The Funding Problem: Braiding Funding
One of the biggest problems that nearly all shelter providers have to face is how to sustain on-going operations with enough funding. The nearly universal problem is why we have historically seen shelter work land in the area of volunteerism and the faith-based community. Often times there are very little funding opportunities outside of rental assistance programs and affordable housing providers.
In recent years homelessness has grown to become an epidemic in areas all over the country. The West Coast in particular has been heavily impacted.
For the first time in history, homelessness does not improve with the economy. Many comunities have a 1% or lower availability of rentals on the market. The seeds of this crisis began in the 1970’s and 1980’s as HUD was overhauled and State Hospitals and other institutions were shut down; releasing many people into homelessness.
The practices in many of the institutions were deplorable and needed to be overhauled. However, there was never an investment into the communities to build up the safety nets to support those that were being sent home from institutions. As a result, the 70’s and 80’s are seen as the beginning of modern homelessness. Over the past 2 decades we have seen this problem grow at hyper speed. What used to be an urban problem is now a rural problem as well.
The investment into homelessness services is only just now starting to become realistic. However, it can still be a daunting task to pull together enough funding sources to pay the light bill and make payroll.
Some of the most common funding streams are:
Community Development Block Grants (if your city meets the criteria)
State Housing Agency Funds
Community Action Agency Contracts
Foundation Grants
Donors and Volunteers
Cottage Industries (Thrift Stores, etc.)
The traditional sources above are great, but are often limited and leave numerous gaps in funding that are then left to donors, grantors, and volunteers to cover.
However, we have found some other unique ways to braid funding together to help sustain programs. I am going to take the list from above and expand on it a little bit.
Community Development Block Grants (if your city meets the criteria)
State Housing Agency Funds
Community Action Agency Contracts
Foundation Grants
Donors and Volunteers
Matching Grant Competitions
Cottage Industries (Thrift Stores, employment programs, etc.)
Medicaid Billing contracts for case management and peer support
Shelter bed contracts with hospitals and healthcare providers
City and County Contract Funds for shelter operations
Shelter bed contracts with cities that do not have their own shelter beds/programs
Federal grants from HUD, SAMSHA, Congressional Line Item Spending, Etc.
This list can and will be increased. We are on the cusp of a massive shift in the ways that shelter services are funded and sustained. As investments in affordable housing and shelter improve we will see new innovative ways to support essential services.
Communities all over are learning that shelter, housing, and services save the community money. When communities invest in supported shelter and housing, they can see up to 80% decreases in emergency medical services. Even more savings can be found with law enforcement. With these realizations, there is an increase in advocacy to fully fund homeless shelter and services by braiding funding from all of these sources together.
Hopefully, with this new-found synergy, we will one day be able to work ourselves out of the need for this work. Until then we will still need to find ways to keep the doors open and roofs over everyone’s heads.
Are you facing problems with leveraging sustainable revenue?
Are you contemplating ways that you can pay for supportive services? Do you feel unsure on where to start the conversations for funding?
