In the summer of 2021, Florida Housing’s Board approved a request for the staff to seek public input about a pilot to fund development of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) for persons with special needs who are high users of public behavioral health crisis services or are a high priority for diversion or transition from community residential facilities or institutions. Florida Housing staff held a workshop in October and has continued to develop the parameters for such a pilot, with a plan to propose a final pilot concept to the Board at its Jan. 21, 2022, board meeting. 

The focus of this pilot will be on High Utilizers who are facing housing instability due to their behavioral health care situation.   

The focus population for this pilot is consumers served by Managing Entities (MEs) under contract with the Florida Department of Children and Families to administer publicly funded behavioral health services to Florida’s uninsured population in their designated service areas.   

If approved by the Board, funding will be provided through a Request for Applications (RFA) open to nonprofit applicants that have a funding and partnership commitment for resident services coordination, housing stability/tenancy supports and supportive services with the ME in the region where the PSH will be built. The immediate objective of this pilot is to divert high-risk individuals from repeated emergency, in-patient residential and/or acute care service use. The longer-term objective is to create a collaborative approach to state-administered funding for both housing and services to build a replicable model for the future. 

At this time, Florida Housing expects to offer competitive nine percent LIHTCs, HOME-American Recovery Plan funds and National Housing Trust Funds through this RFA.  

The timeline below reflects Florida Housing’s anticipated timeline for issuance of the RFA, including two public workshops to see comments from interested parties.  For more information, please click here.  

  • 7/30/21 – FHFC Board approved request to solicit public input on the Pilot Concept;  
  • 10/4/21 – FHFC held Pilot concept workshop to solicit public input; 
  • 1/21/22- FHFC requests Board approval of Pilot approach; 
  • Late Jan 2022 – FHFC announces Pilot RFA workshop and publishes agenda for public review; 
  • Early Feb 2022 – FHFC holds Pilot RFA workshop; 
  • Late Feb 2022 – FHFC publishes draft RFA and announces RFA workshop to seek comment; 
  • Early March 2022 – FHFC holds workshop to seek comment on draft RFA; 
  • Early April 2022 – FHFC issues RFA and opens pre-application meeting window for applicants; 
  • End April 2022 – FHFC schedules and completes all pre-application meetings; 
  • Mid-May 2022 – Pilot RFA applications due (six weeks after issuance); 
  • Mid-June 2022 – FHFC Review committee meets to present scores and select applicants to be considered for award of funding; and 
  • 8/5/22 – FHFC requests Board approval of preliminary applicant awards.