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<br />Orange County Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program <br />Grant Update <br />August 17, 2010 <br />Background <br />The Homelessness Prevention .and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP} is a HUD <br />program created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The <br />purpose of HPRP is to provide homelessness prevention assistance to households that <br />would otherwise become homeless -many due to the economic crisis -and to provide <br />assistance to rapidly re-house persons who are .currently homeless. HPRP provides <br />temporary financial assistance and housing relocation and stabilization services to <br />individuals and families who are homeless or would be homeless but for this assistance. <br />Orange County's HPRP Pro ram <br />In October 2009, the Department of Social Services (DS5) was awarded $1 million to <br />implement the grant over athree-year period. Since its inception, DSS has implemented <br />the prevention component of the grant, providing emergency financial assistance for <br />utility deposits and payments, security deposits, rent payments, moving costs, and case <br />management to clients that qualify for the program. One full-time social worker has been <br />dedicated to this function. Presently, there have been 127 referrals; intake has been <br />conducted on 57 individuals; and there are 19 active cases. <br />To date, the re-housing efforts have been implemented through a contractual agreement ~ . - , <br />with Housing for New Hope. However, this vendor has indicated a desire to terminate <br />the contract. As a result, DSS has proposed a reorganization of the HPRP program to <br />incorporate all activities of the grant internally. Effective immediately, both the <br />prevention and re-housing components will be administered by DSS. Housing for New <br />Hope will continue case management of the 12 individuals currently enrolled by their <br />agency, but they will not enroll any additional clients. <br />To ensure service, the HPRP reorganization includes the hiring of (3) full-time, <br />temporary/time-limited case workers to assist with the prevention and re-housing efforts. <br />Due to the high demand for services, these individuals are needed to expedite resources <br />as quickly and efficiently as possible. <br />