ESG CARES Act Funding

STATE OF ILLINOIS PUBLIC NOTICE

Illinois Department of Human Services

Substantial Amendment to the State of Illinois ESG Program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES ACT) for the State of Illinois 2019 Consolidated Plan - Action Plan

Background

The State of Illinois is receiving approximately $18.1M in the initial round of CARES Act funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program. The ESG Program provides funding 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 and individuals from becoming homeless.

Nine entitlement communities will receive direct appropriations in addition to the "Nonentitlement" funds appropriated to the State of Illinois (see Table 1, above). These allocations are from the initial funding announcement made by HUD in the amount of $1B out of the total $4B included as provisions under the CARES Act. The guidelines for the remaining $3B are not yet available, but HUD is expected to release them imminently.

The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) administers the ESG Program on behalf of the State of Illinois. ESG Funds are typically allocated though a funding formula to Continuums of Care (CoCs) across the state. A CoC is a regional/local planning body that coordinates housing and services funding for homeless families and individuals across the state. In Illinois, there are 19 CoCs that cover every geographic area of the state (see Figure 1, right; and Table 2, Page 2). CoC Geographic Coverage Areas do not perfectly align with the entitlement communities that directly receive ESG appropriations (other than Chicago). For example, the Peoria allocation is for only Peoria whereas the CoC covers Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford Counties. IDHS therefore generally funds every CoC for the ESG Program except for Chicago through the formula allocation. CoCs also have generally been allowed the flexibility to determine how their funding allocation gets distributed within their geographic coverage area as well as determining the funding levels for each of the eligible activities (within some predetermined limitations) after the individual CoC allocation amounts have been provided to them.

Table 2 - Illinois Continuums of Care (CoCs) and Geographic Coverage Area

COC # COC NAME COUNTIES/CITY SERVED

Additional basic information about the ESG program and eligible activities can be reviewed in HUD's ESG Basics for State Recipients resource.

In order to formulate a proposal for the initial round of the CARES Act ESG Funding, IDHS leadership and staff immediately began an analysis of the existing programs/funding sources administered within the agency that also provide support to the homeless population. This analysis included a review of Emergency Shelter, Homeless Prevention, Rapid Rehousing, and other programming, such as Administration, Data Collection and Street Outreach.

However, the CoCs, as the experts in planning their local homeless response systems of care, are identifying eligible providers as funding recipients and have determined the appropriate balance of funding among the eligible cost activities for their respective geographic areas. Their requests, when consolidated have informed the final funding allocations being included in the initial substantial amendment to the state's consolidated plan - administered by the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA).

Funding Distribution & Allocations

IDHS will notify each Continuum of Care (CoC) Representative of the award amount for their region based on IDHS's vetted formula that utilizes local population and other poverty statistics. Tables 3 and 4 (below) show the distribution of funds geographically and the total amounts that will be allocated under each eligible activity to the CoCs across the State of Illinois.

PDF Version (pdf)