This article was contributed by San Benito County Community Services and Workforce Development.
Funds through the California Emergency Solutions and Housing (CESH) program have been made available to organizations working to address homelessness. Approximately $150,000 is expected to be available for San Benito County.
According to the California Department of Housing and Community Development website, CESH funds may be used for five primary activities: housing relocation and stabilization services (including rental assistance), operating subsidies for permanent housing, flexible housing subsidy funds, operating support for emergency housing interventions, and systems support for homelessness services and housing delivery systems.
“In addition, some administrative entities may use CESH funds to develop or update a Coordinated Entry System (CES), Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), or Homelessness Plan. Refer to the current Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for any limitations on these activities,” the website states.
Eligible applicants are local governments, nonprofit organizations or unified funding agencies designated by the Continuum of Care (CoC) to administer the funds. The regional Administrative Entity (AE) is the City of Salinas, and as a result is issuing the competitive Notice of Funding Availability.
The AE applied to the department of housing and community development on Sept. 27, 2018 and was awarded $1,027,285 of CESH funding on Jan. 11, 2019. The funding is expected to be distributed between the eligible CoC service area based on the percentage of homeless from the most recent 2017 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count. The AE will utilize the full 5% administrative allocation totaling $51,364 to hire a program manager to oversee the administration of the CESH program. The AE will also utilize $50,000 for the development of a Homeless Plan.
The remaining CESH allocation may be distributed between Monterey and San Benito County based on the most recent 2017 PIT Count. Approximately $775,921 is available in Monterey County and up to $150,000 for San Benito County. CESH limits shelter funding to a maximum of 40% or $410,914.
For more information, visit http://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/cesh.shtml or click the PDF below.