The Edge: Local Housing Strategies

$3M Newark Project Will Transform

New Jersey Community Development Corporation’s (NJCDC) AmeriCorps Program—also known as the Paterson Community Schools Corps (PCSC)—is currently seeking dedicated individuals with a passion for education, youth development, and community development to dedicate a year of service to working directly with students, parents, and teachers in Paterson, New Jersey

To apply: Send your resume and cover letter to GFoushee@njcdc.org.

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1:00–3:00PM via Zoom

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NJ DMHAS

Opioid Summit

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Wilshire Grand Hotel

West Orange, NJ

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Congratulations to Bergen County United Way/Madeline Housing Partners, LLC, as they have received preliminary approval of plans to develop a new 100% affordable apartment building in South Orange. The new building will include 16 units of supportive housing with services administered by South Orange non-profit JESPY House, which works with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to aid them while they lead independent lives.

Become a SHA Member and get access to great meetings and many other great member benefits. Need more information? Email Joseph Christensen with your questions.

The Biden Administration announced actions aimed at accelerating Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) for renters at-risk of eviction amid the pandemic. The U.S. Treasury released updated ERA guidance that clarifies existing policies and announces new flexibilities aimed at accelerating rental assistance to applicants who are in the pipeline in state and local ERA programs across the country. While existing guidance allows for self-attestation in documenting each aspect of a household’s eligibility for ERA, the updated guidance explains that during the public health emergency, state and local ERA programs may rely on self-attestation alone to document household income eligibility.

The National Low-Income Housing Coalition is tracking ERA spending in real-time on the ERA Dashboard and Spending Tracker. This tracking also includes real-time data from program dashboards and program administrators to provide a closer estimate of how much ERA funding has been obligated to date.

The following DCA RFP has been posted for Outreach for Comprehensive Eviction Prevention (CEP). There is a mandatory technical assistance webinar for applicants scheduled for Monday, August 30, 2021. The deadline for applications is September 7, 2021. Applicants with questions may contact Lisa.costello@dca.nj.gov.

Purpose of the proposal: This grant program provides funds for non-profit agencies in New Jersey to implement an outreach strategy to meet the goals of the new Eviction Prevention bills, known as S3691 and A4463, signed by Governor Murphy on August 4, 2021 as P.L. 2021, c. 188 and P.L. 2021, c. 189. In order to ensure that all eligible NJ households are knowledgeable about these protections and services, the Department requires an intensive outreach strategy, with marketing activities to commence shortly after being selected as a grantee. DCA seeks administrative economies of scale, and aims to ensure services are provided to highest need communities without duplication of service. The goal of this initiative is to conduct outreach activities to ensure that households are made aware of all assistance available. Grantees must demonstrate ability and a plan to both provide outreach and to directly assist households in submitting eviction prevention self-certification forms and rental assistance applications.

Available funding: Federal Pandemic assistance funding available for these grants totals $5 million dollars. This grant is supported by federal funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES), Public Law #116 -136, dated March 27, 2020, and is also supported by funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, (ARP) known as Public Law #117-2, dated March 11, 2021.

Maximum and minimum awards: The minimum award shall be $500,000 and the maximum award shall be $1 million dollars.

Target population: Clients served directly by grantees or sub-grantees shall have household incomes at or below 120% of the area median income, with the expectation that most clients will have incomes at or below 80% of the median income.

Grant Term: The grant term runs from September 1, 2021 through August 31, 2022. 

Application Process: All applications must be emailed to: Lisa Costello at lisa.costello@dca.nj.gov

Technical Assistance Session: Applicants MUST participate in the technical assistance webinar scheduled for August 30, 2021. Log in information will be distributed by August 27, 2021.

The Edge: Local Housing Strategies

The following excerpt and article are from PD&R’s online magazine, The Edge.

In June 2021, the national housing development and advocacy nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners hosted HUD officials and local government executives from around the country in a webinar to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing, the vital importance of federal resources, and plans to ensure that affordable housing is equitable. The event, “Innovative Partnerships for Affordable Housing: Working Together to Respond, Stabilize and Recover,” featured a recorded keynote address by HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge in which she outlined the Biden administration’s planned housing and infrastructure policies and announced a new interagency initiative to better enforce the Fair Housing Act in the area of home appraisals. This new initiative targets the racial gap in homeownership — a policy motivation frequently echoed by the featured local leaders, who spoke about their respective cities’ pre- and post-pandemic efforts to advance housing equity.

Priscilla Almodovar, president and chief executive officer of Enterprise Community Partners, underscored the disproportionate impact that the pandemic-induced economic recession has had on communities of color and the importance of housing to racial equity generally. “Homeownership is at the core of this country’s racial wealth gap,” she noted. Jacqueline Waggoner, president of Enterprise’s Solutions Division, moderated the discussion and directed questions to the local leaders and three HUD representatives on the panel. The five local leaders represented three large cities, a small college town, and a body responsible for Hawaiian trust lands — localities that have their own unique backgrounds and challenges but have all touched by the COVID-19 pandemic and the housing affordability crisis.

TRENTON — The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance today announced it is now accepting applications for community organizations to serve as Navigators to assist residents with health insurance enrollment for the upcoming Open Enrollment Period and during 2022. The department is making available a total of $4 million in grant funding for Navigators, in an effort to ensure enrollment assistance is available in the community for residents seeking coverage through Get Covered New Jersey, the state’s official health insurance marketplace, during the Open Enrollment Period that starts November 1, 2021 and through the year. The Murphy Administration has more than doubled its investment in Navigators since the State began operating the Navigator program in 2019 and has taken numerous actions to improve access to health coverage. The state began operating as a State-Based Marketplace on November 1, 2020 under a law signed by Governor Phil Murphy and, in addition to federal tax credits available through the Affordable Care Act, began offering state-level subsidies to further lower health plan costs.

