHI) is seeking $275,000 to support the purchase of a house in Northampton that will provide up to eight (8) units
of permanent housing with support services for unaccompanied homeless youth between the ages of 18 and 25. Currently this population faces a gap in supportive housing services in Northampton
and nearby, despite being a high risk group. The Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness has declared unaccompanied homeless youth a priority in its regional plan. This
project builds on the success of our two previous houses, both of which received CPA funds: Yvonne’s House in Florence (chronically homeless individuals) and Gandara/Friends House in
downtown Northampton (homeless individuals in recovery from substance abuse.) FHCHI will leverage up to $475,000 of private funds through its own local fundraising, foundations, and
bank grants. FHCHI already has raised $150,000.
Estimated start date: __Nov/Dec 2016_ Estimated completion date:_6/30/3017____
CPA Program Area (check all that apply): � Open Space � Historic Preservation
( Community Housing � Recreation
II: Applicant/Developer Information
Contact Person and or/primary applicant: Rick Hart
Property Owner (if applicable):
Organization (if applicable): Friends of Hampshire County Homeless Individuals, Inc
Mailing Address: Rick Hart, 68 Leonard St., Leeds, MA, 01053, or FHCHI, P.O. Box 60398, Florence, MA, 01062
Daytime phone #: 413-320-1886
Fax #:
E-mail address & Website: info@hamphomeless.org www.hamphomeless.org
III: Budget Summary
Total budget for project: $750,000
CPA funding request: $275,000
CPA request as percentage of total budget: 39%
Applicant’s Signature: ________________________ Date Submitted: _____
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION ACT
Permanent Supportive Housing for Unaccompanied Homeless Youth
Narrative Description
1. Project Description: Friends of Hampshire County Homeless Individuals (FHCHI), in collaboration with DIAL/SELF, is seeking $275,000 in funds to support the purchase of a house in
Northampton that will provide up to eight (8) units of permanent supportive housing for unaccompanied homeless youth. FHCHI will leverage $150,000 of its own funds to fundraise an
additional $325,000 through a multi-pronged funding plan. DIAL/SELF has committed to owning and managing the property, and providing support services to the residents. After purchase,
the house will be deeded to DIAL/SELF with long-term restrictions on housing affordability to ensure permanent status as affordable low-income housing. This project will create housing
for low income residents, and more importantly will fill a gap in services to unaccompanied homeless youth. It will be the only program in the city providing coordinated street outreach,
housing, and support services for this population. The program will strengthen Northampton’s identity as a community that cares about all of its diverse people. In this sense, and
by alleviating the problem of homelessness, it will increase the quality of life for all City residents and visitors.
Our partner, DIAL/SELF is a nonprofit agency that has offered a variety of youth services in the Pioneer Valley since 1977. DIAL/SELF has a proven track record in helping homeless youth
with housing and with support services. The agency is community based, and skilled at building alliances, acquiring funding from multiple sources, and developing individualized plans
for each person served. DIAL/SELF also has staff working on street outreach, to help locate and engage this often hard-to-reach population. DIAL/SELF has a number of training and support
programs which are available for residents. Each young person meets with a case worker about once a week or more to review progress on their individual case plans. Clients often also
utilize other programs as needed and engage in community service. DIAL/SELF is the first developer/youth focused organization in the Commonwealth to develop project based affordable
permanent supportive housing for homeless youth/young adults, and has two subsidized 10-unit buildings in Greenfield and Orange, and 8 subsidized transitional housing units in Turners
Falls, through a well established relationship with the Franklin County Housing and Redevelopment Association. Additionally, it provides short term subsidies to an average of 10 youth
living in scattered site housing units in Franklin and Hampshire Counties. See Attachments 1, 2, and 9 and Question 8 for more information on DIAL/SELF services, operations and funding
in relation to this project.
2. Property Description and Proposed Use: FHCHI is conducting a search for available, appropriate housing in suitable areas. General criteria for selecting a site include:
Multi-unit house with a mix of 1 – 2 bedroom apartments with the capacity to house up to 8 individuals in private bedrooms; other types of housing will be considered, subject to ease
of “conversion” to smaller self-contained apartments.
