This will be the final edition of
The SHAre for 2021. We'll see you all soon in the new year and wish all of you safe and peaceful celebrations this holiday season. We look forward to bringing you more important updates next year and thank you for being part of this community with us.
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In this Week's Edition
News
Save the Date - Developers Meeting Jan. 10th
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HUD Awards $18M in
Veteran Housing Vouchers
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Progress Updates from Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge Winners
Including Filling The Capital Stack
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Technical Assistance Collaborative Launches
Racial Equity Action Lab in California
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NJ Human Services Extends
Application Period for Excluded New Jerseyans Fund and Doubles Cash Benefit
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COVID Safety Guidance from State of NJ
New Free Home Testing Opportunities
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NJ Rep Mikie Sherrill Co-Sponsors
Homeless Children and Youth Act
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Observe Homeless Persons
Memorial Day with Reflection, Action
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Two State Offers for Sale and Lease
of Land and Buildings in Trenton
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PD&R Edge:
Enhanced Federal Funding
Is Helping Cities Address Homelessness
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Thank you for an Excellent
23rd Annual Conference!
Share Feedback and Access Sessions
Resources & Virtual Forums
Trainings from the NJ Division on Civil Rights
December 2021 - February 2022
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New Housing Listing
Senior Housing
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Next SHA
Developers Meeting
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Next SHA
Members Meeting
(Annual Meeting)
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New Jersey Long Term
Care Ombudsman
SAVE THE DATE
January 25, 2022 |10am
Virtual Webinar
Show Us the Money: How Nursing Homes Hide Profits While Claiming Losses and How This Impacts Resident Care
Registration Details
to Follow
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NLIHC Virtual Housing
Policy Forum 2022
March 22-23, 2022
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Thank you to all
who attended this year's conference.
All attendees can
access on-demand
for three months
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SHA Welcomes New Members In 2021 |
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Save the Date
SHA Developers Meeting - January 10, 2022 1:00-3:00pm
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Meeting Discussion:
With the availability of HOME-ARP funds, there is the potential for making meaningful investments in enhancing and expanding supportive housing and services across the country and here in New Jersey. Join us with guest speakers from CSH for a discussion on how these available funds may be used in financing, capital, operating, and supportive services within supportive housing.
Guest Speakers:
Cassondra Warney
Senior Program Manager, CSH
Ross Clarke
Senior Community Investment Officer, CSH
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HUD Awards $18M in Veteran Housing Vouchers |
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On Monday, HUD awarded more than $18 million in HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers to 103 Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) across 33 states to support veterans experiencing homelessness. The HUD-VASH program provides housing and a range of supportive services by combining rental assistance from HUD with case management and clinical services provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. These allocations will support 2,050 of the total 106,704 in HUD-VASH vouchers.
The HUD-VASH program provides housing and an array of supportive services to veterans experiencing homelessness by combining rental assistance from HUD with case management and clinical services provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
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Progress Updates from Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge Winners
Including Filling The Capital Stack
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- Filling the Capital Stack: How Health Care Payors Can Help Fill the Affordable Housing Gap
- Innovation Throughout Forterra’s Forest-to-Home Model
- Reimagining Affordable Housing Through the Lens of Trauma-Resiliency
- Rethinking Fintech and Housing Counseling to Close the Racial Wealth Gap
- Homeownership in Rural and Tribal Communities
- Justice Housing: Coming Home to Community
If you have joined us for recent conferences or our member meetings you may be especially interest in learning about How Health Care Payors Can Help Fill the Affordable Housing Gap and Justice Housing: Coming Home to Community. Each of these reflects our past discussions and workshops as well as advances and goals we have seen within New Jersey. Catch up with these updates and see some great opportunities to build more data on the effective deployment of these strategies.
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Technical Assistance Collaborative Launches
Racial Equity Action Lab in California
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Racial disparities are a grand challenge for systems of care nationwide, including homeless crisis response systems. Social dynamics, biases and prejudices, overt discrimination, and a long legacy of systemic and institutional racism exacerbate homelessness for people of color, especially Native Americans, Black people, and Latinx people.
Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC) has launched the California Racial Equity Action Lab, or the REAL Initiative. REAL is a three-year statewide initiative whose goal is to eliminate racial disparities in 30 community homelessness systems, each a grantee of the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention program. In the first phase, TAC is assisting 34 Continuums of Care in developing racial equity goals, with additional, more intensive support provided to six communities in the cohort.
REAL will foster transformative learning grounded in racial equity best practices, create an integrative and transformative space that supports California’s Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program grantees in translating these best practices into action, lift up community-led racial equity strategies, and promote collaboration to reduce racial disparities in homelessness systems while centering those who experience the greatest impact.
