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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Veterans Affairs Department
Docket ID: [Docket No. FR-5220-N-01]
NOTICE: Part III
DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA).
SUBJECT CATEGORY: Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Program
DOCUMENT SUMMARY: This notice of funding availability (NOFA) establishes the funding criteria for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Program. HUD is making available approximately $1.42 billion in Fiscal Year 2008 for the program. The purpose of the CoC Homeless Assistance Program is to reduce the incidence of homelessness in CoC communities by assisting homeless individuals and families to move to self sufficiency and permanent housing.
Overview Information
A. Federal Agency Name: Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development.
B. Funding Opportunity Title: Notice of Funding Availability for Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Programs.
C. Announcement Type: Initial Announcement.
D. Funding Opportunity Number: The Federal Register number is FR 5220N01. The OMB Approval number is 25060112.
E. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Numbers:
1. 14.235, Supportive Housing Program (SHP).
2. 14.238, Shelter Plus Care (S+C) and
3. 14.249, Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy (SRO).
F. Dates: As more full described in the body of this NOFA, CoCs and project applicants will be required to apply for the 2008 CoC competition electronically through HUD's esnaps system. Because the application portion of the esnaps system has not yet been launched, HUD is unable at this time to establish an application due date for the 2008 CoC competition. HUD will announce the application due date through a separate Federal Register notice once the esnaps system is able to process funding applications. The application due date will be at least 60 days from the publication date of the Federal Register notice. As of today's publication, HUD anticipates an approximate application due date of September 15, 2008. Please see section IV of this NOFA for application submission and timely receipt requirements.
G. Additional Overview Content Information:
1. Available Funds: Approximately $1.42 billion is available for funding. Carried over or recaptured funds from previous fiscal years, if available, may be added to this amount.
2. Eligible Applicants: The program summary chart in section III.A.1 of this NOFA identifies the eligible applicants for each of the three programs under the CoC Homeless Assistance Programs.
3. Match: Matching funds are required from local, state, federal
(as eligible) or private resources. Refer to the General Section of the
SuperNOFA (73 FR 14883; March 29, 2008) for more information on this requirement.
4. Additional Notices:
a. To encourage transparency at all levels of the CoC planning process, once a CoC has submitted the CoC application to HUD, the CoC is required to make Exhibit 1 available to its community for inspection (i.e., by request or post on local CoC Web site) and notify community members and key stakeholders that it is available upon request.
b. Please note that all sections of the General Section of the
SuperNOFA are critical and must be carefully reviewed to ensure an
application can be considered for funding, with the exception of
reference to the Grants.gov application process. The Continuum of Care
application will be using an electronic system outside of Grants.gov.
Applicants for project funding will still be required to register with
Dun and Bradstreet to obtain a DUNS number, if they have not already
done so, and complete or renew their registration in the Central
Contractor Registration (CCR). For more information see 73 FR 23483,
April 30, 2008. Applicants are still encouraged to sign up for the
Grants.gov notification service as the availability of the 2008
Continuum of Care application will be released via this Web site. Full Text Announcement
I. Funding Opportunity Description
A. Program Description
1. Overview. The purpose of CoC Homeless Assistance Programs is to reduce the incidence of homelessness in CoC communities by assisting homeless individuals and families to move to selfsufficiency and permanent housing. CoCs that sustain current successful interventions and advance the goal of ending chronic homelessness will be scored higher.
2. The authorizing legislation and implementing regulations for all programs covered by this NOFA are outlined on the chart in section III.A.1 of this NOFA.
3. Changes for 2008. This list includes all major changes to the CoC NOFA:
a. CoCs and project applicants will be required to apply for the 2008 CoC competition electronically through HUD's esnaps system. e snaps is not a part of http://www.grants.gov. To access training on e snaps, see http://esnaps.hudhre.info/training/. If CoCs or applicants have additional questions they may contact the esnaps Help Desk at esnaps@hud.hre.info, or by calling 18776esnaps (18776376277). More information is provided in section I.A.5.b of this NOFA.
b. CoCs were required to register their CoC in esnaps, the electronic application system, prior to the beginning of the competition. For more information on the CoC registration process see 73 FR 23483; April 30, 2008.
c. CoCs may create multiple Samaritan Housing Initiative projects as long as the total amount of funding requested for all bonus projects does not exceed 15 percent of the CoC's Preliminary Pro Rata Need. For more information on the Samaritan Bonus Initiative see section I.A.4.y below.
d. HUD will continue to score CoC Homeless Assistance applications on a 100 point scale; however, the 40 need points previously allocated to projects will be redistributed into the existing point structure (see section V.A.1 of this NOFA for more information). Need will continue to be calculated through the higher of the formula that determines Preliminary Pro Rata Need or the Hold Harmless Need for the CoC.
e. As directed by Congress in the FY2008 HUD appropriation (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, H.R. 2764), HUD will implement a Rapid ReHousing for Families Demonstration Program through the 2008 CoC NOFA. This demonstration program will serve homeless households with dependent children. For more information see section I.A.4.w of this NOFA.
f. Safe Havens (SH) will no longer be given Transitional Housing
(TH) or Permanent Housing (PH) classifications and grantees seeking
renewal will have an opportunity through the 2008 CoC NOFA to change
the classification of their project without a grant amendment. Under
the newly defined Safe Haven SHP program type, any chronically homeless person entering a Safe Haven will maintain his/her status
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as chronically homeless, and will therefore be eligible for entrance
into Samaritan Housing Initiative projects. For more information on the
characteristics of a Safe Haven see section I.A.x of this NOFA.
g. HUD is aware there has been some confusion over Shelter Plus Care (S+C) and new SRO grant amounts and is reminding grantees and applicants that S+C and new SRO grants may not exceed 100 percent of the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and unit size.
