N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 18 § 304.2

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 25, June 18, 2024

Section 304.2 - Outreach, Homeless Services Plans and Outcome Reporting

(a) As used in this section:

(1) Assessment means the evaluation of an individual's or family's housing and housing-related needs;

(2) Coordinated entry refers to a process by which communities prioritize assistance to homeless individuals and families based on an assessment of their vulnerability and severity of their needs;

(3) Emergency shelter means short-term housing accompanied by support services in which the individual/family being housed does not have a lease. Such shelter includes short-term housing provided in a shelter built specifically for this purpose, or in other short-term housing such as that provided by a hotel or motel paid for by the social services district or not-for-profit agency;

(4) Homeless means undomiciled and unable to secure or maintain permanent and stable housing without assistance, as determined by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA). This definition excludes persons who are living "doubled up" with friends or with family;

(5) Homelessness prevention means services and assistance aimed at retention of existing housing or providing alternatives to emergency shelter, including but not limited to eviction prevention, case management, and shelter diversion programs;

(6) Housing retention services are the supports necessary for formerly homeless persons to remain stably housed. These include income supports, such as employment, job training, and disability benefits and other assistance; substance use and mental health treatment; medical care; legal assistance; life skills, including budgeting; child care; parenting skills; conflict negotiation; and other services as needed;

(7) Outreach refers to the engagement of persons experiencing homelessness in order to link them to services, assistance and housing. It can include direct outreach to undomiciled persons through outreach workers or law enforcement officers as well as community-based outreach provided through agencies that serve persons who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, such as, but not limited to, food pantries, soup kitchens, and drop-in centers;

(8) Permanent housing means community-based housing without a designated length of stay, and includes both permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing. To be permanent housing, the program participant must be the tenant on a lease for a term of at least one year, which is renewable for terms that are a minimum of one month long, and is terminable only for cause;

(9) Permanent supportive housing means permanent housing in which supportive services are provided to assist homeless persons in remaining stably housed;

(10) Point-in-time count means a count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons carried out on one night in the last 10 calendar days of January or at such other time as required by either the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development or OTDA;

(11) Rapid rehousing is a form of permanent housing accompanied by case management for which rental subsidies can be provided for up to 24 months with the goal of helping the household attain self-sufficiency after the rent subsidies end; and

(12) Transitional housing means housing, where all program participants have signed a lease or occupancy agreement, the purpose of which is to facilitate the movement of homeless individuals and families into permanent housing.

(b) Homeless services plan. At least every two years, each social services district shall develop and submit to OTDA for approval, on a form and in a manner prescribed by OTDA, a comprehensive homeless services plan. The homeless services plan shall:

(1) identify the number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals and families identified in the last point-in-time count;

(2) identify the numbers of individuals and families for whom the social services district provided temporary housing assistance pursuant to section 352.35 of this Title; and

(3) describe the social services district's strategies and plans for ad- dressing the housing and service needs of persons experiencing homelessness, and for providing or accessing each of the following:

(i) homelessness prevention services;

(ii) outreach;

(iii) assessment and coordinated entry services;

(iv) emergency shelter;

(v) transitional housing;

(vi) permanent housing, including rapid rehousing;

(vii) permanent supportive housing; and

(viii) housing retention services.

(4) Proposed revisions to an approved homeless services plan and any changes to the information contained therein must be submitted by the social services district to OTDA for approval prior to implementation.

(c) Each social services district shall provide homeless services and engage in outreach in accordance with its approved homeless services plan.

(d) Homeless services outcome report. At least every six months, each social services district shall submit to OTDA, on a form and in a manner prescribed by OTDA, a report on the performance of its homeless services plan and its outcomes relative to each of the components identified in subdivision (b) of this section.

(e) OTDA may take any enforcement action permissible by law, including, but not limited to, directing the social services district to engage a third party to provide services and/or withholding or denying reimbursement, in whole or in part, to any social services district that fails to develop or submit a homeless services plan or homeless services outcome report, that fails to provide homeless services or engage in outreach in accordance with an approved homeless services plan, or that otherwise fails to comply with this section.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 18 § 304.2

Adopted New York State Register March 27, 2019/Volume XLI, Issue 13, eff. 3/27/2019