Grantee activities will include outreach and education year-round for 2022 coverage, including in advance of and during the Open Enrollment Period that is expected to run from November 1, 2021 until January 31, 2022. A Request for Applications (nj.gov/dobi/financial/) for funding for the New Jersey State Navigator Program was just released. Organizations have until September 17, 2021 to apply. 

$3M Newark Project Will Transform

The project includes construction of nine, two-family residences and the rehabilitation of one, two-family residence. Four houses will be set aside for residents that have incomes below 80% of the area’s median income. The project will be completed in three phases, including three houses (two market rate and one designated as affordable housing) at 38, 42 and 44 Blum St. The cost of the project is estimated to be about $3 million, officials said...“NJCC believes that scattered-site projects of this type, which involve reclaiming vacant properties for use, are so important to neighborhoods,” said Walter Price, IV, community development loan officer at New Jersey Community Capital, one of the fund’s financial partners. (NJ.com, August 24, 2021)

The New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities has contracted with the John J. Heldrich Center at Rutgers University to examine New Jersey's effort regarding Employment First for individuals with developmental disabilities. Employment First refers to a framework for systems change that is centered on the premise that all people, including individuals with significant disabilities, who are willing and capable of full participation and desire employment and community life. Basically, it means real jobs and real wages in the general workforce.

Your feedback is critically important to this effort. The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. The deadline for responding is Monday, September 13. Note: The survey is available in both English and Spanish. The language can be changed by clicking on the tab on the upper right of the survey.

If you have any questions regarding this survey, or need assistance completing it, please contact David Hoff, Program Director, Institute for Community Inclusion, School for Global Inclusion and Social Development, UMass Boston. He can be reached at david.hoff@umb.edu or 617-480-9230.

Get the best of both worlds for our 23rd Annual Supportive Housing Conference with an in-person awards reception and virtual workshop and keynote experiences. Save on registering with Early Bird Pricing before September 24th. Save even more when you register 3 or more together on the same order and get 25% off your entire purchase!

Pat Tatum – Veteran Outreach, and Bob Looby, Chairman, Employment, Homeless & Education Committee, National Employment & Homeless Commission, The American Legion, Department of New Jersey, NJ Veterans Service Council Member are spreading the word on the Veterans Regional Stand Down in Atlantic City on September 8, 2021 from 10 am – 3 pm.

Click here for an informational flyer.

Celebrate Labor Day and National Recovery Month by joining world-renowned experts, including keynote speaker U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, for this special one-day online event focused on cutting-edge ideas to help people in early recovery.

The symposium will be offered at no charge and will include such sessions as:

• Answering the Why: What Does the Research Say About the Importance of Employment

to Recovery?

• Banding Together: Cross-Systems Collaboration Is Key

• Rally Employers: Now Is the Time to Advance “Recovery-Ready Workplaces”

• What We Do and How We Do It: A Groundbreaking Approach—The ATR Model for

Customized Employment Supports for People with Substance Use Disorders

• Call to Action: Next Steps to Carry Us Forward

On behalf of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, Disability Rights New Jersey, and Hopeworks you are invited to join the second Town Hall & Listening Session on how to make parks and nature more accessible for people that identify as disabled. It isn't easy for people with disabilities to get reliable information about visiting parks and natural areas. Are the trails wheelchair accessible? Are the signs easy to understand? Are there accessible bathrooms? Share your experiences and ideas at this online town hall and help bring change!

This Town Hall features a video highlighting the real experiences faced by people with limited mobility and their caregivers when visiting a nature preserve in the Pinelands in July. 

To learn more about the National Disability Forum, check out https://www.ssa.gov/ndf/.

If you have any questions, email us at OEA.Net.Post@ssa.gov.

DRNJ 2021 Assistive Technology and

8:30am - 3:00pm Eastern Time

Be sure to visit one of the three upcoming Sustainable Health & Wellness Village® Festivals (SHWV) being held throughout NJ in the coming months.  Organized by Caresparc Consulting in conjunction with city officials, these FREE, 3-day community-based health and wellness festivals offer attendees baseline health screenings and consultations, expert-led educational presentations, information on practical lifestyle products and many other healthy and fun activities designed for all ages, such as live music performances, art demonstrations, group fitness activities and more. This year’s festivals were designed with careful attention to current CDC guidelines, including use of face coverings, physical distancing, and open-air pavilions.

Is your agency/program interested in having a table at the festivals? Contact Kevin Silvestri of Caresparc Consulting at: ksilvestrini@caresparc.com

NJ Department of Human Services in partnership with NJ Department of Health Presents:

The 6th Annual Suicide Prevention Conference

Save The Date

Wednesday October 6, 2021 | 9:00 AM - 1 PM

We welcome anyone interested in learning about trauma and suicide prevention. The conference will feature presentations, breakout sessions, and a panel discussion.

There are many great ways of supporting SHA: Join as a member, send donations, or shop with AmazonSmile. Thank you for your support!

Want all the member benefits with SHA? Visit our website or contact Joseph Christensen to apply or manage your membership.

Members can post jobs to find applicants within the wider supportive housing community. Click on the button to visit our job page.