Recovery Funds to Reduce Homelessness

NASHVILLE – Governor Phil Bredesen and Ted R. Fellman, executive director of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, announced an allocation of $13,467,433 for the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) under Title XII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.

 

The program is designed to provide financial assistance and services to either prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless or to help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized. The invitation for public comment and program description are posted at www.thda.org. 

 

Under the draft program description, THDA proposes to distribute HPRP funds through a formula allocation modeled on the agency’s Emergency Shelter Grant program (ESG) formula of poverty and unemployment. THDA proposes to utilize a full complement of competitive, formula, and discretionary funding mechanisms to maximize utilization of available funds and to reach the broadest number of eligible program recipients. This plan will ensure that identified target populations are served; the program is available on all 95 Tennessee counties; and that best practice programs are identified and supported when possible.

 

THDA plans to utilize a streamlined application process with entitlement cities, small cities, and Continuum of Care organizations. Any additional discretionary projects selected for funding will be required to meet all the necessary requirements of the ESG and HPRP programs. THDA further proposes to seek the recommendations of the four Community Foundations in the four entitlement cities to obtain information on local organizations currently serving homeless populations and those at-risk priority groups identified by the state (ex-offenders, victims of family violence, youth aging out of the foster care system, families with young children). Preliminary contact has already been made with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee which serves forty middle Tennessee counties to identify eligible programs in underserved middle Tennessee counties. Following execution by the Department of Housing and Urban Development of the Grant Agreement, THDA will be issued a one-year renewable contract to be effective August 1, 2009. All grant agreements will be signed by September 30, 2009.

 

All recovery funds, including HPRP, are subject to oversight through the Governor’s office of Tennessee Recovery Act Management (TRAM) a team composed of representatives from the Governor’s office and the numerous state departments and agencies that receive ARRA funds. The TRAM will ensure that use of funds is open, transparent and accountable. It will provide regular, frequent communication among officials representing departments and agencies that serve low -income persons.

 

See www.thda.org to review the program description and to comment on line. Public comment will be taken until 4 p.m. CT May 12. For more information, please contact. Steve Meinbresse, Program Administrator: 615-815-2129 or smeinbresse@thda.org.

 

THDA is a political subdivision of the State of Tennessee. THDA is the state’s housing finance agency, responsible for selling tax exempt mortgage revenue bonds to offer affordable mortgage funds to homebuyers of low and moderate incomes through local lenders, and to administer various housing programs targeted to very low-, low- and moderate-income households. 

 

THDA was established in 1973, making its first mortgage in 1974. It has provided affordable fixed rate mortgages to over 100,000 households without using state tax dollars. THDA issues between $250 and $300 million in mortgage revenue bonds annually for its first-time homebuyer program. 

In the year 2006, THDA created the Tennessee Housing Trust Fund using state, THDA and locally-generated match to support programs for the very-low income, elderly and special needs populations.

 

More information about THDA is available on-line at www.thda.org.