Funding Opportunities

Challenge Grant

This funding shall be used locally to assist homeless individuals or households at risk of becoming homeless. The funds may be used to assist those clients defined as homeless by Florida Statute. The grant's intent is to help implement the local homeless assistance plan and help the community reach the goals and objectives outlined in their CoC plan. Challenge Grant allowable activities include housing, program, and service projects.

ESG Annual

Allowable components include Street Outreach, Emergency Shelter, Homeless Prevention, Rapid Rehousing, and HMIS*.

The ESG program provides funding to (1) engage homeless individuals and families living on the streets through outreach contacts; (2) improve the number and quality of emergency shelters for homeless individuals and families and help operate these shelters; (3) provide essential services to shelter residents, (4) prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless, and (5) rapidly re-house literally homeless individuals and families.

ESG-CV

The ESG Program was expanded on March 13, 2020, in response to the global pandemic, HUD announced their planning and response to COVID-19. Through this funding, CoCs nationwide received Emergency Solutions Grant – CARES Act (ESG-CV). These funds were appropriated “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, among individuals and families who are homeless or receiving homeless assistance and to support additional homeless assistance and homelessness prevention activities to mitigate the impacts created by COVID-19.

TANF

The TANF program helps low-income families with children achieve economic self-sufficiency. It funds a wide range of services that are designed to address one or more of the program’s four broad purposes:

• Provide assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives
• End the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage
• Prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies
• Encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families

These purposes were outlined in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), the law that created TANF, replacing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and related programs.

At the federal level, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) administers the TANF and tribal TANF programs. OFA operates within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).