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NJ Human Services Extends Application Period for Excluded New Jerseyans Fund and Doubles Cash Benefit |
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Eligible Households Can Now Receive Up to $4,000 in One-Time Cash Assistance
TRENTON – The Department of Human Services announced that up to $10 million in federal funding from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund has been authorized to extend the availability and operation of the Excluded New Jerseyans Fund (ENJF) into the new year. The ENJF would have expired at the end of 2021, the federal deadline to spend Coronavirus Relief Funding. Human Services has also doubled the benefit amount available under the program, providing more financial assistance to eligible households excluded from both the federal stimulus checks and COVID-19 related unemployment assistance.
The new increased benefit amounts provide $2,000 per eligible individual and a maximum of $4,000 per household, up from $1,000 and $2,000, respectively. New applicants and all who previously applied and were approved will receive the new, higher benefit amounts.
The ENJF program will provide a one-time, direct cash benefit to eligible households that suffered a hardship due to COVID-19 and were excluded from federal stimulus checks and pandemic related unemployment assistance. This includes undocumented individuals, residents returning from the justice system and any other individuals otherwise excluded from pandemic-related financial help.
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COVID Safety Guidance from State of NJ
New Free Home Testing Opportunities
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New Jersey is seeing daily case counts hitting levels we haven’t seen since mid-January 2021.
Stay safe as you prepare for the holidays:
- Get vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu, including a COVID-19 booster.
- Get tested if you have symptoms of COVID-19 or are in close contact with someone that has tested positive.
- Mask up in crowded indoor areas or around high-risk people.
- Keep activities outdoors when possible or in places with good airflow.
- If you are sick, stay home and don’t host any gatherings.
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It's especially important to get tested if you have COVID-19 symptoms after being exposed, or have been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. You should also get tested if you were recently at a large gathering where social distancing was hard to maintain and are not fully vaccinated or recently recovered, or if you must travel and are not fully vaccinated.
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COVID-19 vaccines are working well to prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death. However, studies show that vaccination may become less effective over time, especially in preventing infection or milder illness. Booster doses provide necessary protection against waning immunity. Booster shots are available to everyone 16 and older:
- Two months after their one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot or
- Six months after their last Pfizer or Moderna shot
And — everyone 5 and older should complete their initial vaccination!
The recent emergence of the Omicron variant further emphasizes the importance of vaccination, boosters, and prevention efforts needed to protect against COVID-19.
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NJ Rep Mikie Sherrill Co-Sponsors
Homeless Children and Youth Act
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Representative Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) introduced the Homeless Children and Youth Act, alongside Rep. Van Taylor (TX-03). This bipartisan legislation makes a common sense fix to align the definition of homelessness across federal agencies. Doing so will improve access to services and assistance for children, youth, and families, and make it easier for communities and organizations to pursue proven strategies that reduce homelessness.
“Every child deserves a safe and consistent place to call home. Without one, housing insecurity can take a terrible toll on a child’s emotional and educational development,” said Rep. Sherrill. “Currently, federal policy continues to place barriers that impede children and families from accessing assistance and support that could help lift them out of homelessness.
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Observe Homeless Persons
Memorial Day with Reflection, Action
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The following Op-Ed was distributed by NJ.com as Homeless Persons Memorial Day is marked on the first day of winter. Anne Christensen shares this reflection with nearly 40 years of experience working for and with homeless people and families.
I have been working for and with homeless people in Hudson County since the early 1980s.
In 1990, the National Coalition for the Homeless began observing Homeless Persons Memorial Day on Dec. 21, the first day of winter and the longest night of the year. Many cultures observe the dark days of winter and focus on the importance of light and love. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of a child to a homeless couple in Bethlehem, a child who would grow up to preach that the least of us should be treated as we would wish to be treated.
When one person in our community is homeless, we are all diminished. The Hudson County Point in Time Count of January 2021 documented 882 persons being homeless in one night.
We can do better for the children and adults who suffer from lack of housing.
Each time we:
- take out house keys to open a front door;
- step into a warm shower,
- grab a snack from the fridge,
- push up the thermostat,
- slip under the blankets at the end of the day,
- check what is on Netflix,
- pull a book off the shelf,
- pick out a clean T-shirt,
- charge a cell phone,
- go through the day’s mail,
let us remember those without housing who every day do not enjoy these gifts we take for granted.
Make 2022 the year we work harder to ensure that safe, affordable housing becomes a human right. Perhaps those who have the power to fund and legislate this priority would work more quickly if moved to the streets until all are housed.
