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Helping to house VT_Staging

The Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness seeks to ensure that people living in Vermont have a safe, stable, affordable home, and — if homelessness does occur — it is brief, rare, and non-recurring and those experiencing homelessness are treated with dignity and respect.

The Vermont Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program, administered by the State Office of Economic Opportunity, provides a blend of state and federal (HUD) funding in all regions of the state for homeless shelters as well as non-profit programs engaged in work to prevent homelessness.  The purpose of the federal Emergency Solutions Grant program is to help individuals and families quickly regain stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis or homelessness.  Our vision is that Vermonters, especially vulnerable populations, live in safe and affordable housing.

The State of Vermont, as part of its annual HUD consolidated plan, submits an annual action plan for the Emergency Solutions Grant program describing the program standards, process for making subawards, and performance standards.  The Office of Economic Opportunity seeks consultation from community providers in determining priorities and development performance measures.  Please take a few minutes to complete the online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/38WSLVY.   The Information from the survey will be used to inform the annual action plan.

The Office of Economic Opportunity seeks input from all stakeholders within both Vermont Continua of Care regarding:

•  Allocation of Funding – priorities for funding (within activities eligible under ESG) and populations to be served, including justification for these priorities.

•  Performance Standards

The Office of Economic Opportunity recognizes there may be differences between state goals and local needs, and that communities meet different priorities with different resources.  There are also different perspectives in the approach to ending homelessness.  The Emergency Solutions Grant program occurs within the national context (http://www.usich.gov/opening_doors/ ) and state context (http://humanservices.vermont.gov/boards-committees/vermont-council-on-homelessness/vermont-council-on-homelessness-plan-to-end-homelessness/view ) to support work at the local level.

For information about the 2013 ESG Program:  http://dcf.vermont.gov/sites/dcf/files/pdf/oeo/ESG_Final_Report.pdf

In addition, the State of Vermont’s Department of Housing and Community Development will conduct a public hearing in preparation for developing its 2014 Action Plan for the HUD Consolidated Plan for 2010-2015.  This hearing is Friday, February 7, 2014.  More information about the hearing is here.

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