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15 <br /> 1 Commissioner Greene said HUD plans to institute a 30% cap on the amount that can be <br /> 2 requested for permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing. She read from a statement by <br /> 3 the National Alliance on Homelessness that this will force continuance of care to reallocate <br /> 4 funding from existing permanent housing projects in order to create new projects with preference <br /> 5 for new transitional housing and new supportive systems only. She said she did not understand <br /> 6 the following awards process changes to Tier 1 and 2 as read from the National Alliance <br /> 7 Homelessness website: <br /> 8 "Significant adjustments to funding tiers. Tier one will likely be significantly reduced so that a large <br /> 9 majority of funding will be subject to continuum of care score. For reference in 2024, tier one was <br /> 10 equal to 90% of a continuum of cares funding while tier two was equal to only 10% reflective of <br /> 11 the longstanding priority given by HUD and Congress to renewal funding. <br /> 12 She asked for clarification. <br /> 13 Danielle Decaprio said all projects are ranked and reviewed. She said Tier 1 funding is <br /> 14 thought of as harmless funding and has typically been 90-95%. She said Tier 2 goes into a <br /> 15 national competition, where the odds of getting that funding is a lot lower. She said Tier 2 used <br /> 16 to be 5-10%. She said now Tier 1 will be 30% and Tier 2 will be 70%. She said the county's Tier <br /> 17 1 funding would be $360,000 and their cost for permanent housing projects is $900,000. <br /> 18 Commissioner Greene said there was a section on penalties for organizations or programs <br /> 19 not aligned with administration priorities, and one is harm reduction practices. She asked how <br /> 20 that will impact the county. <br /> 21 Blake Rosser, Housing Director, said Tier 2 scoring is done under the term "merit review," <br /> 22 which is 140 points. He said the penalties are contained in the rubric. He said there are 16 points <br /> 23 for demonstrating a certain amount of transitional housing or sober living facilities that already <br /> 24 exist and to demonstrate partnerships with those facilities, which the county doesn't have. He <br /> 25 said that the county would then miss out on those points. He said staff have gone through the <br /> 26 rubric carefully, calculating that the county is standing to not be eligible for 40-60 points. He said <br /> 27 to bear in mind that they are competing with other continuum of care programs nationally, many <br /> 28 of whom might not be eligible for points. He said it's difficult to know where they stand in <br /> 29 comparison to other continuum of care programs. <br /> 30 Commissioner Greene asked if the county will be penalized for having harm reduction <br /> 31 strategies. <br /> 32 Blake Rosser said the penalty will just be that the county does not get the points in the <br /> 33 merit review. <br /> 34 Commissioner Portie-Ascott thanked Danielle Decaprio for her presentation. She asked <br /> 35 how many people are chronically homeless. <br /> 36 Danielle Decaprio said the term chronically homeless is for someone who is homeless a <br /> 37 certain length of time and has a disability. She said that potentially could be 60-80 individuals on <br /> 38 any given night. <br /> 39 Commissioner Carter thanked Danielle Decaprio for her presentation. She asked if the <br /> 40 65% reduction in funding is because of the Tier 1 reduction. <br /> 41 Danielle Decaprio said it is a separate source of funding, the emergency solutions grant. <br /> 42 She said in previous years there was a condition that no continuum of care would receive less <br /> 43 than $100,000. She said that the state ESG office saw no reason to continue that stipulation and <br /> 44 reduced the amount to what is considered Orange County's "fair share," which is $45,000. <br /> 45 Commissioner Carter asked why the total population served decreased from 2024 to 2025. <br /> 46 Danielle Decaprio said it could be related to a couple of things, but she said the rapid <br /> 47 rehousing team did a great job. She said they turned over 100% of their caseload and housed <br /> 48 about 40 new households. <br /> 49 Chair Hamilton thanked Danielle Decaprio for the presentation. She said it is helpful for <br /> 50 the Board to understand the funding that the program might not get. She said she would like to <br />