Anne Christensen is a former board member of the National Coalition for the Homeless. (NJ.com, December 17, 2021)
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Two State Offers for Sale and Lease
of Land and Buildings in Trenton
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PD&R Edge:
Enhanced Federal Funding
Is Helping Cities Address Homelessness
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Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) are allowing cities and states to invest in long-term recovery from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Because people experiencing homelessness are especially vulnerable to COVID-19, many jurisdictions are using ARPA funds to enhance programs and systems that make bouts of homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring. Already, federal funds have helped connect more than 200,000 households to housing through initiatives using a Housing First strategy. In November 2021, the National League of Cities (NLC) hosted its City Summit, during which one panel discussed such efforts from federal and local perspectives. Panelists included Casey Thomas, a member of the Dallas City Council; Mark Salinas, a member of the Hayward City Council in California; and Helene Schneider, a regional coordinator at the U.S. Interagency Council of Homelessness (USICH). The discussion was moderated by Lauren Lowery, NLC’s director of housing and community development.
Building From a Solid Foundation
ARPA includes funds for cities to build affordable housing, combat food insecurity, increase access to health care, and mitigate the consequences of unemployment — all of which, agreed panelists, are issues bound up with homelessness. Panelists also identified ARPA’s flexible funding as key to supporting the unique needs and approaches of each jurisdiction. Panelists described how jurisdictions are using ARPA funding to augment ongoing activities and best practices.
Salinas discussed how Hayward’s housing navigation center, which connects people experiencing homelessness with housing and services, was able to expand capacity quickly thanks to ARPA funding. The center increased both the number of available beds and the length of time people can stay in shelter while also expanding the city’s housing portfolio through a motel conversion. Thomas reported that in Dallas, significant pre-pandemic efforts to develop a “four-track” approach to ending homelessness served as a robust starting point for investing ARPA funds. That approach includes increasing shelter capacity, providing heating and cooling stations during periods of extreme weather, creating incentives for landlords to rent to people who have experienced homelessness, and funding permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing programs. These efforts are coordinated through the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance.
(The Edge, December 21, 2021)
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IRS and New Jersey Nonprofits Highlight
Special Charitable Tax Benefit Available Through Dec. 31st
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Under the temporary law, taxpayers don’t need to itemize deductions on their tax returns to take advantage of this, which creates tax-favorable donation options not normally available to about 90 percent of tax filers. Ordinarily, people who choose to take the standard deduction cannot claim a deduction for their charitable contributions. But this special provision permits them to claim a limited deduction on their 2021 federal income tax returns for cash contributions made to qualifying charitable organizations by year’s end, Dec. 31, 2021.
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Thank you for an Excellent 23rd Annual Conference! |
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Get On-Demand Access Today |
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Resources & Virtual Forums |
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Trainings from the NJ Division on Civil Rights |
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The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination:
Cultivating a Discrimination-Free Workplace
For NJ Employers and Employees
All employees are entitled to a workplace that is inclusive and free from discrimination. This training will provide an overview of how the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) protects employees from harassment and discrimination. Through case studies and other interactive exercises, participants will examine the rights afforded to all employees and the responsibilities of employers to protect those rights. Topics include what constitutes a hostile work environment, workplace accommodation requirements, employer liability, and reporting processes. Participants will also explore the ways in which implicit biases can lead to discrimination, and how to foster respectful environments in which discrimination and harassment are not tolerated.
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Dump the Assumptions: Responding to Implicit Bias
For NJ Employers and Employees
This interactive, virtual training will introduce participants to the concept of implicit bias. Participants will consider how implicit bias manifests in our interactions with others and explore strategies for addressing implicit bias in ourselves and in the workplace. Participants will also learn about how the NJ Law Against Discrimination protects individuals from discrimination and bias-based harassment in the workplace.
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There are many great ways of supporting SHA: Join as a member, send donations, or shop with AmazonSmile. Thank you for your support!
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Want all the member benefits with SHA? Visit our website or contact Joseph Christensen to apply or manage your membership.
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Members can post jobs to find applicants within the wider supportive housing community. Click on the button to visit our job page.
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Diane Riley, Executive Director
Joseph Christensen, Membership & Communication Manager
Kate Kelly, MSW – Integrated Community Project Manager
Diane Klein, Conference Registrar
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Advocate ● Educate ● Support
The Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey unites its diverse coalition of members engaging development, resources, and information to sustain supportive housing systems within New Jersey. Since 1998, our statewide mission seeks to enhance lives and accessibility to enable independent living within our communities.
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Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey
185 Valley Street, South Orange, NJ 07079
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