See attached Q and A from DTA and Department of Early Ed. and Care on access by homeless families to "homeless" child care.

As of March 24, 2003, all family shelter information will be in BEACON. BEACON will have a resource list of all EA shelters. The specific shelter information will be associated for each EA AU in shelter. This information will enable the Department to identify where each EA AU has been placed and will provide statistical information on demographics at specific shelter sites. These instructions should be considered Phase 1 of EA AU information in BEACON.

Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of issues called into the Policy Hotline regarding clarification of a pregnant woman’s eligibility for EA Here are some of the eligibility facts about the EA Program.

The Department, in collaboration with the Housing Assistance Program (HAP) providers, is proposing an innovative, one-time use of EA funds to assist in the transition of homeless families out of shelter into permanent housing by the end of this fiscal year. This program is called The Shelter-to-Housing (S2H) Placement Program. This program ends on June 30, 2004.

The Department, in collaboration with the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), is proposing another new initiative to help families move from shelter into permanent housing. This program is called The Local Housing Authority (LHA) Placement Program. Eligible families will participate in this shelter program for up to six months. At the end of the program, each family will assume tenancy for their unit or another unit at the local housing authority site.

"Toolbox" money is now available as a Housing Assistance Program (HAP) service resource to Emergency Assistance (EA) eligible families. While a family does not have to be eligible for EA shelter to receive this or any other HAP service, they must be eligible for EA under 106 CMR 309.020. TAO staff will make a preliminary determination of financial eligibility before referring a family for HAP services. If the HAP determines that the family could benefit from access to the toolbox, the family will be referred to the TAO to complete an EA application on BEACON.

HAP Providers work collaboratively with the DTA in homelessness prevention by providing critical housing-assistance services to eligible Massachusetts families.

The Department, in collaboration with the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), has renewed and expanded the Local Housing Authority Placement Program under the name Local Housing Authority Transitional Housing Program II (LHATHP II). Eligible families may participate in this shelter program for six to twelve months. At the end of this period, each family may assume tenancy of their unit or of another unit at the LHA site.

Over the past several years, the Department of Public Health F.O.R. Families(Follow-Up Outreach Referral) has been available to EA families in certain areas of the state. The F.O.R. Families Program provides assessment and case management services to homeless families. The primary goal of F.O.R. Families is to help families transition from homelessness to stable permanent housing. Services are free and participation is voluntary.

Memo identifies the name of the contact person at the Sex Offender Registry Board.

DTA staff is required to determine if any member in the EA AU age 10 or older is registered as a sex offender with the Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB). This information is obtained by faxing the Request for Sex Offender Registry Information form (DTA-SORB) to SORB.

DTA offers two shelter options for EA AUs who have a member with a current or past substance abuse problem: residential treatment programs and sober living programs. Both alternatives allow the applicant and his or her child(ren) to reside together during the program.

Field Operations Memo 2005-55, titled F.O.R. Families Program remains in effect. However, this memo notifies AU Managers, Homeless Coordinators, ICMs, HAP Providers and shelter staff that as of January 16, 2007, F.O.R.Families staff were reassigned to different TAOs and shelters. At certain shelters F.O.R. Families staff are no longer present.

>This memo provides TAO staff with a description of the S2H Toolbox >Relocation Initiative. It describes the roles of the Housing and Homeless Unit, the HAP providers, the scattered site providers, the transitional housing providers, the AU Managers and the Homeless Coordinators.

Clarifies that voluntary participation in this program is transitional housing and not permanent housing and therefore should not affect priority status on subsidized housing wait lists, should only occur when the family is deemed able to maintain housing beyond the program period, and if the family is unable to maintain housing may still be eligible for EA shelter within the 12 month period.

Toolbox money can be used for homelessness prevention for EA-eligible families until June 30, 2007. Memo contains details.

HAP services suspended to EA-eligible families at risk of losing their housing. Such families are now to be referred to Housing Consumer Education Centers.

Field Operations Memo 2007-60 introduced TAO Staff to the Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) program. To ensure continued communication between theRegional Non-Profit housing agencies (RNPs) and the TAO FSS contact person, this Field Operations Memo provides TAO Staff with a listing of contact people at each RNP and the regions they serve. The TAO FSS contact person should be the person making any contact with the RNP FSS worker.

At the completion of a training on procedures to provide referrals to facilitate homeless child care assistance, DTA and EEC staff put together a document entitled, "Streamlining Access to Child Care for DTA Homeless Families Homeless Child Care Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)". The FAQs document provides ready access to DTA homeless child care eligibility information, EEC/CCR&R programmatic issues, EEC website links for resource information and homeless child care referral procedures. This memo instructs TAO staff on how to access the FAQs document.

Fliers from MAEHCY in English and Spanish.

Increase to the number of child care slots available for homeless families.

When an EA family needs transportation services, case worker must give them Emergency Shelter Transportation Guidelines flyer.

EA-- 12 month rule and natural disasters; eligibility for EA and refusal to apply for TAFDC.

TAFDC: child support for child on SSI not countable; TAFDC: disability exemption request counts as first request if first in 5 year clock cycle; EA: no school requirement, eligibility for pregnant women at any stage of pregnancy.

SSI Special Benefits for disaster and moving; TAFDC exemptions in two-parent families where one parent is disabled; FS work requirement and school employees over summer vacation; transportation and lodging as part of excess medical deductions for FS.

EA eligibility for families where at least one member is PRUCOL; DTA obligation to take applications; EA shelter applications for disaster victims.

TAFDC: failure to verify Learnfare school attendance results in child being removed from grant, not termination of whole family's grant;  Busiral benefits: counting of assets; FS: Refugee training programs that count toward exemption from work requirement; TAFDC: child support for child on SSI not countable; EA: pregnant woman is eligible at any time during pregnancy.

There is reference to these benefits in the answers to one of the questions in this Transitions, and a citation to fuller explication in the EA User's Guide

Information on 2005 SSI Special Benefits, which are benefits paid by the state to SSI recipients for disaster relief, funeral expenses, and moving expenses in some circumstances.

Moving expenses of up to $150 are available from DTA for SSI recipients meeting certain criteria, as well as disaster benefits for SSI recipients. Excerpts from Beacon Guide and a 2006 Transitions attached.

DTA must provide transportation to EA families who need it to get to their hotel placement, when transferred from  a hotel to another hotel or shelter, or to get from the hotel to the TAO.