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About the Emergency Shelter Grants Program

Purpose

The North Carolina Emergency Shelter Grants Program (ESG) helps to improve the quality and to meet the costs of operating emergency shelters and transitional housing programs. The grants also may provide certain essential social services to homeless individuals and families with children so that they may improve their situations. The ESG program is also intended to stem the increase of homelessness through the provision of preventive programs and activities. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and administered by the Office of Economic Opportunity of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. North Carolina’s ESG program year coincides with the State’s fiscal year (July 1 – June 30).

Target Population

Federal program regulations require that ESG funding is used to serve “homeless” individuals and families. According to ESG program regulations “homeless” means:

• an individual or family which lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence; or
• an individual or family which has a primary nighttime residence that is:
• a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for people with mental illness);
• an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or
• a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.
• The term does not include any individual imprisoned or otherwise detained pursuant to an Act of Congress or a State law.

All applicants for North Carolina ESG Program funding are asked to certify that the people assisted with ESG funding received will meet the definition of “homeless” noted above and that documentation of a client’s homelessness upon entry into the homeless facility or on receipt of facility services will be maintained.

Allowable Program Activities

ESG grantees use program funds for one or more of the following activities relating to emergency or transitional shelter for the homeless:

Operations

Payment of administrative costs (salaries and fringe benefits), maintenance, rent, minor repair, security, equipment, insurance, utilities, food, furnishings, and other costs necessary to operate the facility.

Essential Services

Supportive services to homeless families and individuals including, but not limited to:

• Housing Referral
• Medical and psychological counseling and supervision
• Nutritional counseling
• Job training; Employment counseling
• Substance abuse treatment and counseling
• Assistance in obtaining federal, state, and local assistance
• Child Care Assistance
• Transportation Assistance
• Information and Referral for obtaining other federal, state and local assistance

ESG grantees must spend ESG funds designated for operations and/or essential services between July 1 and June 30 of the fiscal year for which funding is requested.

Homelessness Prevention

Preventive programs and activities may be developed that include short-term subsidies, security deposits, first and last month rent payments, payments to prevent foreclosure on a home, utility deposits and/or delinquent utility payments. Grantees are required to maintain written documentation of the homelessness or impending homelessness of the people who receive homeless prevention funds. Satisfactory types of documentation include eviction notices, letters from landlords indicating their intent to begin eviction proceedings, utility shut-off notices and/or letters from emergency shelter or transitional housing directors indicating that the applicant had been housed in their facility.

There is no pre-determined amount allocated for any of the eligible activities listed above. However, statutory requirements limit the amount of funds that may be used for essential services and for homeless prevention activities to 30 percent of the recipient's total grant amount. Administrative costs (salaries and fringe benefits) charged to Operations are limited to 10 percent of the total ESG grant allocation.

The NC ESG Program does not allow grantees to use their funding for new construction, renovation, major rehabilitation, or conversion of buildings for use as emergency shelters or transitional housing for the homeless. The state program also does not fund applicant agencies licensed as substance abuse rehabilitation centers.

Program Authorization and Administration

The ESG program is authorized under subtitle B of Title IV of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (Public Law 100-77, approved July 22, 1987). The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance program number for the ESG program is CFDA No. 14.231.

The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) makes grants to States and units of general local government for eligible program activities. The North Carolina State ESG program is administered by the Office of Economic Opportunity, NC Department of Health and Human Services.

Program Application Process

Pre-applications for funding are distributed to all current ESG grantee organizations and/or units of local government, county managers and other interested agencies, organizations and people across the state in early December of each year. These pre-applications are reviewed by program staff to determine the eligibility of the applicants.

Current Eligibility Criteria for Applicants (as of July 1, 2008)

Eligible applicants for ESG funding include a private nonprofit organization as described in section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1988 OR a unit of local government which:

• Has operated the emergency and/or transitional shelter for the homeless for which funding is requested for at least one year prior to the date of the preapplication;
• Operates the emergency and/or transitional shelter for the homeless for which funding is requested for a minimum of six full months out of the year;
• Operates a safe and sanitary facility which has an average daily occupancy rate of at least six (6) homeless people per night and provides one or more essential services, as defined by HUD, if overnight accommodations are provided; OR, provides one or more essential services as defined by HUD to an average of 30 homeless people per day, if only day activities are provided;
• Has an established accounting system that provides for maintenance of ESG funds in accordance with OMB Circulars A-110 and A-122;
• Has a voluntary board consisting of a minimum of five members;
• Has the ability to expend ESG funds budgeted for Operations and/or Essential Services within 365 days and ESG funds budgeted for Homeless Prevention within 180 days;
• Has eligible resources to match the ESG funding allocated to them;
• Involves, to the maximum extent practicable, homeless people in maintaining and operating facilities assisted under the ESG Program and in providing services for occupants for these facilities;
• Provides for the participation of at least one homeless or formerly homeless individual on its board of directors; and,
• In the case of a private, nonprofit organization, has the written endorsement of an authorized official (mayor, county/city manager, officer of the county board of commissioners) of the unit of local government in the community in which the facility for which funding is requested is located.

Those applicants determined eligible are notified of their approved funding level and receive full application packages in late March or early April. A training session on the ESG program and the completion of the application package is held for new ESG grantees and new staff of current grantees also in April. The submission deadline for completed applications to the Office of Economic Opportunity is in early May. Program staff review applications during the month of May and grant agreements with approved applicants are prepared, distributed for signature and finalized in June. The program funding year begins July 1.

Program Funding

Individual grant amounts are determined by several factors including:

• The total number of eligible program applicants
• The total amount of ESG funding allocated to the State
• The type of facility for which funding is requested, i.e., Night Only, 24-Hour, Day Only, or Transitional
• In the case of Day Only homeless facilities, the average number of homeless people provided shelter and essential services on a daily basis.
• In the case of all homeless facilities other than Day Only facilities, the average number of people sheltered each night at the facility.

Limitations on the Use of ESG Funding

Program funding may be provided to a primarily religious organization that meets the eligibility criteria noted under the previous section and which also agrees to provide all eligible activities in a manner that is free from religious influences and in accordance with the following principles:

• It will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of religion and will not limit employment or give preference in employment to people on the basis of religion;
• It will not discriminate against any person applying for shelter or any of the eligible program activities on the basis of religion and will not limit such housing or other eligible program activities or give preference to people on the basis of religion; and,
• It will provide no religious instruction or counseling, conduct no religious worship or services, engage in no religious proselytizing, and exert no other religious influence in the provision of shelter and other eligible program activities.

Reporting Requirements

All ESG grantees are required to electronically submit mid-year and end-of-year performance reports to the Office of Economic Opportunity. These reports must detail the total number and characteristics (age, gender, veteran status, marital status, race, etc.) of homeless individuals and members of homeless families served during the reporting period. Grantees must also provide information on the causes of homelessness reported by clients and expenditures by activity type during the reporting period.

Program Matching Requirements

ESG grantees are required to match the funding provided under the ESG program with an equal amount of other resources such as cash, donated land or materials, and volunteer hours.