An Assessment of Proposals Submitted for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs' Emergency Shelter Grants Program

Abstract

An Applied Research Project submitted to Southwest Texas State University. The paper begins by describing the issue of homelessness in a national context, as well as federal programs created to alleviate homelessness. The discussion then focuses on the administration of the federal Emergency Shelter Grants Program (ESGP) for the homeless through a state agency, the Texas Department of housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). The conceptual framework for the research is developed from the Request for Proposals for ESGP, issued by TDHCA. Proposals submitted for Fiscal Year 1998 are analyzed to see if they conform to the requirements of the Request for Proposals. The methodology and results of the research are described in the latter half of the paper, and recommendations are developed in response to the results.