h. CoCs that are in Hold Harmless Need status may seek to use the reallocation process to create new dedicated Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) projects. For more information on Hold Harmless Need status and the process for reallocating SHP renewal project funds to new permanent housing and/or HMIS dedicated projects, see section I.A.4.i of this NOFA.
i. HUD will allow only one applicant for HMISdedicated grants within a CoC.
j. HMIS funds contained in the Training and Technical Assistance line item of the HMIS budget may be used for travel, hotel, and per diem costs associated with the provision of technical assistance and training sessions by local HMIS staff; attendance at training sessions provided by local HMIS staff and/or outside trainers; attendance at HUDsponsored HMIS training sessions or symposiums; attendance at HMIS vendorsponsored user meetings; and attendance at other HMISrelated events as qualified and preapproved by HUD Headquarters. Applicants may be asked to identify the number and type of HMIS training sessions for which they are requesting SHP funds prior to grant agreement. The approved budget will be limited to the reasonableness of travel expenses as listed in 24 CFR Parts 84 and 85.
k. HUD may, after selection and subject to funding availability and as supported by a lease or leases evidencing the rent increase, provide SHP renewal projects up to a 4% increase in the leasing line item not to exceed local FMR amounts.
l. HUD will no longer require that applicants/grantees funded for
Tenantbased Rental Assistance, Sponsorbased Rental Assistance, and
Projectbased Rental Assistance without rehabilitation begin rental
assistance within twelve (12) months of the date of HUD's grant award
letter. These applicants/grantees and all other applicants/grantees
must continue to meet statutory deadlines regarding the obligation of grant funds as stated in the HUD appropriations Act.
4. Definitions and Concepts
a. Annual Renewal Amount. The maximum amount that a SHP grant can receive on an annual basis when renewed. It includes funds for only those eligible activities (operating, supportive services, leasing, HMIS and administration) that were funded in the original grant (or the original grant as amended), less the unrenewable activities (acquisition, new construction, rehabilitation, and any administration costs related to these activities). It is used to calculate a CoC's Hold Harmless Need amount.
To calculate the Annual Renewal Amount (ARA) for SHP grants, add up
the amount of the renewable budget line items (i.e., operating,
supportive services, leasing, HMIS, and administration) for all the
years of the grant being renewed, and divide by the number of years in
the grant term. Any funding for acquisition, rehabilitation, new constructionand any administration costs related to these
activitiesis not renewable. If the grant included these activities,
administrative costs may only be calculated on 5 percent of the total
of the eligible leasing, operating, HMIS, and supportive services costs
contained in the initial grant. For example, if the initial threeyear
grant was for $472,500 ($150,000 for new construction, $150,000 for
operating costs, $150,000 for supportive services, and $22,500 for
administration), the new construction costs, and any administration
costs associated with it, would not be eligible for renewal. Thus, the
total renewable amount would be $315,000 ($150,000 for operating costs,
$150,000 for supportive services, and $15,000 for administration) and
the ARA is $105,000 ($315,000 divided by the threeyear grant term).
If the initial threeyear grant was $315,000 and did not include acquisition, rehabilitation or new construction costs ($150,000 for operating costs, $150,000 for supportive services, and $15,000 for administration), the ARA would be $105,000 ($315,000 divided by the threeyear grant term).
b. Applicant. An entity that applies to HUD for funds. See the CoC Homeless Assistance Programs Chart in section III.A.1 of this NOFA for a list of eligible entities. An applicant must submit a SF424 (Application for Federal Assistance Form). If selected for funding, the applicant becomes the grantee and is responsible for the overall management of the grant, including drawing grant funds, distributing funds to project sponsors, overseeing project sponsors, reporting to HUD, providing performance data to the CoC for communitylevel analysis, and collecting information to provide the CoC with counts of the homeless through HMIS. Applicants can submit applications for projects on behalf of project sponsors, who will actually carry out the proposed project activities. Applicants can also carry out their own projects. In these cases, the applicant is responsible for both administering and managing the grant (as the grantee), and carrying out the project activities (as the project sponsor).
c. Applicant Certification. The form (HUD2991), required by law, in which an applicant certifies that it will adhere to certain statutory requirements, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
d. Central Intake. An assessment hotline, a single point of entry, a central intake facility or a centralized group of people that is standardized across the CoC and has the responsibility of assessing homeless persons as a method for screening homeless individuals and families into appropriate housing placements and service needs.
e. Chronically Homeless Person. An unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more OR has had at least four (4) episodes of homelessness in the past three (3) years. A disabling condition is defined as: (1) A disability as defined in section 223 of the Social Security Act; (2) a physical, mental, or emotional impairment which is expected to be of longcontinued and indefinite duration, substantially impedes an individual's ability to live independently, and of such a nature that the disability could be improved by more suitable conditions; (3) a developmental disability as defined in section 102 of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act; (4) the disease of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or any conditions arising from the etiological agency for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; or (5) a diagnosable substance abuse disorder. The term ``homeless'' in this case means a person sleeping in a place not meant for human habitation (e.g., living on the streets), in an emergency homeless shelter, or in a Safe Haven as defined by HUD.
f. Consolidated Plan. A longterm housing and community development plan developed by state and local governments and approved by HUD (24 CFR part 91). The Consolidated Plan contains information on homeless populations and should be coordinated with the CoC plan. It can be a source of information for the Unmet Needs sections of the Housing Inventory Chart.