Proximity to public transportation, services, and neighborhood amenities.
Mixed neighborhood in well-traveled area.
Condition of building and cost of repairs and/or converting site to meet residents’ needs.
Willingness of owner to sign a Purchase and Sale agreement that includes a contingency approval of CPA funding, zoning requirements, and cost estimates for rehabilitation or conversion.
Priority will be given to sites that save or upgrade existing housing (rather than new construction) and preserves existing rental stock and site availability.
As of this submission, FHCHI house development team has examined three multi-unit sites in Northampton. Two of the sites are no longer available, but one continues to be on the market,
meets the criteria and is within the price range and condition being sought by FHCHI. The team will continue to look for sites and will notify the CPA committee when one is identified
and the owner is willing to sign a P&S with funding contingencies.
3. Alignment with Criteria: This project meets most of the CPA General Project criteria and Community Housing criteria, including the following:
Serves more than one CPA criteria: this project meets the Community Housing criteria, and indirectly meets the Open Space criteria, in that it does not encroach on any existing open
space.
It will support the 2016 Community Preservation Plan’s goals of creating new low income housing and of re-housing homeless individuals. It will address Goal #3 in the Northampton Housing
Needs Assessment and Strategic Housing Plan, “Work to End Homelessness”; and in particular section 5.6.4 “Support Housing First Efforts” and 5.6.2, “Continue to Participate in the Western
Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness.” The Western Massachusetts Network, in its 2015 “Opening Doors” report, sets a goal of ending youth homelessness by 2020; this project will
be a significant step toward meeting that goal in Northampton.
Contributes to the preservation of Northampton’s unique character, boosts community vitality and enhances the quality of life for its residents: this project improves the quality of
life for the general residents of Northampton, by housing high-risk unaccompanied homeless individuals who otherwise spend a lot of time “on the streets”, frequently in the downtown
area -- a condition that sometimes causes distress among the downtown businesses who view it as a deterrent to their businesses and quality of life in the City. Most importantly, it
offers early intervention to a target population that has a 50-60% chance of becoming homeless within 18-30 months of aging out of the state’s child welfare system. It supports the
unique character of the City, including our reputation as an inclusive community. This project ensures that every member of the community, including youth/young adults who are ill-prepared
and lack the necessary skills, can become fully contributing community members with a platform of enhanced support.
Addresses recommendations in Sustainable Northampton, the 3-County Rural Continuum of Care plan, and 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness - “All Roads Lead Home”. Sustainable Northampton:
This project meets the Goal H-1: Create new housing, Objectives 8 and 10 (rental housing for households at/or below 60% of average median income; and housing that meet the needs of
special needs populations.) Goal H-2 -Preserve and sustain existing affordable housing, Objective 1 (preserves existing rental housing stock that is currently for sale and retains it
as affordable housing.) Goal H-3 - Work to end homelessness, Objectives 2 and 4 (it increases supply of affordable, supportive housing for rapid re-housing of homeless;
and fills gaps in support services for chronically homeless individuals.) Goal ED-4 - Provide a positive business environment, Objective 4 (this project helps to mitigate the tension
between creating a vibrant, thriving downtown and the clustering of homeless people who may create the perception of an unsafe or undesirable environment, by getting people housed who
otherwise would be loitering on the streets.)
3-County Rural Continuum of Care Plan: Each year the CoC lead agency, Hilltown Community Development Corp. (HCDC), receives $1.6 M of HUD funding which supports transitional and permanent
supported housing and 1st/last month rent to programs in Berkshire, Franklin, and Hampshire counties. In order to access funds, the Continuum must establish targets to reduce the number
of chronically homeless in the region or special populations. Unaccompanied homeless/at-risk young adults are among the targeted subpopulations, and will help to meet the target of
developing new Housing First units.
Regional 10-Year Plan: The plan calls for the development of a 130 units of permanent supported housing in the 3-County region, including 26 units/year. This project will create 8 of
the 26 units for this year; other units are targeted for the Amherst, Belchertown, Sunderland area, including two that are designated for homeless young adults.
