Responses provided by Carol Griffith, Housing & Community Development Manager:
The application process will open in late July and close in late August. Funding recommendations will be presented to City Council for award of funding in November. Funding will be for Calendar Year 2022.
A point of entry is an agency that does the intake process for people who are homeless; they interview the people and input their information into the HMIS system so that this information can be used by all agencies in the system without each agency having to conduct a separate interview of the same person. An office location would not be required because the intake could be done wherever the homeless person is located, using a laptop and wi-fi hotspot.
The agencies should plan to pick up the cost after 2 years. By then hopefully they will have Emergency Solutions Grant funding or other homelessness grant funding that can cover the cost.
Attached is information received from Mary Rychlik Stahlke, Asst. Director of Engagement for the Texas Balance of State Continuum of Care that provides details and links about HMIS cost and how it works.
Licenses are cheaper in packs of 5, and 15 licenses for 2 years = $8,400. This was rounded up to $10,000 for possible set up expenses.
Note: the HMIS must be the same system as used by the Continuum of Care over the City of San Marcos, for ease of reporting and to assist with statistics for future funding applications.
Any agency is welcome to apply for Human Services Advisory Board Funding, including any agency that applied for this Coronavirus Relief- General Fund grant.