The Power of More: Helping Stakeholders Access Federal Resources to Meet both Housing and Service Needs

As TAC Senior Associate Alicia Woodsby attests in her new post on Access: The TAC Blog, collaboration and alignment in efforts to prevent and end homelessness have never been more important. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sponsored three national webinars this summer specifically to address this urgent priority, facilitated by Alicia, Director Sherry Lerch, and Senior Associate Rachel Post. Each well-attended session focused on opportunities to braid HUD Emergency Housing Vouchers with a different set of federal Health and Human Services resources. Speakers from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Administration for Children & Families (ACF) highlighted the variety of each agency’s resources that can be used strategically to provide comprehensive and coordinated services to people living in HUD-assisted affordable housing. These webinars complemented HUD’s weekly EHV Office Hours which have been coordinated and hosted since June by Senior Consultant Liz Stewart, Senior Associate Emila Sutton, and Senior Associate Nicole LiBaire.

Fully accessible recordings of the webinars, along with slide decks and transcripts, are available on the HUD Exchange:

• Emergency Housing Vouchers Webinar: HRSA and SAMHSA Resources for Housing Supportive Services (July 14, 2021)
• Emergency Housing Vouchers Webinar: CMS-Medicaid Resources for Housing Supportive Services (August 12, 2021)
• Emergency Housing Vouchers Webinar: ACF Resources for Housing Supportive Services (August 16, 2021)

TAC Staff in Action

TAC Associate II Phil Allen, Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion LaMont Green, Senior Associate Rachel Post, & Director Lisa Sloane represented TAC in a multi-firm collaboration to produce a 4-hour “Introduction to Housing Models, Housing Navigation, & Engagement” for the SAMHSA Homeless & Housing Resource Center; Human Services Director Francine Arienti & Executive Director Kevin Martone were both coauthors of Mental Health System Development in Rural & Remote Areas during COVID-19 [PDF], part of the “Ready to Respond” paper series published by the National Association of Mental Health Program Directors; Executive Director Kevin Martone, together with Keris Myrick of the JED Foundation, presented on “Centering Race Equity & Lived Expertise in Crisis Reform” (2:07–2:57) at a Mental Health America Regional Policy Council meeting; Kevin also addressed the Kansas Disability Caucus on the topic “Olmstead? What’s That About?,” covering the history of the historic Olmstead decision and suggesting strategies for local advocates to promote community integration; TAC’s HUD Emergency Housing Voucher TA team (Managing Director Marie Herb, Senior Associate Alison Korte, Senior Associate Nicole LiBaire, Director Lisa Sloane, Senior Consultant Liz Stewart, & Senior Associate Emila Sutton) produced the COVID-19 EHV Referral Packet Template: Example Forms with help from TAC Communications Designer Jeff Nguyen; Alison, Liz, & Emila also serve on the EHV Leadership Team, where they are developing several more EHV resources to be designed at TAC; With the announcement of HUD’s Rounds 4 and 5 Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) awards, TAC’s YHDP team (Senior Associate Lauren Knott, Senior Associate Ellen Fitzpatrick, Associate II Jenna Espinosa, Senior Associate Ayana Dilday Gonzalez, Associate Tara Ortega, Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion LaMont Green, & consultants Lauren Leonardis & Natalie Metzger-Smit) is gearing up to support six communities in their planning.

Staff Transitions

We are pleased to welcome three staff members! Senior Consultant Rebecca Boss, joining the Human Services team, is a nationally recognized leader in behavioral health care and developmental disabilities services, with special expertise in addiction and recovery solutions; in her home state of Rhode Island, she directed statewide efforts for medication-assisted treatment expansion, behavioral health integrated care, and recovery outreach. Senior Associate Jordan Gulley’s work in Washington, D.C. has been concentrated on programs providing direct services to people with behavioral health issues and those experiencing homelessness, with a focus on enhancing cross-system efforts to improve crisis response services; she is also joining the Human Services team. Senior Associate Nastacia’ Moore brings extensive experience both in homeless and supportive services system improvement, and as a specialist in racial equity technical assistance and training; Nastacia’ will work with both the Housing and Human Services teams to support TAC’s growing work on advancing racial equity.