County OKs distribution of Consolidated Homeless Grant Inflationary Funds to support staff

The Thurston Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved housing contracts and contract amendments with 11 nonprofit organizations to distribute Consolidated Homeless Grant Inflationary Funds amounting to $749,702 for 2023.

Homeless Response Program Manager Keylee Marineau from Thurston’s Public Health and Social Services emphasized the importance of these contracts in supporting staff working directly with individuals experiencing homelessness during the BOCC meeting on October 31.

“[These contracts] support the workforce, through stipends or bonuses, to just make it sustainable to do really, really difficult work,” said Marineau.

The decision follows a challenging funding scenario faced by homeless response services due to reduced Document Recording Fee (DRF) revenues and the expiration of COVID-19 specific funds in May 2023.

To address these gaps, the Housing Assistance Unit (HAU) introduced four funding categories, one of which was the Consolidated Homeless Grant (CHG) Inflationary Funds. This funding is crucial to sustain Homeless Crisis Response Systems, ensuring the uninterrupted delivery of services to those in need.

The Regional Housing Council endorsed a plan on September 27 to survey Homeless Crisis Response agencies. The aim was to determine the number of eligible frontline homeless services full-time equivalents (FTEs) to distribute funds fairly on a per FTE basis.

On October 2, the Office of Housing of Homeless Prevention surveyed agencies within the Homeless Crisis Response System seeking data on the number of eligible frontline FTEs.  The survey concluded on October 11, with participation from 11 agencies. These agencies reported a total of 197 eligible FTEs.

Marineau said the contracts and amendments for programs receiving CHG Inflationary Funds will be retroactively effective from July 1, 2023, and will conclude on June 30, 2024. These initial contracts have a one-year term, with an expectation that they may be renewed for a second year, subject to funding availability and satisfactory performance.