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g. Consolidated Plan Certification. The form, required by law, in which a state or local official certifies that the proposed activities or projects are consistent with the jurisdiction's Consolidated Plan and, if the applicant is a state or unit of local government, that the jurisdiction is following its Consolidated Plan.
h. Continuum of Care. A collaborative funding and planning approach that helps communities plan for and provide, as necessary, a full range of emergency, transitional, and permanent housing and other service resources to address the various needs of homeless persons. HUD also refers to the group of service providers involved in the decision making processes as the ``Continuum of Care.''
i. Continuum of Care Hold Harmless Need Reallocation. A CoC whose Final Pro Rata Need is based on its Hold Harmless Need amount (see section I.A.4.l.(2) of this NOFA) may reallocate funds in whole or part from SHP renewal projects to create one or more new permanent housing projects and/or a new dedicated HMIS project. The Hold Harmless Need Reallocation process allows eligible CoCs to fund new permanent housing or dedicated HMIS projects by transferring all or part of funds from existing SHP grants eligible for renewal (that are expiring between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009). These new permanent housing projects may be for SHP (one, two or three years), S+C (five or ten years) and section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation (ten years). New HMIS projects may be for one, two or three years. New permanent housing projects and dedicated HMIS SHP projects being created through this process will be funded under the conditional renewal standards described in section 5.B.2.a.(iii). Like all projects submitted under the 2008 CoC NOFA, these projects must meet eligibility and quality standards established by HUD in order to be conditionally selected for funding. These reallocated funds may not be used to supplement a new Samaritan Housing Initiative project or a Rapid ReHousing for Families Demonstration Project. This Hold Harmless Need Reallocation Process is not available to a CoC in Preliminary Pro Rata Need Status.
j. Continuum of Care Lead Agency. Agency or organization designated by the CoC primary decision making body to be the entity that submits the CoC application.
k. Continuum of Care Lead Agency Contact. Person(s) with the
authority to submit the Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Grants
Competition application on behalf of the CoC, usually the Executive Director or CEO of the CoC Lead Agency.
l. Continuum of Care Need Amounts
(1) Continuum of Care Preliminary Pro Rata Need (PPRN). Amount of
funds a CoC could receive based upon the geography that HUD approves as
belonging to that CoC. To determine the homeless assistance need of a
particular jurisdiction, HUD will use nationally available data,
including the following factors as used in the Emergency Shelter Grants
(ESG) program: data on poverty, housing overcrowding, population, age
of housing, and growth lag. Applying those factors to a particular
jurisdiction provides an estimate of the relative need index for that
jurisdiction compared to other jurisdictions applying for assistance
under the 2008 CoC NOFA. Each year, HUD publishes the PPRN for each
jurisdiction. A CoC's PPRN is determined by adding the published PPRN of each jurisdiction within the HUDapproved CoC.
(2) Continuum of Care Hold Harmless Need (HHN). The amount of funds
a CoC is eligible to receive where the ARA of all SHP grants expiring
in that CoC during the period beginning January 1, 2009 and ending
December 31, 2009 exceeds the PPRN for that CoC. The HHN is the amount
needed to fund the expiring renewal grants for one year. To provide
communities with maximum flexibility in addressing current needs, CoCs
have the discretion to not fund or to reduce one or more SHP renewal
project applications through the HHN Reallocation process and still
receive the benefit of the hold harmless need amount if the CoC
proposes to use that amount of reduced renewal funds for new permanent supportive housing or dedicated HMIS SHP projects.
(3) Continuum of Care Final Pro Rata Need (FPRN). The higher amount of: (1) PPRN and (2) HHN.
m. Continuum of Care Primary Decision Making Group. This group manages the overall planning effort for the CoC, including, but not limited to, the following types of activities: setting agendas for full Continuum of Care meetings, project monitoring, determining project priorities, and providing final approval for the CoC application submission. This body is also responsible for the implementation of the CoC's HMIS, either through direct oversight or through the designation of an HMIS implementing agency. This group may be the CoC Lead Agency or may authorize another entity to be the CoC Lead Agency under its direction.
n. Continuum of Care Registration. A step in the electronic application process during which time a CoC claims geography and appoints a CoC Lead Agency that will be responsible for the submission of the electronic application to HUD. See section I.A.5.b of this NOFA for a detailed explanation.
o. Current Inventory. A complete listing of the community's HUD and nonHUDfunded beds and supportive services.
p. Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS). An HMIS is a computerized data collection application designed to capture client level information over time on the characteristics of service needs of men, women, and children experiencing homelessness, while also protecting client confidentiality. It is designed to aggregate client level data to generate an unduplicated count of clients served within a community's system of homeless services. An HMIS may also cover a statewide or regional area, and include several CoCs. HMIS can provide data on client characteristics and service utilization.
q. Homeless Person. As defined by the McKinney Act (42 U.S.C 11302), a homeless person is a person sleeping in a place not meant for human habitation or in an emergency shelter; and a person in transitional housing for homeless persons who originally came from the street or an emergency shelter. The programs covered by this NOFA are not for populations who are at risk of becoming homeless.
r. Housing Emphasis. The relationship between funds requested for housing activities (i.e., transitional and permanent) and funds requested for supportive service activities. Housing emphasis will be calculated on eligible new and renewal projects within FPRN, eligible Samaritan Housing Initiative projects, eligible Rapid ReHousing for Families Demonstration Program projects and eligible S+C renewal projects. HUD will count as housing activity all approvable requests for funds for rental assistance and approvable requests for acquisition, rehabilitation, construction, leasing and operations when used in connection with housing. HMIS costs and administrative costs will be excluded from this calculation.
s. Match. Grantees and project sponsors must match SHP funds
provided for acquisition, rehabilitation, and new construction with an
equal amount of cash from other sources. Since SHP by statute can pay
no more than 75 percent of the total operating budget for supportive
housing, agencies must provide at least a 25 percent cash match of the
total annual operating costs. In addition, for all SHP funding [[Page 39843]]
for supportive services and HMIS, applicants must provide a 20 percent
cash match. This means that of the total supportive services budget
line item, no more than 80 percent may be from SHP grant funds. For
more information see section III.B of the General Section of the SuperNOFA.
