21st Century Essential Guide to HUD Programs and Housing Grants – Volume Two, Major Programs, Housing for the Elderly (Section 202) and Disabled (Section 811), Homeless Assistance, Applications
Edition: Version 1.0 – 01/2011
U.S. Government, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
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ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO HUD PROGRAMS AND HOUSING GRANTS
Volume 2: MAJOR PROGRAMS
HOMELESS ASSISTANCE CONTINUUM OF CARE
HOUSING FOR THE ELDERLY (Section 202)
HOUSING FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (Section 811)
Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 53 / Monday, March 21, 2005 / Notices 14273
Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Programs
Overview Information
A. Federal Agency Name: Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development.
B. Funding Opportunity Title: 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–4950– N–15. The OMB Approval number is pending.
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: Application Submission Date:
Applications should be submitted no later than June 10, 2005. Please see the General Section for detailed instructions and Section IV of this NOFA for application submission and timely receipt requirements.
G. Additional Overview Content Information:
1. Purpose of the Programs: The purpose of the CoC Homeless Assistance Programs is to assist homeless persons to move to self-sufficiency and permanent housing.
2. Available Funds: Approximately $1 billion is available for funding.
3. Eligible Applicants: The program summary chart in Section III.A.3 identifies the eligible applicants for each of the three programs under the CoC Homeless Assistance Programs.
4. Match: Matching funds are required from local, state, federal or private resources.
Full Text of Announcement
I. Funding Opportunity Description
A. Program Description
1. Overview
a. The purpose of the CoC Homeless Assistance Programs is to reduce the incidence of homelessness in CoC communities by assisting homeless individuals and families to move to self-sufficiency and permanent housing. Projects that sustain current successful interventions and fill gaps in locally developed CoC systems will be funded. To help meet the Administration’s goal of ending chronic homelessness, priority will be placed on programs that target the supportive housing needs of chronically homeless persons.
2. The authorizing legislation and implementing regulations for all programs covered by this NOFA are outlined on the chart in Section III.A.3. HUD published a proposed rule updating the Supportive Housing Program at 69 FR 43488 on July 20, 2004 and is currently considering the public comments received. HUD expects to publish a final rule based on the proposed rule and comments in 2005. If a final rule is published before announcement of awards under this NOFA, the new final rule will apply to those awards.
3. Changes for 2005. These changes include, but are not limited to, the following:
A. CoC Hold Harmless Amount. This is the total of the one-year amount of all SHP projects eligible for renewal. CoC’s shall receive the higher of: (1) the preliminary pro rata need (PRN) or (2) the CoC hold harmless amount. In the past, HUD awarded a renewal adjustment when the amount needed to fund all eligible renewals for one year exceeded the preliminary pro rata need. An unintended consequence of this policy resulted in CoCs having to request renewal of projects that in their judgment did not best reflect the current needs of the community. CoCs receiving the CoC hold harmless amount will now have the opportunity to reallocate their PRN funds in order to create new permanent supportive housing projects. This will provide them with the same flexibility that CoCs without excessive SHP renewals have. See Section V.A.2.b of this program section for this significant change.
b. Samaritan Housing Initiative. The Samaritan Initiative (formerly known as the Permanent Housing Bonus) will be integrated into this NOFA as part of the larger CoC process and is only for projects serving exclusively chronically homeless persons. It is 15 percent of a CoC’s preliminary PRN amount or $6 million, whichever is less. Applicants may use no more than 20 percent of this bonus for case management costs. See Section V.A.2.b(3) for additional information on this subject.
c. Grant Terms. The grant terms for all newly proposed SHP projects are two (2) or three (3) years. See Section II.A.3 for additional information on this subject.
d. Participant Eligibility for
Permanent Housing. The only persons who may be served by permanent housing projects (both new and renewal) are those who come from the streets, emergency shelters, or transitional housing. People who are currently housed but may become homeless within seven days, remain eligible for transitional housing and emergency shelters. Please see Section III.C.2.a(3) and the Questions and Answers Supplement for further information.
e. Pro Rata Need. Any project not falling fully within the 40 need point range will receive 10 need points. Please see Section V.A.2.b(4) for more information.
f. Fair Market Rent (FMR) Updates.
HUD will select projects using the FMRs in place at the time of application. HUD will then apply the FMRs in place at the time of award. See V.A.2.b(3) for more information.
g. Conducting Business In Accordance with Core Values and Ethical Standards.
All applicants will be required, prior to entering into an agreement with HUD, to submit a copy of their Code of Conduct. Refer to the General Section for detailed instructions regarding this requirement.
h. Form HUD 96010, Logic Model. Applicants must submit a Logic Model for each project, new and renewal. Refer to the General Section for instructions and a copy of this form.
i. CoC Planning Process
Organizations. A description of the ‘‘level of participation’’ has been included for the list of organizations involved in your CoC planning efforts. See Exhibit 1, Form HUD–40076 CoC– B.
j. The Discharge Planning Policy
narrative has been replaced with a chart. See Exhibit 1, Form HUD–40076 CoC–D.
k. The Service Activity Chart has been streamlined to reflect an inventory of supportive services and the agencies providing these services. The description of planned services and how participants access/receive assistance is no longer required. See Exhibit 1, Form HUD–40076 CoC–F.
l. The Housing Gaps Analysis Chart has been eliminated. That information is now reported in the Housing Activity Charts, which have been substantially revised. See Exhibit 1, Form HUD– 40076 CoC–G.
m. Participation in Energy Star. Form HUD–40076 CoC–H has been changed to capture CoCs’ efforts to promote energy efficiency in HUD assisted programs. See Exhibit 1.
