New Program and Partnerships in Delaware to Address Housing Instability
The Delaware State Housing Authority frequently receives calls, emails, and letters from Delawareans facing housing instability. To help address this situation, the DSHA is partnering with five community organizations, which will help make the essential connections and referrals to services. The DSHA has awarded over $800,000 in Housing Outreach and Stability Services (HOSS) grants to these organizations—grants that are funded through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA), which the U.S. Department of the Treasury distributed to Delaware in December 2020 and March 2021. Among the organizations receiving the grant include NeighborGood Partners and Central Delaware Habitat for Humanity.
Additional Information from the Delaware State Housing Authority:
The overarching goal of HOSS is to support individuals and families in maintaining their housing and achieving housing stability. HOSS does this by providing education on and connection to short- and long-term services as needed.
Each HOSS partner organization will have dedicated staff to provide community outreach, case management, and other wraparound supports鈥攊ncluding referrals to legal aid, employment or education resources, and financial literacy and housing counseling鈥攖o eligible households experiencing housing instability. The five HOSS organizations are:
| Central Delaware Habitat For Humanity https://centraldelawarehabitat.org/ 302-526-2366 | Latin American Community Center https://www.thelatincenter.org/ (302) 655-7338 |
| Lutheran Community Services https://lcsde.org/ 302 654-8886 | NeighborGood Partners https://www.neighborgoodpartners.org/ 302-678-9400 |
| West End Neighborhood House https://westendnh.org/ 302-658-4171 |
To receive services from a HOSS organization, the individual and/or family must meet the following requirements:
- One or more individuals qualified for unemployment OR experienced a reduction in income, incurred significant costs, or experienced other financial hardship due directly or indirectly to the pandemic; AND
- Risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability, which may include: past due utility or rent notice or eviction notice, housing cost burden (rent is more than 30% of monthly income), or any member of the household has experienced homelessness since March 13, 2020;
- Income (either 2020 annual income or current income at time of application) at or below 80% of Area Median Income for the county of residence.
| 1-person | 2-person | 3-person | 4-person | 5-person | 6-person | 7-person | 8-person | |
| New Castle County | 62,500 | 71,400 | 80,350 | 89,250 | 96,400 | 103,550 | 110,700 | 117,85 |
| Kent County | 45,750 | 52,300 | 58,850 | 65,350 | 70,600 | 75,850 | 81,050 | 86,300 |
| Sussex County | 49,800 | 56,900 | 64,000 | 71,100 | 76,800 | 82,500 | 88,200 | 93,900 |
To learn more about the HOSS program, please visit http://www.destatehousing.com/OtherPrograms/ot_hoss.php.
About Delaware State Housing Authority
The Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA), formed in 1968, is dedicated to providing quality, affordable housing opportunities and appropriate supportive services to low- and moderate-income Delawareans. In addition to its role as the State’s Housing Finance Agency, DSHA is unique in that it also serves as a Public Housing Authority and acts as a Community Development and Planning Agency. As a Public Housing Authority, DSHA receives funding from HUD to build, own and operate public housing in Kent and Sussex counties, two of Delaware’s three counties. For more information about DSHA, please call (302) 739-4263 or visit destatehousing.com.