Grantees and project sponsors must match rental assistance provided through the Shelter Plus Care Program in the aggregate with supportive services. Shelter Plus Care requires a dollar for dollar match; the recipient's match source can be cash or in kind.
Documentation of the match requirement must be maintained in the grantee's financial records on a grantspecific basis.
t. Private Nonprofit Status. Private nonprofit status is documented by submitting either:
(1) A copy of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruling providing
taxexempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code; or (2)
documentation showing that the applicant is a certified United Way
agency; or (3) a certification from a licensed CPA that no part of the
net earnings of the organization inures to the benefit of any member,
founder, contributor, or individual; that the organization has a
voluntary board; that the organization practices nondiscrimination in
the provision of assistance; and that the organization has a
functioning accounting system that provides for each of the following (mention each in the certification):
(a) Accurate, current and complete disclosure of the financial results of each federally sponsored project.
(b) Records that identify adequately the source and application of funds for federally sponsored activities.
(c) Effective control over and accountability for all funds, property and other assets.
(d) Comparison of outlays with budget amounts.
(e) Written procedures to minimize the time elapsing between the
transfer of funds to the recipient from the U.S. Treasury and the use of the funds for program purposes.
(f) Written procedures for determining the reasonableness, allocability and allowability of costs.
(g) Accounting records, including cost accounting records, which are supported by source documentation.
u. Project Sponsor. An entity that is responsible for carrying out the proposed project activities. A project sponsor does not submit an SF424 (Application for Federal Assistance), unless it is also the applicant. To be eligible to be a project sponsor, the organization must meet the same program eligibility standards as applicants, as outlined in section III.A.1 of this NOFA. The only exception to this standard is under the Sponsorbased rental assistance (SRA) component of the S+C Program, where a sponsor must be a private, nonprofit organization or a community mental health agency established as a public nonprofit organization; therefore, eligible project sponsors for this component are statutorily precluded from applying for S+C funding.
v. Public Nonprofit Status. Public nonprofit status is documented for community mental health centers by including a letter or other document from the authorized state official stating that the applicant is organized and in good standing under state law as a public nonprofit organization.
w. Rapid ReHousing for Families Demonstration Program. HUD will implement through the 2008 CoC NOFA a demonstration program for households with dependent children residing on the street or in emergency shelters as directed by Congress in the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2008 (H.R. 2764). Through this focused effort on assisting this population, HUD will both learn more about how to best serve families who are homeless and also contribute to the research that has already been done in this area.
Each CoC may submit no more than one project under the Rapid Re
Housing for Families Demonstration Program. That project must have a
grant term of threeyears and may request up to 30 percent of the CoC's
PPRN or $2 million, whichever is less. Grants awarded under the Rapid
ReHousing for Families Demonstration Program will be administered in
accordance with the requirements of the SHP program, TH component, with the exception that the eligible activities are limited to
administration, leasing (up to 18 months), and supportive services;
that the grantee must participate in the evaluation phase; and that
they must comply with all Rapid ReHousing Demonstration Program
requirements established in this NOFA. No more than 30 percent of the
total eligible program activities (grant total minus administration
costs up to five percent) may be used for supportive services,
including case management. Eligible supportive services are limited to
housing placement, case management, legal assistance; literacy
training, job training, mental health services, childcare services, and
substance abuse services. Eligible housing activities include leasing
only. One household may receive leasing dollars one time for three to
six months or twelve to fifteen months, as determined at the time of
the assessment. Households are expected to independently sustain
housing, either subsidized or unsubsidized, at the end of the leasing
subsidy; therefore, it is crucial that households are appropriately
assessed. The Rapid ReHousing Demonstration program will include an
evaluation phase, which will focus on determining the efficacy of the
assessment process and the housing/service intervention related to how
successfully households are able to independently sustain housing after receiving shortterm leasing assistance.
x. Safe Haven. A Safe Haven is a form of supportive housing funded and administered under the Supportive Housing Program serving hardto reach homeless persons with severe mental illness who are on the streets and have been unwilling or unable to participate in supportive services.
All projects classified as Safe Havens (SH) must have the following characteristics:
(1) Located in a facility, meaning a structure, or structures, or clearly identifiable portion of a structure or structures;
(2) Provide 24hour residence for eligible persons who may reside for an unspecified duration;
(3) Provide private or semiprivate accommodations;
(4) Overnight capacity is limited to no more than 25 persons;
(5) Provide lowdemand services and referrals for the residents of the safe haven;
(6) Prohibit the use of illegal drugs in the facility; and,
(7) Must target homeless individuals with serious and persistent mental illness, primarily from the streets.
Safe Havens may also provide for the common use of kitchen facilities, dining rooms, and bathrooms.
New in 2008, any chronically homeless persons entering a Safe Haven, as defined by above, will maintain their chronically homeless status, and will therefore be eligible for entrance into Samaritan Housing Initiative projects.
Grantees with renewal projects submitted in 2008 that are designated as Safe HavenTransitional Housing (SHTH) or SafeHaven Permanent Housing (SHPH) will be required, in 2008, to change the classification of their project without a grant amendment. Each project that is currently designated as either a SHTH or SHPH will, in the 2008 application, designate itself as either Transitional Housing, Permanent Housing, or as a Safe Haven depending on its program design.
y. Samaritan Housing Initiative. To qualify for the Samaritan Housing
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Initiative, each CoC must submit one or more new permanent housing
projects under the Samaritan Housing Initiative (an initiative designed
to develop permanent housing projects that serve exclusively
chronically homeless persons). Each CoC shall be eligible for a
Samaritan Bonus Amount up to 15 percent of the CoC's PPRN amount or $6
million, whichever is less. Samaritan Housing Initiative projects may
be SHP, S+C, or SRO. For projects applying under the SHP, each project
can request no more than 20% of the total of its eligible program
activities (grant total minus administration costs up to five percent)
for case management. Safe Havens do not qualify for the Samaritan Bonus Initiative.
