The Emergency Solutions Grant program (ESG) provides funds to:
- Engage homeless individuals and families living on the street;
- Improve the number and quality of emergency shelters for homeless individuals and families;
- Help operate these shelters;
- Provide essential services to shelter residents;
- Rapidly re-house homeless individuals and families; and
- Prevent families/individuals from becoming homeless.
Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Act enacted March 27, 2020, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (Department) announced the availability of approximately $42 million in federal funds for the Emergency Solutions Grants Program (ESG).
To that end, grant funding may be used for the following types of activities:
- Street Outreach - This includes essential services necessary to reach out to unsheltered homeless individuals and families, connect them with emergency shelter, housing, or critical services, and provide them with urgent, non-facility-based care. Component services generally consist of engagement, case management, emergency health and mental health services, and transportation.
- Emergency Shelter - This includes the following components:
- Renovation of a building to serve as an emergency shelter. Site must serve homeless persons for at least 3 or 10 years, depending on the cost and type of renovation (major rehabilitation, conversion, or other renovation). Note: Property acquisition and new construction are ineligible.
- Essential Services for individuals and families in emergency shelter. Component services generally consist of case management, child care, education services, employment assistance and job training, outpatient health services, legal services, life skills training, mental health services, substance abuse treatment services, and transportation.
- Shelter Operations, including maintenance, rent, security, fuel, equipment, insurance, utilities, and furnishings.
- Relocation assistance for persons displaced by a project assisted with ESG funds.
- Homelessness Prevention - This includes housing relocation and stabilization services and/or short and/or medium-term rental assistance necessary to prevent the individual or family from moving into an emergency shelter or another place. Component services and assistance generally consist of short-term and medium-term rental assistance, rental arrears, rental application fees, security deposits, advance payment of last month's rent, utility deposits and payments, moving costs, housing search and placement, housing stability case management, mediation, legal services, and credit repair.
- Rapid Re-Housing - This includes housing relocation and stabilization services and short and/or medium-term rental assistance as necessary to help individuals or families living in an emergency shelter or other place move as quickly as possible into permanent housing and achieve stability in that housing. Component services and assistance generally consist of short-term and medium-term rental assistance, rental arrears, rental application fees, security deposits, advance payment of last month's rent, utility deposits and payments, moving costs, housing search and placement, housing stability case management, mediation, legal services, and credit repair.
- Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) - Some grant funding may be used for HMIS and comparable database costs.
- Administration - Some grant funding may be used for administrative activities, such as general management, oversight, coordination, and reporting on the program.
In 2019, California accepted applications in two program categories:
- Continuum of Care (COC) Allocation - Applicant service areas have at least one jurisdiction that does not receive ESG funds directly from HUD. Local governmental entities are eligible subrecipients, who in turn select homeless service providers to receive the funds.
- Balance of State (BOS) Allocation - Applicant service areas have no cities or counties that receive ESG funds directly from HUD. private nonprofit organizations or units of local government are eligible subrecipients.
Additional information on both program areas may be viewed at: https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/esg.shtml#funding.
A maximum of 20% of an individual formula allocation may be used for costs necessary to develop or operate a centralized or coordinated assessment system. Eligible costs do not include capital development activities, including but not limited to, real property acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation activities.