Supportive Housing Service Providers
Supportive housing service providers work with people who have experienced homelessness so that they can maintain permanent housing in site-based and scattered site housing settings.
Post-Selection Materials for Service Providers
- Post-selection Guide
- Sample MOU - Template for developing a supportive housing MOU. The MOU is completed by the primary service provider, the property management company, and the owner/ sponsor, and it describes the roles and responsibilities of these parties.
- Service Plan and Budget - The service plan describes how services will be provided to tenants of the supportive housing units. The last page of the service plan is the supportive services sources and uses budget, which identifies all the service related expenses and proposed funding sources for the project.
- HMIS Memo and Contact Form for LTH and HPH Units - This form identifies who is responsible for reporting to the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS).
- Verification of Service Funding Sample Letter - To be completed by the funder for verification of service funding grants or other commitments for supportive housing services.
- Housing Support (GRH) Funding Commitment Letter - This letter must be completed by the county or tribal human service department for contracted Housing Support providers.
Refer to the Supportive Housing Information and Resources publication for information on best practices in supportive housing as well as Long-term Homelessness (LTH) and High Priority Homeless (HPH) definitions and eligibility.
Occupancy Guidance for Long Term Homeless and High Priority Homeless Units
Refer to the Supportive Housing Information and Resources publication for occupancy guidance, including tenant screening, selection and retention plans, lease up, vacancies and determining tenant rents in supportive housing.
What to Do if There Isn't an eligible HPH Household on the Coordinated Entry waitlist: Contact Minnesota Housing supportive housing staff to discuss options at supportive.housing@state.mn.us.
Tenant Selection Plan Guidelines
Tenant Selection Plan Guidelines - Supportive housing (LTH/HPH, PWD, etc.) units are intended to house people who often have poor credit, poor rental histories or criminal backgrounds. To the extent permitted by the rules and regulations related to the type of housing, housing providers are encouraged to adopt lenient and flexible criteria regarding these common barriers when creating a tenant selection plan and are required to follow Minnesota Housing’s Guidelines.
Minnesota Housing updated the Tenant Selection Plan (TSP) Guidelines in December 2020 to add specific screening criteria requirements for all projects that are selected for an applicable program and funding source as a result of a funding application submitted to Minnesota Housing after March 31, 2021.
For current properties with applicable program and funding sources, the considerations in the General Considerations section are requirements, and the items in the Tenant Screening Criteria section are recommended best practices.
For more information on the impact of criminal history on housing stability, read this report from Wilder Research and a collaborative of Minnesota housing providers.
High Priority Homelessness (HPH) Eligibility Option
In the 2018 application for multifamily capital funding, Minnesota Housing changed the eligibility criteria for supportive housing units from Long-term Homelessness (LTH) to High Priority Homeless (HPH). Existing properties with units restricted to serve LTH households have the option to use the HPH eligibility criteria instead of the LTH eligibility criteria beginning January 1, 2019.
The Housing Trust Fund Rental Assistance Program also changed to HPH eligibility for all new households served.
For more information, refer to the HPH Eligibility Change Information and FAQs and the training slides.
HPH Verification Forms
- HPH Eligibility Confirmation Form (example HMIS report)
This is a report that is run from HMIS. Refer to pages 27-28 in the HMIS LTH User Guide for detailed instructions on locating and pulling the HPH Eligibility Confirmation Form. For additional help, view this video with instructions. - HPH Eligibility Confirmation Form for Households not in HMIS
LTH Verification Forms
Trainings
Reporting Requirements for Service Providers for Long Term Homeless and High Priority Homeless Units
Service providers are required to enter LTH and HPH household data in HMIS and submit reports to Minnesota Housing. *Note: Effective August 1, 2021, the Self-Sufficiency Matrix is no longer required for LTH and HPH Households.
Supportive Housing Definitions
Definitions for supportive housing, case management, Long-term homelessness (LTH) and High Priority Homeless (HPH) eligibility can be found in the Supportive Housing Information and Resources publication.