Rental assistance under the S+C and section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation programs is an eligible housing activity under the Samaritan Housing Initiative.
z. SF424, Application for Federal Assistance. The application
cover sheet required to be submitted by applicants requesting HUD Federal Assistance.
5. Continuum of Care Processes
a. CoC Planning Process.
(1) A CoC system is developed through a communitywide or region
wide process involving the coordination of nonprofit organizations
(including those representing persons with disabilities), state and
local government agencies, public housing agencies, community and
faithbased organizations, other homeless providers, service providers,
housing developers, private health care associations, law enforcement
and corrections agencies, school systems, private funding providers,
and homeless or formerly homeless persons to successfully address the
complex and interrelated problems related to homelessness. The 2008 CoC
NOFA emphasizes HUD's determination to integrate and align plans, including jurisdictional, state, and city tenyear plans
(jurisdictional tenyear plans) encouraged by the U.S. Interagency
Council on Homelessness and Consolidated Plans. These plans serve as a
vehicle for a community to comprehensively identify each of its needs
and to coordinate a plan for addressing them. A CoC should address the
specific needs of each homeless subpopulation: those experiencing
chronic homelessness, veterans, persons with serious mental illnesses,
persons with substance abuse issues, persons with HIV/AIDS, persons
with cooccurring diagnoses (these may include diagnoses of multiple
physical disabilities or multiple mental disabilities or a combination
of these two types), victims of domestic violence, youth, and any
others. To ensure that the CoC system addresses the needs of homeless
veterans, it is particularly important that CoCs involve veteran
service organizations with specific experiencing in serving homeless veterans.
(2) CoC Geographic Area. In deciding what geographic area a CoC
will cover as part of its CoC strategy, CoCs should be aware that a key
factor in being awarded funding under the 2008 CoC NOFA will be the
strength of a CoC process when measured against the CoC rating factors
described in this NOFA. When a CoC determines what jurisdictions to
include in its CoC strategy area, include only those jurisdictions that
are fully involved in the development and implementation of the CoC strategy.
The more jurisdictions a CoC includes in the CoC, the larger the
pro rata need share that will be allocated to the strategy area (as
described in section I.A.5.a.(1) and section I.A.5.a.(2) of this NOFA).
If a CoC is located in a rural county, it may wish to consider working
with larger groups of contiguous counties to develop a regionwide or
multicounty CoC strategy covering the combined service areas of these counties. Areas covered by CoC strategies cannot overlap.
(3) CoC Components. A CoC system typically consists of five basic elements, as follows:
(a) A system of outreach, engagement, and assessment for
determining the needs and conditions of individuals or families who are
homeless, and necessary support to identify, prioritize, and respond to persons who are chronically homeless;
(b) Emergency shelters with appropriate supportive services to help
ensure that homeless individuals and families receive adequate
emergency shelter and referral to necessary service providers or housing search counselors;
(c) Transitional housing with appropriate supportive services to
help homeless individuals and families prepare to make the transition to permanent housing and independent living;
(d) Permanent housing, or permanent supportive housing, to help
meet the longterm needs of homeless individuals and families; and,
(e) Prevention strategies, which play an integral role in a
community's plan to eliminate homelessness by effectively intervening
for persons at risk of homelessness or those being discharged from
public systemse.g., corrections, foster care, mental health, and
other institutionsso that they do not enter the homeless system. By
law, prevention activities are ineligible activities in the three
programs included in this NOFA but are eligible for funding under the
Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) program and many other programs.
(4) Regardless of the CoC structure and planning process, the 2008
electronic application process will require that each CoC select up to
two persons, from the CoC Lead Agency, who are authorized to submit the CoC application and the project applications to HUD.
(5) Once the CoC application has been submitted and scored the CoC
will receive its conditional award. This is the total amount of monies
conditionally awarded to a CoC's eligible projects including, new and
renewal SHP and S+C projects, new SRO ModerateRehabilitation projects,
Samaritan Housing Initiative and Rapid ReHousing for Families Demonstration projects.
b. CoC Registration Process. CoCs were required to register in the electronic database, esnaps, prior to the beginning of the 2008 CoC competition. For more information on the CoC Registration Process see 73 FR 23483; April 30, 2008.
6. CoC Funding is provided through the programs briefly described below. Please refer to the CoC Homeless Assistance Programs Eligibility Chart in section III.A.1 of this NOFA for a more detailed description of each program:
a. The Supportive Housing Program (SHP) provides funding for the development and/or operation of transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, safe havens, and services that help homeless persons transition from homelessness to living as independently as possible. Services are also funded to assist in achieving the goal of selfsufficiency. See section I.A.4.s of this NOFA for SHP match requirements.
b. The Shelter Plus Care (S+C) Program provides funding for rental assistance and requires a dollar match in supportive services for every dollar of rental assistance. This gives applicants flexibility in devising appropriate housing and supportive services for homeless persons with disabilities.
c. The Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Program provides rental assistance on behalf of homeless individuals in connection with the moderate rehabilitation of SRO dwellings. The SRO Program has no match requirements.
II. Award Information
A. Amount Allocated. Approximately $1.42 billion is available for funding.
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Carried over or recaptured funds from previous fiscal years, if available, may be added to this amount.
B. Distribution of Funds: HUD will not specify amounts for each of the three programs: SHP, S+C, and section 8/SRO. Instead, the distribution of funds among the three programs will depend largely on locally determined priorities and overall demand.
