Texas Homeless Network is the lead agency for the Texas Balance of State Continuum of Care (TX BoS CoC). The TX BoS CoC is a group of stakeholders that collaboratively plan and operate the CoC and a range of housing and services to prevent and end homelessness. The TX BoS CoC covers 215 counties and includes 28 Local Homeless Coalitions (LHCs) that plan, deliver, and evaluate local systems.

The 2021 PIT count is officially occurring on Thursday, January 28th, 2021! Visit the PIT and HIC page on the THN website for more information.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released 2021 Fair Market Rents (FMRs), which will be effective starting Thursday, October 1, 2020. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) annual fund sub-recipients must ensure they use the most updated FMRs released by HUD. The FMR waiver for ESG annual funds on new leases granted by HUD expires September 30, 2020. 

FMRs are available at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html. For those ESG annual fund sub-recipients in places with Small Area FMRs, please use the FMR information for other programs; Small Area FMRs cannot be used for ESG. 

Questions about this notice should be directed to esg@tdhca.state.tx.us.

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Topic: Ending Veteran Homelessness: Identification, Outreach, and Engagement

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*Closed Meeting

See more events on THN's Training and Events calendar.

We are currently in the process of adding a new section to our website to help collect all funding opportunities made available to Texas including city, state, and federal programs.

In the meantime check out this PDF of all current available funding options here

The Texas Homeless Network is thrilled to announce that staff are working to establish a Barriers Fund that will provide financial resources to the Texas Balance of State Continuum of Care. Funded by the Community Services Block Grant CARES Act State Discretionary Funds (CSBG-CV-D), the Barriers Fund will provide direct services to low-income households that are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. 

Additional education and training around the Barriers Fund will be provided in the upcoming months, so be sure to join our outreach list if you are interested in receiving future program announcements. 

Anja Taylor, Barriers Fund Coordinator, is here to support communities who have questions about the Barriers Fund. If you have questions, please email: anja@thn.org. 

The Texas Veterans Commission has posted the 2021-2022 Fund for Veterans’ Assistance Request for Applications in General Assistance, Housing 4 Texas Heroes, Veterans Mental Health, Veterans Treatment Court, and Veterans County Service Officer funding.

Application webinars, guides, and resources are available on the "Apply Home" website below. Questions on this funding opportunity must be emailed to RFAquestions@tvc.texas.gov by October 28, 2020. Answers will be posted in the FAQ tab of the TVC Grants Portal twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Fridays, during the open application window.

The deadline to submit all applications is November 5, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. (CDST). Award decisions will be made by the Commission in May 2021.

Texas Balance of State (TX BoS) is looking for individuals interested in data! TX BoS wants to work hand in hand with community members to establish expectations around data collection, use, and upkeep. In order to do this, TX BoS has established a Data Committee to focus specifically on Texas Balance of State HMIS (Homeless Management Information System) data.

The purpose of the TX BoS Data Committee is to provide data-driven insight and education to multiple groups/stakeholders about homelessness in the Texas Balance of State. The TX BoS Data Committee would also be a way of providing feedback from HMIS end users on specific data matters such as HMIS Policies and Procedures, the HMIS Data Quality and Management Plan, data security, Point In Time Count information, and the TX BoS HMIS implementation.

The Data Committee had previously been put on hold due to COVID-19. We understand that this turbulent time means many people are stretched thin, and they may not have the capacity to participate like they might in normal times. We want to be transparent that committee members should be able to commit to 1-3 hours a month to the committee. This time would include webinars, calls, and reviews of data and policy documents.

If you are interested in participating in the Data Committee, please fill out this interest form.

If you have any questions about the committee, feel free to reach out to data@thn.org.

City officials address concerns about San Angelo homeless under Chadbourne Street bridge (San Angelo)

Local volunteers provide meals for homeless (Corpus Christi)

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage: Tyler barber gives back to community with haircuts (Tyler)

What's being done about San Angelo's homeless population, and how you can help (San Angelo)

Authorities clear out homeless residents from beneath local interstate bridge (Killeen)

These articles were gathered from Google Alerts and emails sent directly to us. If you have articles about your community's efforts to prevent and end homelessness that you want highlighted in our next newsletter, please email the articles to txboscoc@thn.org.

This month's recommendation come from Kraig, our CoC Programs Assistant:

"U.S. Department of Labor National Dislocated Worker Grants (DWGs) are discretionary grants awarded to provide employment-related services for dislocated workers. The Department funds two types of DWGs: Disaster Recovery and Employment Recovery. DWGs are time-limited funding assistance in response to major economic dislocations or other events that cause significant impact on states and local areas that exceed the capacity of existing formula funds and other relevant resources to address. Projects funded with DWG resources must be aligned with existing state and local strategic priorities, resources, and programs and not operated as stand-alone projects. Applicants should design and carry out DWG projects to operate in alignment with other state and local programs, including Rapid Response, layoff aversion, and the formula Dislocated Worker program and focused on addressing employment and training needs in states and local areas."

Read the full description here

THN invites members to participate in the CoC's activities. Learn more on the email list, the website, and social media. CoC General Meeting minutes and recordings are posted on THN's website, in the TX BoS CoC "Get Involved" page at https://www.thn.org/texas-balance-state-continuum-care/get-involved/. Presentations by and conversations between CoC members and staff on relevant topics keep members informed and up-to-date.

Stay informed about CoC happenings by participating in the bi-monthly webinars. Each meeting will feature a topic that is important to preventing and ending homelessness. See the Get Involved page for dates, topics, and registration links.

If you are a representative of an agency that is interested in applying for United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) Program funding, please contact txboscoc@thn.org.