Serves under-served populations: unaccompanied homeless young adults are some of the hardest to house individuals. They are typically without rental housing histories, have higher rates
of school drop-out, have limited job skills, employment histories, or sufficient income to sustain market rate housing; additionally, many have insufficient life skills to successfully
maintain health, housing and employment stability without flexibly intensive support.
Receives endorsement by community groups, municipal boards and/or departments: FHCHI enjoys the support of a variety of community organizations and groups, including: Northampton Office
of Planning and Development -Housing and Community Development Planner, the Western MA Network to End Homelessness, ServiceNet, and multiple city businesses, Houses of Worship, and
volunteers who support the activities of FHCHI and the Winter Overnight Shelter. See Attachments 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Demonstrates that other funding sources are not sufficient: FHCHI has the capacity to spearhead and leverage this project and is able to obtain donated or reduced housing rehabilitation
support, through its track record of developing two similar housing projects for the City of Northampton. DIAL/SELF has the service, operating and administrative capacity to manage
the project.
Demonstrates high benefit/cost value: Without creating opportunities, and early intervention strategies for homeless unaccompanied young adults, many are at very high risk of becoming
chronically homeless individuals. Chronically homeless individuals extract some of the highest costs to a community. Frequent interaction with emergency systems of care, including
hospital emergency room, jail, detox programs and crisis psychiatric care averages more than $40,000 per homeless person per year; hospital costs associated with the treatment of chronically
homeless individuals can average well over $100,000/person/year. The cost of providing flexibly intensive services to homeless youth individuals averages $4-
6,000 annually. Even with the cost of subsidized housing, Housing First is a more cost effective alternative to extended homelessness.
Can be implemented expeditiously and within budget. The projected timeline of this project may be seen in detail in Number 11; however, we anticipate that full occupancy can be achieved
within nine months of grant award and hope to coincide occupancy with the annual closing of the Interfaith Winter Shelter (2017). We anticipate that the alignment with the Regional
Network and Continuum of Care plans will provide leverage for housing subsidies that will ensure adequate long term operating funds.
This project meets most of the Community Housing criteria. It creates community housing that matches an identified gap (housing with services for the chronically homeless). The project
will use an existing building that already “fits” in with the surrounding neighborhood, which is comprised of intermingled affordable and market rate housing. The neighborhood is located
within walking distance or in easy access by public transportation to all local amenities. The project will ensure long term affordability by having a deed restriction that will include
a 30-year housing affordability clause, and provides the City with credit for units under Chapter 40B. The project will provide services for underserved populations, give priority to
Northampton residents, and provide housing for very low-income individuals. Any rehabilitation will be designed to meet Energy Star certification.
4. Community Need: The region has an emerging body of data to estimate the number of unaccompanied youth (age 16-24 yrs.) CoC Homeless Information System data from the two winter shelters
in Hampshire County, Interfaith (FHCHI) and Craig’s Doors (Amherst) documents 54 homeless youth in 2014 and 39 in 2015. An additional, 13 youth were served at Grove Street Inn in these
two years. Data extrapolated from the Interfaith year end reports documents that over 25-30% of participants have ties to/are residents of Northampton. It should be noted that Northampton
has approximately 25% of the 3-County CoC’s homeless youth within its borders. The MA Department of Education documented 43 school aged youth who were homeless in Northampton for the
2014-2015 school year; 50% of the youth were “doubled up”. The annual 2015 Point In Time Youth Count documented 52 youth in the 3-County rural CoC region as homeless on a single day,
with a similar percentage of youth (25%) who were identified in Northampton. It should be noted that based on this demonstrated need, the federal HHS Family and Youth Services Bureau
awarded DIAL/SELF additional funds to expand outreach and case management services to Hampshire County. Funding of this project will create a local continuum of housing focused youth
services (outreach/emergency placement, case management and long-term affordable housing) offering a more effective response to this local need.
