HHAP Program Round 5 (HHAP-5) is authorized by Section 17 Assembly Bill 129, which was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on June 10, 2023.
HHAP-5 intends to sustain existing investments towards long-term sustainability of housing and supportive services and prioritize permanent housing solutions, with a strong focus on regional coordination. As part of the HHAP-5 application process, applicants were required to apply together as a region and create a Regionally Coordinated Homelessness Action Plan that included:
- Identification and description of the specific roles and responsibilities of each participating application within the region as they pertain to outreach and site coordination, siting and use of available land, development of interim and permanent housing options, coordinating, connect, and delivering services to individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk of experiencing homelessness within the region;
- Key actions the region intends to take to improve system performance measures;
- Key actions the region will take to ensure racial and gender equity in service delivery, housing placements, housing retention, and changes to procurement or other means to affirm equitable access to housing and services for groups overrepresented among residents experiencing homelessness;
- A description of how the CoC collaborates with cities and counties to address how people served through place-based encampment resolution projects have or will be included in prioritization for permanent housing within the Coordinated Entry System;
- Actions to reduce homelessness among individuals exiting institutional settings;
- An explanation of the utilization of local, state, and federal funding programs to end homelessness;
- A description of how the region is connecting individuals to wrap-around services from all eligible federal, state, and local benefit programs. HHAP-5 also required applicants to engage key stakeholders during the development of the Regionally Coordinated Homelessness Action Plan and have Memorandum of Understanding in place between the eligible jurisdictions in the region.
The Orange County region includes the County of Orange, the Orange County Continuum of Care, the City of Anaheim, the City of Santa Ana, and the City of Irvine. The Orange County region submitted an application for HHAP-5 on March 27, 2024, and has since been awarded by HCD.