About the Program
The Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program provides homeless persons with basic shelter and essential supportive services. It can assist with the operational costs of an emergency shelter facility and also pay for securing new permanent housing. ESG also provides short-term homeless prevention assistance to persons at imminent risk of losing their own housing due to eviction, foreclosure, or utility shutoffs.
How it Works
Grantees, which are state governments, large cities, urban counties and U.S. territories (in our case, the Town of Tonawanda), receive ESG grants and make these funds available to eligible recipients, which can be either local government agencies or private nonprofit organizations (in our case, we contract with private nonprofit organizations). The recipient agencies and organizations who run the homeless assistance projects, apply to the governmental grantee for ESG funds.
Grantees, except for state governments, must match ESG grant funds dollar for dollar with their own locally generated amounts. These local amounts can come from:
- The grantee or recipient agency or organization
- Other federal, state and local grants
- In-kind contributions such as the value of a donated building, supplies and equipment, new staff services and volunteer time
The Town currently has contracts with Compass House for Shelter and Homelessness Prevention services, Restoration Society for Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing services, HAWNY for Data Collection services, the YWCA for Shelter services, and the Matt Urban Center for Shelter services. If you are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, you can contact these agencies for information about your options.