5. Guarantees to ensure long term preservation: FHCHI negotiated a 30-year affordable housing preservation clause in its first Housing project (Chronically Homeless/mental health disability)
with ServiceNet, Inc. and a 99-year affordability housing preservation with its second PSH Project (chronically homeless/substance use disability) with Gandara Center, based on a preferred
longer affordability requirement by the City. FHCHI and its partner DIAL/SELF will draft a similar guarantee to ensure long-term affordable housing preservation.
6. Community Support: FHCHI enjoy an unprecedented level of community support. More then 40 teams of volunteers comprised of some 450 volunteers offer time, food and supplies that permit
a very cost effective shelter operation. Most importantly, through this work a wide cross-section of the community has had a first-hand education regarding the complex needs and issues
that homeless people face. Each year FHCHI undertakes a $30,000 campaign to underwrite the non-personnel cost of the Winter Shelter. FHCHI has exceeded its goal each year, due to a
generous community response. Additional funding supports a boot program, emergency prescriptions, and 1st/last months rent fund. An overview of the community partnerships and support
was provided in Section 1 of this application. Letters of support are provided in Attachments 3-6. Worthy of note is the level of community acceptance at both Yvonne’s House and the
Maple Ave house.
7. Measures of Success: FHCHI and DIAL/SELF will use the following indicators as assessed by the Self-Sufficiency Matrix (at entry, 6 mo. Intervals and exit).
Stable housing: including a safe and reliable place to call home will be measured by housing retention and level of safety in housing at 6 and 12 months, and exit to other permanent
housing.
Permanent connections: including ongoing attachments to families, communities, schools, and other positive social networks will be measured by level of support system.
Education/employment, including high performance and completion of educational and training activities, and stable employment or older youth/young adults will be measured by enrollment
and progress toward completion of educational programs, participation in employment-related skills training programs, and attainment and maintenance of employment.
Social-emotional well-being: including the development of key competencies, attitudes and behaviors that equip a young person to succeed across multiple domains of daily life, including
school, work, relationships and community will be measured by assessing level of engagement in services and treatment, ability to manage activities of daily living,
8. On-going operations and maintenance: DIAL/SELF will assume operating responsibility as part of the conditions of gifting the house. This will include full responsibility for maintenance
and upkeep of the house, tenant selection, program oversight, and flexible case management based on the needs of the youth/young adult. They have a demonstrated capacity to maintain
the housing and an established track record of consistently maintaining and developing new funding sources to support the homeless youth in the region. These include:
a full-time maintenance person who ensures upkeep on their housing units, the cost of whom is spread across the operating budgets for each of the housing sites.
a capitol improvement fund is established for each housing site, that is accrued from rents.
D/S has a track record of successfully acquiring 28 project based state/federal affordable housing subsidies for its properties and will submit an application as soon as the housing
site is identified.
Diverse contracts through federal HHS/Family and Youth Services Bureau, MA DHCD and MA DPH to fund outreach and case management. Through a recent expansion of funding, DIAL/SELF is initiating
an outreach program that will include a full time case manager for
Hampshire County and a part-time peer outreach youth. These funds will provide capacity for providing case management of these new units.
Two new funding sources have applications pending: these include new funding ($2M annually statewide) from the Commonwealth targeting unaccompanied youth, from which DIAL/SELF is requesting
an additional full-time case manager for Hampshire County; and an application to the Hampshire County United Way to expand outreach/case management capacity in Amherst, Northampton,
Easthampton.
This will create more then sufficient capacity to provide flexible supports to youth in the housing based on a 1:12 staff to youth ratio.
9. Project Budget: Acquisition/Rehabilitation:
Source
Amount
Use
Cost
CPA
$275,000
Acquisition
$750,000 ($50,000 flex funds/acquisition or rehab).
FHCHI
$150,000 (confirmed) $150,000 (in progress)
Acquisition
Foundations
$175,000
Acquisition
In-Kind
$25,000 (In-kind)
Rehabilitation, materials, supplies, furnish.
