The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has published a page titled “Planning and Preparing for COVID-19 (Coronavirus).” The page provides both recommendations and further resources on preparing for potential COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreaks and their impact on people experiencing homelessness. The page will be updated regularly.
The page can be found here.
Tomorrow–March 13, 2020 from 2 pm to 3 pm ET–HUD, CDC, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council (HCH) will host an “Office Hours” session to discuss COVID-19 planning and response. Before joining the question and answer session, please review the webinar recording titled “Infectious Disease Preparedness for Homeless Assistance Providers and Their Partners (or watch below).”
Participants do not need to register in advance, but it is strongly recommended that they join the session 15 minutes in advance of the start time (1:45 pm ET).
To join the session (at the appropriate time) click here.
As previously mentioned on this blog, IMS-PIC will be down starting tomorrow (Friday, 3/13/2020) until the Monday after next (Monday, 3/23/2020). During this period, housing agencies are asked not to use the system so that a security-related patch may be applied. The Department is encouraging PHAs with programs with fiscal years that end prior to Dec. 31 to complete submission of their SEMAP certification prior to the system entering the shutdown phase. When the system resumes operation, the Department will publish step-by-step instructions for PHAs and Field Offices to address potential problems.
Questions may be directed to REAC_TAC@hud.gov.
Further updates may be found here.
The full letter explaining this process from HUD can be found here.
[3/11/2020 – 12:59 ET Correction: This post originally incorrectly identified this webinar as the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness’s webinar. It is actually the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s webinar.]
A recording of HUD’s webinar on Infectious Disease Preparedness for Homeless Assistance Providers and Their Partners has been posted. It can be found below.
The HUD Exchange sent an email of links to new material from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for Homeless Assistance Providers. The new materials include the following:
The email also provides a link to the CDC: Interim Environmental Cleaning and Disinfection Recommendations for US Community Facilities with Suspected/Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Finally, HUD notes that it has portal where individuals can ask questions about preventing or responding to the threat of infectious diseases, which can be found here.
[3/11/2020 3:39 pm ET edit – the recorded webinar can be found here.]
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness is presenting a webinar titled “Infectious Disease Preparedness for Homeless Assistance Providers and Their Partners” on March 10, 2020 at 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm ET. Presenters for the webinar include the following:
The webinar can be joined here.
The Department has released a new Infectious Disease Toolkit for Continuums of Care (CoCs). The toolkits provide “structure and specific examples for planning and responding to influenza, coronavirus, and other infectious diseases.” The toolkit is composed of three documents for CoC leadership, homeless service providers, and other partners to use in responding to infectious diseases. The documents include the following:
Additionally, one of our members wanted to share these coronavirus anti-stigma resources. They mostly apply to the local King County / Seattle area, but others may also find them useful.
Earlier today, HUD sent an email with links to fact sheets from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about COVID-19 (popularly known as the coronavirus). The Department encourages PHAs to make the fact sheets available to their program participants. The fact sheets are listed below:
As previously mentioned on this blog, the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) is seeking applications for technical assistance from PHAs that would like to plan and implement reentry programs or change their policies toward people with conviction histories. Applications are due in one week on Friday, February 28, 2020.
The goals of the initiative include the following: increase housing for people with conviction histories while increasing public safety; improve the safety of public housing through the use of reentry strategies; and promote collaboration between PHAs, law enforcement, and other criminal justice stakeholders.
Housing authorities of all sizes (including those with housing choice vouchers) are encouraged to apply. Applicants must submit a letter of intent, an application narrative, and letters of support. Award announcements will be made in April.
Additional information may be found here.
Earlier this week, HUD was supposed to livestream a Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Landlord Participation webinar, but was unable to stream it because of technical difficulties. Despite the difficulties, the Department was able to record the webinar and has now made it publicly available. It can be found here.
Slides for the webinar can be found here.
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