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April 3, 2020
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Hello CoC members. We hope that you are all staying safe and healthy during these difficult times. Below are local, state and national resources for homeless service providers dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 virus. This newsletter will be updated weekly. 

LOCAL RESOURCES:

CoC COVID-19 Website
: The CoC has created a COVID-19 website to gather relevant resources in one place. This page will be updated frequently. You can access the page here

Food and Supplies for Restaurant Workers: Blue Dragon in Boston is giving free food and supplies to restaurant workers who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Supplies can be picked up everyday between 3 and 5 p.m. You can learn more here

City of Cambridge COVID-19 Website: The City of Cambridge has created a website with a wealth of information, both local and state, for COVID-19 information and resources. The website is updated daily, and can be accessed here

War Memorial: The CIty of Cambridge has identified the War Memorial recreation center as a temporary emergency shelter location. You can read the press release here

Food Resources: The City of Cambridge has set up a page with resources for meal sites, food delivery, etc. Click here to learn more. 
 
  • Click here for a list of food pantries and meal sites. This list is updated frequently and services available can change day-to-day. 

Mayor's Disaster Relief Fund: The Mayor's office has set up a disaster relief fund. To date, it has received over $3 million in donations. Information on how residents can apply will be released shortly. To learn more or donate, go here

Cambridge CAN: Intake and assessment for C-CAN has been suspended at this time. Please check the C-CAN website (cambridgecoc.org/cambridgecan) and look for email updates as we continue to monitor the situation.  

Boston Healthcare for the Homeless: Healthcare for the Homeless has created a COVID-19 resource page, as well as a COVID-19 response fund. You can learn more here.  

STATE RESOURCES: 

Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing: MCDHH has created Coronavirus visual tool to assist medical professionals better assist those who are deaf and hard of hearing. The tools also work for those who do not speak English. You can access the tool and get more information at the CoC's website here

Evictions and Utility Shut Off: Mass Legal Help has put together and information page for tenants facing eviction or who have had their utilities shut off during this crisis. You can read more here

Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance: MHSA, with guidance from DHCD, is asking that all homeless service providers begin tracking all expenses related to COVID-19 response to be prepared in the event that emergency funds become available. Their instructions to service providers is below. They ask that all providers use the excel sheet linked here

Please immediately start tracking all COVID-19 emergency costs for your permanent supportive housing programs.

·         MHSA subcontractors through Home & Healthy for Good, Pay for Success, State Historic, and a few CoC projects – You may submit that information directly to your MHSA program manager. We will be in touch with you directly.

·         PSH providers where MHSA is NOT the intermediary – We’ll see if your CoC lead agency might coordinate gathering that information and then getting it to us. We’re moving fast so we’ll need to follow up about the best way to submit that information.

*We will be compiling estimates ASAP to submit as part of supplemental state budget requests. But keep documenting your expenses in the days and weeks ahead.

Questions about completion of the spreadsheet, please contact: Deniz Hallik at MHSA: DHallik@mhsa.net
     
Questions or input about collecting this info from non-MHSA affiliated  programs, feel free to reach out to me directly, Joyce Tavon jtavon@mhsa.net

Examples of types of costs:

Having to hire professional cleaners, or increase the frequency of professional cleanings
       -Increased purchases of:

  • Phones for clients for remote case management
  • Over the counter non-prescription items (such as Tylenol, Pedialyte, etc.)
  • Surgical masks, gloves, thermometers, hand sanitizer, etc.
  • General cleaning supplies and disinfectants
  • Additional food or water supply

Weekly Call for PSH Providers: MHSA is hosting a weekly phone call for PSH providers at 10am each Tuesday.  They are using Zoom so to login using your computer go to https://mhsa.zoom.us/j/976497093.  The Meeting ID is 976 497 093. 
You can also call in by phone at (929) 436-2866 and use the same passcode.

Loans for non-profits: The Baker Administration announced that the Small Business Administration has made available low interest federal disaster loans for small businesses, non-profits and other entities to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 closures. You can learn more here

NATIONAL RESOURCES:

HUD Waivers: HUD has released information on what they were calling a "mega-waiver". You can read more about the waivers here. The CoC is assessing the feasibility of requesting and implementing these waivers. 

Centralized Resource List: The National Housing Conference has created a one stop resource page for COVID-19 that they will update regularly. The page can be found here

National Alliance to end Homelessness: NAEH will be hosting a series of webinars on COVID-19 response in homeless systems. For information on the upcoming webinar on unsheltered homelessness scheduled for April 7 and to learn more about future webinars, click here

Point Source Youth: Point Source Youth will be hosting weekly COVID-19 webinars for homeless youth providers. These webinars will be every Wednesday at 2 p.m. To register, go here

Centers for Disease Control: The CDC has issued  updated guidance for homeless service providers to plan and respond to COVID-19 for people facing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness. You can review the updated guidance here.  

The CDC has also put together a screening tool for shelters to quickly triage for COVID-19 symptoms. You can access the tool here

HUD Infectious Disease Toolkit: HUD has gathered information and created a toolkit for homeless service providers responding to a COVID-19 outbreak. You can find the toolkit here

HUD Office Hours: The SNAPS office is hosting weekly office hours every Friday for homeless service providers to discuss planning and response to COVID-19. You do not need to register. If you want to join this week's call, you can go here. If you would like to hear last week's recording and see the slides, you can go here

The SNAPS office has a resource page that is updated frequently. You can find the latest resources here

Federal Stimulus Bill: The National Low Income Housing Coalition has put together a full analysis of the homelessness and housing assistance in the $2 trillion stimulus bill. You can read more here

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness: USICH has put together a COVID-19 resource page, which gathers information from federal, state and local resources. You can go here to learn more. 

On March 31, 2020, USICH hosted a webinar with the CDC and Kings County staff discussing their response in the homeless system to the COVID-19 crisis. You can listen to the recording and access the slides from this webinar here



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