1. Renewals. HUD reserves the authority to conditionally select for one year of funding eligible SHP renewal projects that fall below the National Funding Line and would not otherwise receive funding for these projects. HUD reserves the right to establish a minimum CoC scoring threshold for these projects. The funding of these renewal projects allows homeless persons to continue to be served and move towards self sufficiency. Not renewing these projects would likely result in the closure of these projects and displacement of the homeless people being served. Shelter Plus Care Renewals will continue to be funded outside of the competitive ranking process, as required in the 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2764).
2. Grant Terms. See chart in section III.A.1 of this NOFA for
information on the term of assistance for each of the three CoC programs covered under the 2008 CoC NOFA.
III. Eligibility Information
A. Eligible Applicants
1. Eligible applicants for each program are those identified in the following chart:
Elements Supportive housing Shelter plus care Section 8 SRO
Authorizing Legislation.............. Subtitle C of Title IV Subtitle F of Title IV Section 441 of the
of the McKinneyVento of the McKinneyVento McKinneyVento
Homeless Assistance Homeless Assistance Homeless Assistance
Act, 42 U.S.C. 11381. Act, 42 U.S.C. 11403. Act, 42 U.S.C. 11401.
Implementing Regulations............. 24 CFR part 583........ 24 CFR part 582........ 24 CFR part 882,
subpart H, except that
all persons receiving
rental assistance must
meet the McKinney
Vento definition of
homelessness.
Eligible Applicant(s)................
government, e.g., PHAs.
nonprofit
organizations.
Mental Health Centers that are public
nonprofit
organizations.
Eligible Component(s)................
supportive housing.
supportive housing.
accessibility
requirements.
construction including accessibility
requirements.
costs.
services.
Eligible Populations. See footnote 2.
reallocated projects. Footnote 1: Homeless prevention activities are statutorily ineligible under these programs. Footnote 2: Persons at risk of homelessness are statutorily ineligible for assistance under these programs. Footnote 3: Acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, leasing, and operating costs are statutorily ineligible for assistance under Shelter Plus Care and Section 8 SRO. Footnote 4: The term of a new grant with funds for acquisition, construction or rehabilitation also includes the time to acquire the property, complete construction and begin operating the project, which may be no greater than 39 months. A one year initial term may be requested only for HMIS or hold harmless reallocated new permanent housing projects.
[[Page 39846]]
2. Renewal Applicants. An applicant is eligible to apply for renewal of a grant only if it has a signed grant agreement for the project directly with HUD for SHP or S+C programs. Project sponsors or subrecipients are not eligible to apply for renewal of these projects. Reminder, renewal applicants must also have a DUNS number and be registered in the CCR.
B. Matching
Applicants must meet the match requirements for SHP and S+C programs. For more information on matching see section I.A.4.s of this NOFA and/or applicable program regulations.
C. Other Project Eligibility Requirements
1. Eligible Activities. Eligible activities for the SHP, S+C, and
SRO Programs are outlined in the preceding CoC Homeless Assistance Programs Chart at Section III.A.1 of this NOFA.
2. Threshold Requirements
a. Project Eligibility Threshold. HUD will review all projects to
determine if they meet the following eligibility threshold
requirements. If HUD determines that these standards are not met by a
specific project or activity, the project or activity will be rejected from the competition.
(1) Applicants and project sponsors must meet the eligibility
requirements of the specific program as described in program
regulations, and provide evidence of eligibility and capacity, and
submit the required certifications as specified in this NOFA.
(2) The population to be served must meet the eligibility
requirements of the specific program as described in the program
regulations, and the application must clearly establish eligibility of program participants.
(3) The only persons who may be served by permanent housing
projects are those who come from the streets, emergency shelters, safe
havens, or transitional housing. Persons in transitional housing must
have originally come from the streets or emergency shelter. As
participants leave currently operating projects, participants who meet this eligibility standard must replace them.
(4) Samaritan Housing Initiative Projects and Rapid ReHousing for
Families Demonstration Projects will have additional eligibility
requirements. The additional eligibility requirements for Samaritan
Housing Initiative Projects are described in section I.A.4.y of this
NOFA. The additional eligibility requirements for Rapid ReHousing for
Families Demonstration Projects are provided in section III.C.2.a.(12) of this NOFA.
(5) Projects that involve rehabilitation or new construction must
certify that they will meet the accessibility requirements of section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the design and construction
requirements of the Fair Housing Act and the accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as applicable.
(6) The project must be costeffective, including costs associated
with construction, operations and supportive services with such costs
not deviating substantially from the norm in that locale for the type of structure or kind of activity.
(7) For those applicants applying for the Innovative component of
SHP, whether or not a project is considered innovative will be
determined on the basis that the particular approach proposed is new and can be replicated.
(8) Renewal applications must be submitted as part of a CoC application.
(9) Under the Sponsorbased rental assistance S+C component, an
applicant must subcontract the funding awarded with an eligible project
sponsor: A private nonprofit organization or a community mental health
agency established as a public nonprofit organization that owns or leases the housing where participants will reside.
(10) For the section 8 SRO program, only individuals meeting HUD's
definition of homeless are eligible to receive rental assistance.
Therefore, any individual occupying a unit at commencement of the
unit's rehabilitation will not receive rental assistance if they return
to their unit (or any other) upon completion of its rehabilitation.
(11) Applicants agree to participate in a local HMIS system when it is implemented in their community.
(12) Applicants for Rapid ReHousing for Families Demonstration
Programs must meet the following additional project eligibility thresholds.
(a) The CoC in which the applicant is applying must have
centralized intake as defined in this NOFA (see section I.A.4.) for households with dependent children.
