Alachua County homeless service providers could potentially lose millions of dollars of funding they are entitled to if they can’t find a lead agency to administer the money.
The Continuum of Care (CoC) is a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development designated community collaborative that seeks to address homelessness and utilize HUD funding, according to Theresa Beachy, the CEO of Peaceful Paths. Individual agencies in the community like Grace Marketplace and Family Promise need to apply for this funding that is managed and administered by the CoC.
But the current lead agency that runs the CoC, United Way, is stepping down. Without a replacement, these organizations will have no way to access this vital funding.
“If funding isn’t secured and a lead agency isn’t found, people who are some of the most vulnerable in our communities are ultimately going to pay the price for that, because there’s no way to access the money,” Beachy said.
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Shari Jones, the executive director of Family Promise, wrote in a press release that this funding is essential for sustaining critical homeless services in the community.
“It provides the necessary financial resources for operating emergency shelters, transitional housing facilities, permanent supportive housing programs, and other initiatives,” she wrote. “Without adequate funding, these programs’ capacity to provide life-saving assistance would be severely compromised, putting countless individuals at risk of prolonged homelessness and hardship.”
The CoC, formerly known as the Homeless Coalition, has been active in the community for over 30 years. For a time it was run by the people behind Grace Marketplace, but it was decided that the CoC should not be run by an organization that would benefit from its funding. So, in 2018, United Way stepped up to be the new lead agency.
Though many CoCs across the country are housed by lead agencies like United Way or are part of local government bodies, the hope was that the partnership with United Way would provide financial stability for the CoC so that it could one day become its own free-standing 501(c)(3) organization and not have to be under an umbrella of a pass-through organization.
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When the pandemic began, this plan was thrown off track and turmoil within United Way became clear.
The former CoC director, Patrick Dodds, was fired in February 2023 after he raised concerns about how United Way appropriated money meant for the CoC. Dodds took issue with the fact that despite limited funding, $100,000 of CoC dollars were used to offset salaries for some of United Way’s top officials.
The termination came after the Dodds asked a separate governing board to begin seeking an alternative nonprofit to handle its finances so that money could continue to be used on ways that help the homeless population in Alachua County.
After the termination, United Way sent an official letter sent to The Sun that emphasized that the CoC was not in jeopardy of changes. However, in the fall, United Way announced it would not be renewing its commitment to be the lead agency for the CoC.
Beachy said that service providers hoped they would be brought into a meeting to discuss who could take over as the lead agency and figure things out, but instead United Way acted behind closed doors.
United Way sent out an RFP to find a replacement, but no one has responded. Providers are now in a position where contracts for federal funding will soon end without anyone able to sign for them, Beachy said. This could mean organizations lose access to numerous grants.
“I think the point that we’re all at now is that we’re both frustrated by the process and the lack of process that we had to try to go out and find a new lead agency, and the incredible lack of communication around what needs to be done and how we can help,” Beachy said.
According to Grace Marketplace Director Jon DeCarmine, running a CoC is thankless work. The job puts you in charge of essentially running the engine that drives all other efforts in the community, but without much recognition or praise. It’s also quite a bit of paperwork and other administrative work.
DeCarmine said that there has been limited interest from community nonprofits that could take over running the CoC, and that the future is still very much up in the air.
Luckily, Beachy said, local groups have already submitted and received funding for the 2024-2025 year, but HUD is likely to release its notice of funding availability within the next few months.
“I’m just really disappointed that our organizations who work so hard every day to deal with homelessness and have made such tremendous strides are finding ourselves in this position,” she said. “It’s really disappointing that we’re in this position at this point in our community’s history.”
