[todaysdate]
Within 4 minutes or less, a household can be linked with a place to stay tonight, learn if they are eligible for other community programs and verify their application eligibility for rental or re-housing assistance aimed at establishing and maintaining housing stability, according to a Spokane County press release.
The Spokane County Community Services, Housing and Community Development Department originally received a three year grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help individuals in need of rent before they became homeless. The coordinated intake process developed as a result of that grant was a collaborative integration of an online screening at www.spokanecountyhprp.com and the local resource line 2-1-1. This method of swiftly determining basic eligibility was so successful, according to the county, that as the federal dollars were exhausted, the model was maintained when state and local dollars became available. Currently, the sources of grant funds are State (Consolidated Homeless Grant) and Local (Homeless Housing Assistance Act) resources which are both directed toward reducing and ending homelessness and achieving housing stability. Spokane County’s programs provide rapid re-housing assistance for homeless households and rental assistance for households late on rent and in jeopardy of eviction.
To date, over 15,000 households have learned of their eligibility for rental assistance via www.spokanecountyhprp.com. Additional branches have been added to link households in need with other community resources such as veteran’s programs and emergency shelter for households that need a place to stay tonight.