$25,000
Total
$775,000
10. Multi-year Funding: CPA funds will be used for acquisition and modest rehabilitation of the site, as needed. We do not anticipate needing multi-year funding if our full funding
request is granted.
11. Project Timeline:
Task
Time frame
Lead person(s)
On-going fundraising (based on foundation solicitation time-lines)
Feb-Sept 2016
Rick Hart (RH), Rebecca Muller (RM), Yvonne Freccero (YF)
Site selection (seek P & S contingent on funding)
May-Dec 2016
YF, RH, DIAL/SELF
House inspection
May-Dec 2016
YF, D/S
Rehabilitation estimates
Dec 2016/Jan 2017
YF, D/S
Finalize acquisition budget
Dec 2016/Jan 2017
Chris Caouette, RH
Finalize funding (e.g. additional funding needs for acquisition or light rehab, FHCHI; finalize operating budget, D/S)
Dec 2016/Jan 2017
YF,RH,RM,D/S
Finalize site readiness plan (contractor/ volunteers needed)
Dec 2016/Jan 2017
FHCHI, D/S
Close on property
Feb 2017
FHCHI, D/S
Complete rehabilitation
April 2017
FHCHI, D/S
Furnish Units
April 2017
FHCHI volunteers
Negotiate housing subsidies
Feb - Apr 2017
D/S
Resident selection
April+, 2017
D/S
Move-in and full occupancy
May+, 2017
D/S
11. Project Feasibility: Friends of Hampshire County Homeless Individuals has a 17-year track record of building and sustaining a volunteer network and an extensive base of community
support for the Interfaith Shelter and associated programs for homeless individuals. In the last ten years, FHCHI has worked to create housing, as part of the effort to reduce the
need for shelter in favor of housing with flexible supports. FHCHI successfully completed the development of Yvonne’s House in 2008, with CPA and community support. This initial endeavor
was so successful that the Friends followed it just three years later, in 2011, with a second house, this time for homeless individuals who are in recovery from substance abuse.
In most years, FHCHI has raised $20,000 or more above expenses. The variety of sources attests to the strength of our fundraising capacity. A three-year profile of FHCHI annual fundraising
demonstrates the feasibility of our fundraising strategy and its consistent results.
FY ‘14
$51,175
Funding by Source:
Individual donations, 38% - Shelter Sunday, 27% - Vespers, 17% - Holiday singing, 8% - Congregations of faith, 8%
FY ‘15
$53,950
FY ’16
(7 mo.)
$35,000
This year we plan to leverage some $175,000 of acquisition grants from several foundations, together with additional fundraising by FHCHI during the next six to eight months.
Our partner, DIAL/SELF has demonstrated capacity both in terms of housing acquisition, rehabilitation, and ongoing maintenance. It owns three properties in Greenfield, Turners Falls,
and Orange; as well as managing a number of scattered-site housing units in Franklin County, North Quabbin, and Hampshire County. It has raised over $5 million between its three larger
sites in Franklin County, and has an annual operating budget of $1.2 million. Like the Friends, DIAL/SELF draws on multiple sources, including private fundraising, foundation grants,
and service contracts. As of October 2015, DIAL/SELF has two three-year contracts that provide additional supports for DIAL/SELF to expand its outreach and support options to Hampshire
County, with a focus on Amherst and Northampton. This funding will allow DIAL/SELF to hire a new Youth Worker who will be focused on identifying, assessing and supporting young people
in Hampshire County, some of whom will become candidates for this new housing.
12. Open Space: N/A
13. Maps: N/A
14. List of Attachments:
Memorandum of Understanding, FHCHI and DIAL/SELF
Youth house DIAL/SELF operating budget
Letter of support, Northampton Housing Partnership
Letter of support, Pamela Schwartz (Director, Western MA Network to End Homelessness)
Letter of support, Katie Miernecki (ServiceNet, Director of Hampshire County Shelter and Housing)
Letter of support, Peg Keller (City of Northampton, Community Development & Housing)
Friends of Hampshire County Homeless Individuals brochure
FHCHI brochure: Homeless Youth: A Platform for Success
DIAL/SELF brochure