(b) The population to be served must be households with dependent
children who have lived in emergency shelters or on the streets for at
least seven consecutive days, must be able to independently sustain
housing at the end of the shortterm housing assistance, and must have
at least one moderate barrier to housing. A moderate barrier to housing is defined as:
(i) A financial strain that is not ongoing and will not impact the
ability to independently sustain housing once rehoused (in subsidized or unsubsidized housing);
(ii) Inadequate employment or a loss of employment. The family most
appropriate for this demonstration should have, or be willing to
obtain, employment that increases the income of the household to such a
degree that it can independently sustain housing at the end of the shortterm housing assistance;
(iii) Inadequate childcare resources;
(iv) A head of household with a low level of education or low
command of the English language, but who is willing to obtain the
language skills and/or education level necessary to obtain employment and maintain housing;
(v) Legal problems. HUD leaves it to the discretion of the
individual communities to determine which legal problems it is able to address;
(vi) Mental health diagnosis that do not greatly impact the household's ability to independently sustain housing;
(vii) A history of substance abuse, without any active use;
(viii) Poor rental history, including up to three evictions; and, (ix) Poor credit history.
(c) The agency must have one assessment tool that it uses to assess all families.
b. Project Quality Threshold. HUD will review new projects,
including those requested as part of HHN Reallocation, to determine if
they meet the following quality threshold requirements with clear and
convincing evidence. A S+C or SHP project renewal will be considered as
having met these requirements through its previously approved grant
application unless information to the contrary is received. The housing
and services proposed must be appropriate to the needs of the program
participants and the community. HUD will assess the following:
(1) That the type, scale and general location of the housing fit
the needs of the participants and that the housing is readily accessible to community amenities.
(2) That the type, scale and location of the supportive services
fit the needs of the participants and the mode of transportation to those services is described.
(3) That the specific plan for ensuring clients will be
individually assisted to obtain the benefits of the mainstream health,
social service, and employment programs for which they are eligible is provided.
[[Page 39847]]
(4) How participants are helped to obtain and remain in permanent housing is described.
(5) How participants are assisted to both increase their incomes
and live independently using mainstream housing and service programs is described.
(6) Applicants and project sponsors must evidence satisfactory performance for existing grant(s).
(7) For expansion projects, applicants must clearly articulate the part of the project that is the expansion.
(8) In addition to meeting the quality threshold standards above,
applicants for Rapid ReHousing for Homeless Families Demonstration
projects must meet the following quality threshold standards:
(a) The applicant's experience in forming relationships with
landlords and maintaining an affordable housing stock is described.
(b) The type, scale, and general location of the centralized intake meets the needs of the participants is provided.
(c) The specific plan for assessing households with dependent
children and for ensuring that all households are placed in appropriate housing is described.
(d) The applicant's connection with mainstream, community based social services is described.
(e) The applicant and project sponsors must evidence satisfactory
performance for existing projects serving homeless households with
dependent children and existing Rapid ReHousing for Families projects.
c. Project Renewal Threshold. A CoC must consider the need to continue funding for projects expiring in calendar year 2009. HUD will not fund competitive renewals out of order on the priority list except as may be necessary to achieve statutory, regulatory or NOFA funding requirements as detailed in this NOFA. It is important that SHP renewals and S+C noncompetitive renewals meet minimum project eligibility, capacity and performance standards identified in this NOFA or they will be rejected from consideration for either competitive or noncompetitive funding.
d. Civil Rights Thresholds: Applicants and the project sponsors
must be in compliance with the threshold requirements of the General Section of the SuperNOFA.
3. Program Requirements
a. Under section 808(e)(5) of the Fair Housing Act, HUD has a statutory duty to affirmatively further fair housing. HUD requires the same of its funding recipients. If you are a successful applicant, you will have a duty to affirmatively further fair housing when providing housing and housing related services for classes protected under the Fair Housing Act. As successful applicants you required to certify that they will comply with the requirements of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 360119), Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 6101), and will affirmatively further fair housing. You are also required to comply with the program regulations regarding affirmatively furthering fair housing. Instead of the actions for affirmatively further fair housing in the General Section of the SuperNOFA, successful applicants must affirmatively further fair housing by requiring each project sponsor to (a) adopt actions and procedures and maintain records of the implementation of the actions and procedures taken to affirmatively further fair housing; (b) make information available on the existence and location of facilities and services that are accessible to persons with a disability; and (c) ensure that reasonable steps are taken to inform all eligible persons on the availability of the project so that they may apply for the housing or services provided.
b. Local Resident Employment. To the extent that any housing assistance (including rental assistance) funded through the 2008 CoC NOFA is used for housing rehabilitation (including reduction and abatement of leadbased paint hazards, but excluding routine maintenance, repair, and replacement) or housing construction, then it is subject to section 3 of the Housing and Urban Rehabilitation Act of 1968, and the implementing regulations at 24 CFR Part 135. Section 3, as amended, requires that economic opportunities generated by certain HUD financial assistance for housing and community development programs shall, to the greatest extent feasible, be given to low and very low income persons, particularly those who are recipients of government assistance for housing, and to businesses that provide economic opportunities for these persons.
c. Relocation. The SHP, S+C, and SRO programs are subject to the requirements of the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, as amended (URA). These requirements are explained in HUD Handbook 1378, Tenant Assistance, Relocation and Real Property Acquisition. Also see General Section of the SuperNOFA.
