Housing & Homelessness Incentive Program for Service Providers (HHIP)
Under the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) CalAIM Initiative (California Advancing and Innovating in Medi-Cal), health plans are poised to work closely with community partners to build capacity to meet the needs of Medi-Cal members experiencing or at risk of homelessness. To help support CalAIM implementation and housing and homelessness service providers, DHCS developed the Housing & Homelessness Incentive Program (HHIP). HHIP is a voluntary incentive program for Medi-Cal Managed Care plans, such as CenCal Health, designed to improve health outcomes and access to services by addressing housing insecurity and instability as social determinants of health for the Medi-Cal population.
The goals of the HHIP funds are to:
- Reduce and prevent homelessness
- Ensure managed care plans (MCPs), such as CenCal Health, can connect CenCal Health Members to needed housing services through partnerships and capacity building
To earn funds, MCPs must demonstrate progress toward HHIP program metrics. This will require collaboration with each county’s Continuum of Care (CoC) committees and local housing stakeholders. CenCal Health and the CoCs work collaboratively to identify housing and homelessness service providers and determine funding allocations.
CenCal Health may be awarded up to $27M, allocated in two different amounts to Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The possible earned funding for each county is as follows:
|
Santa Barbara County possible funding |
San Luis Obispo County possible funding |
|
$16,710,353.47 |
$ 10,327,233.79 |
To learn more, email our HHIP department.
Housing & Homelessness Incentive Program funding
HHIP funds are issued from DHCS to health plans, and from health plans to homelessness service providers and community partners. HHIP funds are made available to support the development and expansion of housing services through partner capacity building and service expansion. Examples of HHIP funding uses include, but is not limited to, staff expansion, housing deposits and tenancy funds, HMIS data sharing enhancements, expansion of street medicine and outreach activities, and construction of low-income housing.
1st funding allocation, November – December 2022
|
|
Total |
|
San Luis Obispo County |
$ 1,549,085.07 |
|
Santa Barbara County |
$ 2,506,553.02 |
|
Totals |
$ 4,055,638.09 |
San Luis Obispo County 1st HHIP funding allocations breakdown as of 05/01/2023:
|
Priority Area |
Amount |
Funding Partners |
|
1. Partnerships and capacity to support referrals for services |
$105,519 |
· Lumina Alliance · UndocuSupport |
|
2. Infrastructure to coordinate and meet member housing needs |
$434,500 |
· SLO County Public Health Dept. · SLO County Homeless Services Div. |
|
3. Delivery of services and member engagement |
$699,249 |
· Lumina Alliance · People’s Self-Help Housing · 5Cities Homeless Coalition |
|
Total allocated |
$1,239,268
|
|
Santa Barbara County 1st HHIP funding allocations breakdown as of 05/01/2023:
|
Priority Area |
Amount |
Funding Partners |
|
1. Partnerships and capacity to support referrals for services |
$520,000 |
· SB County Community Services Dept. · MICOP |
|
2. Infrastructure to coordinate and meet member housing needs |
$621,800 |
· Doctors Without Walls · SB County Public Health Dept.* · SB County Community Services Dept. |
|
3. Delivery of services and member engagement |
$863,442 |
· St. Vincent’s · New Beginnings* · People’s Self-Help Housing · United Way |
|
Total allocated |
$2,005,242
|
|
*Pending final contract agreement
2nd funding allocation, May 2023
Amount is to be determined by DHCS based on meeting the HHIP program metrics. The total possible amount that can be earned is:
- San Luis Obispo County – $3,614,531.83
- Santa Barbara County – $5,848,623.71
3rd funding allocation, March 2024
Amount is to be determined by DHCS based on meeting the HHIP program metrics. The total possible amount that can be earned is:
- San Luis Obispo County – $5,163,616.90
- Santa Barbara County – $8,355,176.74
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do funding recipients have to submit receipts to show how funds were used?
DHCS does not require receipts to show how HHIP were used. DHCS does reserve the right to audit the HHIP funds allocated to CenCal Health. Should this happen, CenCal Health will request information from the funding recipients to support the audit.
- Are the metrics counted per partner or county wide?
Final metrics reported to DHCS are for the entire county and are not broken down per partner.
- How are the data-based metrics calculated?
Data-based metrics are calculated based on data pulled from HMIS. For this reason, funding recipients must enter data into HMIS.
- How are future funds earned?
Funds are earned through meeting the specific HHIP metrics outlined by DHCS. Each HHIP funding recipient uses HHIP funds to contribute to or meet at least one of the metrics. For example, Metric 3.5 focuses on housing Medi-Cal members that are experiencing homelessness. Organizations that receive HHIP funds to meet metric 3.5 will use HHIP funds to help house members. When a member is housed, the organization will update the HMIS database. CenCal Health and each county HMIS team will pull the HMIS data and submit it to DHCS. If the metrics are met, DHCS allocates additional HHIP funds.
- How will we know if we are on track to meet the metrics?
Tracking is performed through reports you submit every 3 months and through HMIS data. CenCal Health will send the 3-month report template to the partner.
- What restrictions are there for funding use?
HHIP funds cannot be used to purchase vehicles or pay for ongoing rent.
- Do we need to be an Enhanced Care Management (ECM) or Community Supports (CS) provider to receive HHIP funds?
No, an organization does not need to be an ECM or CS provider to receive HHIP funds, thought becoming an ECM/CS provider is highly encouraged. For information on becoming an ECM/CS provider, click here.
- Can we apply for HHIP along with IPP and other funds?
Yes, HHIP can be used in conjunction with other funding sources, as long as HHIP funds are not used to fund the same service. For example, HHIP funding cannot be used to cover services that are billed to CenCal Health under ECM/CS provision or that are already covered by other funding sources.
- Can HHIP funds be used to pay rent and back rent?
HHIP funds can be used for one-time emergency rental assistance, but not ongoing rental support.
- Is HHIP a sustainable/ongoing funding source?
At this time, CenCal Health is not aware of funding beyond what has been outlined as possible earned dollars for HHIP
More information on DHCS FAQ.
Interested in applying for HHIP Funds?
Applications and instructions are coming soon.