Homeless assistance program - Pennsylvania Department of ...

HOMELESS ASSISTANCE

PROGRAM

INSTRUCTIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

Revised April 2019

Tom Wolf, Governor

Teresa Miller, Secretary

Administered by:

Office of Income Maintenance Lisa Watson, Deputy Secretary

Bureau of Policy Cathy Buhrig, Director

Homeless Assistance Program Manager Ingrid Santiago, Human Services Program Specialist

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dhs.

I. II.

III.

IV. V.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Changes from previous version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 OVERVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 B. The Homeless Assistance Program Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 C. Continuum of Homelessness Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 HAP SERVICE COMPONENT DESCRIPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 A. Case Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 B. Rental Assistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 C. Bridge Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 D. Innovative Supportive Housing Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 E. Emergency Shelter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 HAP REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25 A. Client Eligibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 B. County and Provider Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 C. Client Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 D. Written Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 ALLOWABLE HAP EXPENDITURES ? GENERAL . . . . . . . . . . . 32 FISCAL RESPONSIBILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 A. Cost Allocation Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 B. Grant Revocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 C. Payments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 D. Automated Clearing House Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 E. Holding Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 F. Unexpended Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 G. Earned Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

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H. Accrual Accounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 I. Audits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 J. Maintaining Fiscal Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 K. County Human Service Planning and Expenditure Reports . . . . 37 L. Annual Client Data Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 M. Revisions to County Plans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 VI. RESOURCES AND INCOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 A. Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 B. Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 C. Affordability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 VII. CLIENT APPEALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 VIII. WAIVER REQUESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 IX. PROGRAM MONITORING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 APPENDICES A. EVALUATING PROGRAM PROCESSES AND OUTCOMES FOR CONTINUOUS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 B. SERVICE PLANS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 C. FEDERAL POVERTY INCOME GUIDELINES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 D. RENTAL ASSISTANCE TRACKING FORM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 E. COORDINATION WITH TITLE IV-A EMERGENCY SHELTER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 F. KEY DATES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 G. CLIENT RECORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 H. ANNUAL CLIENT DATA REPORT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 I. INCOME, RESOURCES AND AFFORDABILITY CALCULATION WORKSHEETS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 J. HAP Block Grant Counties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

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March 2019 CHANGES TO HAP I&R FROM THE PREVIOUS VERSION OF MAY 2018 Page 1 ? revised date updated. Page 55 ? Federal Poverty Income Guidelines changed to reflect new 2019 amounts. Page 59 ? Link to Cash Assistance Handbook Emergency Shelter Allowance added. Page 65 ? Description of Client Data Report line C. 7. was corrected. Page 67 ? Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Client Data Report added. Page 74 ? Armstrong and Indiana Counties added to list of HSBG counties.

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I. OVERVIEW

A. INTRODUCTION

The Homeless Assistance Program Instructions and Requirements (HAP I & R) manual provides operational guidance for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services' (DHS) Homeless Assistance Program (HAP).

HAP is a county-directed program that offers a variety of supportive services to individuals and families experiencing or at risk for homelessness and who can demonstrate that, with HAP intervention, they will be able to meet their basic housing needs in the near future.

HAP includes five components:

1. Bridge Housing

2. Case Management

3. Rental Assistance

4. Emergency Shelter

5. Innovative Supportive Housing

A county may choose to provide one, some, or all of the components as part of its program, depending upon its unique regional needs. HAP gives counties flexibility in creating their programs because human service agencies based at the local level are intimately acquainted with the local human services network and the needs of the community. The department expects that counties will select the components necessary to create a homeless assistance program that meets the following HAP objectives:

1. Provide homelessness prevention services that assist clients to maintain affordable housing.

2. Help people experiencing homelessness find refuge and care.

3. Assist people experiencing or near homelessness in attaining economic selfsufficiency.

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