d. Environmental Reviews. All CoC assistance is subject to the National Environmental Policy Act and applicable related Federal environmental authorities. Conditional selection of projects under the CoC Homeless Assistance competition is subject to the environmental review requirements of 24 CFR 582.230, 583.230 and 882.804(c), as applicable. The recipient, its project partners and their contractors may not acquire, rehabilitate, convert, lease (under S+C/TRA where participants are required to live in a particular structure or area as described in section III.C.3.g(3)(a) of this NOFA), repair, dispose of, demolish or construct property for a project under this CoC NOFA, or commit or expend HUD or local funds for such eligible activities, until the responsible entity has completed the environmental review procedures required by Part 58 and the environmental certification and Request for Release of Funds (RROF) have been approved or HUD has performed an environmental review under Part 50 and the recipient has received HUD approval of the property. The expenditure or commitment of Continuum of Care assistance or nonfederal funds for such activities prior to this HUD approval may result in the denial of assistance for the project under consideration. If the program receiving HUD assistance is exclusively for the provision of services and none of the above stated activities are included, and the services provided meet the requirements of an exemption or exclusion listed at 24 CFR 58.34 or 58.35(b), the responsible entity may determine and record that no further environmental review is required, citing the appropriate exemption or exclusion.
e. Expiring/Extended Grants. If a SHP or S+C grant will be expiring in calendar year 2009, or if a S+C Program grant has been extended beyond its original fiveyear term and is projected to run out of funds in FY 2009, a grantee may apply for a renewal under the 2008 CoC NOFA to receive continued funding. Generally, if a renewal project is not awarded funding in 2008, then the project will not be allowed to extend its grant to apply in the 2009 competition.
f. Promoting Energy Efficiency and Energy Star. In keeping with the
Administration's policy priority of promoting energy efficient housing
while protecting the environment, applicants applying for new
construction or rehabilitation funding, who maintain housing or
community facilities or provide services in those facilities, are
encouraged to promote energy efficiency and are specifically [[Page 39848]]
encouraged to purchase and use Energy Starlabeled products. Refer to
the General Section of the SuperNOFA for detailed information about this policy priority.
g. ProgramSpecific Requirements. Please be advised that where an applicant for the SHP funding is a state or unit of general local government that utilizes one or more nonprofit project sponsor(s) to administer the homeless assistance project(s), administrative funds provided as part of the SHP grant must be passed on to the nonprofit organization(s) in proportion to the administrative burden borne by them for the SHP project(s). HUD will consider states or units of general local government that pass on at least 50 percent of the administrative funds made available under the grant as having met this requirement. This requirement does not apply to either the SRO Program, since only PHAs administer the SRO rental assistance, or to the S+C Program, since paying the costs associated with the administration of these grants is ineligible by regulation.
New this year, HUD will award funds to rehabilitate leased
property. However, certain conditions must be met during Technical
Submission and, if they are not met, the award will be withdrawn. The
recipient must have a lease for 25 or more years with a landowner that
is not the applicant, the project sponsor, a parent or affiliated
organization and must submit it to HUD for approval. The landowner must
execute and record against the land the lease and the HUD form Use and
Repayment Covenant. Under certain circumstances, where the useful life
of the improvements is greater than 25 years, the recipient may be required to repay the residual value of the improvements.
(1) SHPNew Projects:
(a) Please note that applicants for new grants can request 2 or 3
years worth of funds for operating, supportive services and leasing
costs and that the grant term will be the 2 or 3 years requested.
However, if an applicant also requests funds for acquisition,
construction or rehabilitation, the grant term will be the 2 or 3
years, plus the time to acquire the property, complete construction and
begin operating the project (no greater than 39 months). The two
exceptions to this rule are: (1) New permanent housing projects and
HMIS projects proposed under HHN Reallocation may request one year of
funding; and (2) new HMIS projects may request one year of funding.
(b) HUD will require recordation of a HUDapproved use and
repayment covenant (a form may be obtained from the field office) for
all grants of funds for acquisition, rehabilitation or new
construction. The covenant will enforce the use and repayment
requirements found at section 423(b)(1) and (c) of the McKinneyVento
Act and must be approved by HUD counsel before execution and
recordation. Proof of recordation must be provided to HUD counsel
before funds for rehabilitation or new construction may be drawn down.
(c) All project sponsors must meet applicant eligibility standards
as described in section III.A.1 of this NOFA. As in past years, HUD
will review project sponsor eligibility as part of the threshold review
process. Project sponsors for new projects are required to submit evidence of their eligibility with the application.
(2) SHPRenewal Projects
(a) For the renewal of a SHP project, applicants from a CoC whose
final FPRN is based on PPRN may request funding for one (1), two (2) or
three (3) years; whereas applicants from a CoC whose FPRN is based upon HHN may request funding for only one (1) year.
(b) The total request for each renewable project cannot exceed the
Annual Renewal Amount received in the current grant for that project.
Because capital costs cannot be renewed, grants being renewed whose
original expiring award included ``hard'' development costs
(acquisition, new construction, and rehab) may only renew eligible line
items and cannot exceed five percent to be used for administration
costs. For more information on the Annual Renewal Amount see section I.A.4.a of this NOFA.
(c) HUD will recapture SHP grant funds remaining unspent at the end of the previous grant period when it renews a grant.
(3) S+CNew Projects
(a) A project may not include more than one component, e.g.,
combining Tenantbased Rental Assistance (TRA) with Sponsorbased
Rental Assistance (SRA) is prohibited within the same grant. Under the
TRA component, in order to help provide supportive services or for the
purposes of controlling housing costs, a grantee may require
participants to live in a particular structure for the first year of
assistance or to live in a particular area for the entire rental
assistance period. Where this option is exercised, an environmental
review and clearance must be performed prior to any commitment to lease
a particular structure or unit for participant occupancy as described in section III.C.3.d of this NOFA, Environmental Reviews.
(b) S+C/SRO Component. If an applicant is a state or a unit of
general local government, that applicant must subcontract with a public
housing agency to administer the S+C assistance. Also, no single
project may contain more than 100
SUMMARY: Housing and Urban Development Department,
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