n. The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Section has been revised to capture more information on HMIS implementation efforts. See Exhibit 1, Form HUD–40076 CoC–J.
o. The Project Priorities Section has been updated to include a Reallocation Chart and required narrative response.
p. The Continuum of Care Use of Other Resources Chart has been eliminated.
q. Audits. The Reporting Section has been updated to reflect the requirement for annual audits for those grantees that expend more than $500,000 in Federal funds. See Section VI.C for additional information on this subject.
r. Appropriate Discharge Planning and Coordination and Integration of Mainstream Programs are still required, but the Special Project Certifications have been eliminated.
s. The ‘‘Housing Emphasis’’ scoring has been increased from 10 to 12 points. See Section V.A.2.a.(5) for additional information on this subject.
t. The ‘‘Performance Measurement’’ scoring has been increased from 5 to 8 points. See Section V.A.2.a.(6) for additional information on this subject.
u. The ‘‘Leveraging Supplemental Resources’’ scoring has been reduced from 13 to 8 points. See Section V.A.2.a.(4) for additional information on this subject.
v. The ‘‘Questions and Answers Supplement’’ should be thoroughly reviewed and is now available on the web at www.hud.gov/offices/adm/ grants/fundsavail.cfm. Please see Section IV.A.
4. Developing and Coordinating CoC
Systems: Developing a CoC system should be an inclusive process that brings together participants from the state, local, private and nonprofit sectors to assist homeless persons. It should be coordinated and consistent with the community’s larger effort of developing a HUD required Consolidated Plan. The Consolidated Plan serves as the vehicle for a community to comprehensively identify each of its needs and to coordinate a plan of action for addressing them. State and local 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness must be aligned with (if not identical to) the CoC plan to end chronic homelessness. For a community to successfully address the complex and interrelated problems related to homelessness, the community must marshal its varied resources— community and economic development resources, social service resources, housing and homeless assistance resources—and use them in a coordinated and effective manner.
5. CoC Components. A CoC system consists of five basic components:
a. A system of outreach and assessment for determining the needs and conditions of an individual or family who is 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 those homeless individuals and families who are not prepared to make the transition to permanent housing and independent living; and
d. Permanent housing, or permanent supportive housing, to help meet the long-term needs of homeless individuals and families.
e. Prevention strategies play an integral role in a community’s plan to eliminate homelessness. By law, prevention activities are ineligible activities in the three programs for which funds are awarded in this competition but are eligible for funding under the Emergency Shelter Grants block grant program.
6. CoC Planning Process. A CoC system is developed through a community-wide or region-wide process involving nonprofit organizations (including those representing persons with disabilities), government agencies, public housing authorities, community and faith-based organizations, other homeless providers, housing developers and service providers, private businesses and business associations, law enforcement agencies, private funding providers, and homeless or formerly homeless persons. A CoC system 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 co-occurring diagnoses (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 you involve veteran service organizations with specific experience in serving homeless veterans.
7. CoC Funding is provided through the programs briefly described below. Please refer to the CoC Homeless Assistance Programs Chart in Section III.A.3 for a more detailed description of each program:
a. The Supportive Housing Program
(SHP) provides funding for the development of transitional and permanent supportive housing and services that help homeless persons transition from homelessness to living as independently as possible. Some services are also funded to assist in achieving the goal of self-sufficiency.
b. The Shelter Plus Care (S+C) Program provides funding for rental assistance and requires grantees to identify service dollars. 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.
8. Glossary of Terms:
a. Applicant. An entity that applies to HUD for funds. See the CoC Homeless Assistance Programs Chart in Section III.A.3 for a list of entities that are eligible. An applicant must submit a SF–424. If selected for funding, the applicant becomes the grantee and is responsible for the overall management of the grant, including drawing grant funds and distributing them to project sponsors. The applicant is also responsible for supervision of project sponsor compliance with grant requirements. The applicant may also be a project sponsor.
b. Applicant Certification. The form, required by law, in which an applicant certifies that it will adhere to certain statutory requirements, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
c. 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 ‘‘a diagnosable substance use disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability, or chronic physical illness or disability, including the co-occurrence of two or more of these conditions.’’ In defining the chronically homeless, the term ‘‘homeless’’ means ‘‘a person sleeping in a place not meant for human habitation (e.g., living on the streets) or in an emergency homeless shelter.’’ d. Consolidated Plan. A long-term housing and community development plan developed by state and local governments and approved by HUD. 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 Need sections of the Housing Activities Chart. The plan contains both narratives and maps, the latter developed by localities using software provided by HUD.
e. 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.
f. Continuum of Care. A collaborative funding approach that helps communities plan for and provide a full range of emergency, transitional, and permanent housing and service resources to address the various needs of homeless persons.
g. Current Inventory. A complete listing of the community’s existing beds and supportive services.
h. Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS). An HMIS is a computerized data collection application designed to capture client level information over time on the characteristics and 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. The HMIS can provide data on client characteristics and service utilization.
i. Homeless Person means 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. For a more detailed discussion, see the Questions and Answers Supplement available on the web at www.hud.gov/ offices/adm/grants/fundsavail.cfm. The programs covered by this NOFA are not for populations who are at risk of becoming homeless.
j. NOFA. Notice of Funding Availability, published in the Federal Register to announce available funds and application requirements.
k. Private Nonprofit Status. Private nonprofit status is documented by submitting either: (1) a copy of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruling providing tax-exempt 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 designated official of the organization 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):
(1) Accurate, current and complete disclosure of the financial results of each federally sponsored project.
(2) Records that identify adequately the source and application of funds for federally sponsored activities.
(3) Effective control over and accountability for all funds, property and other assets.
(4) Comparison of outlays with budget amounts.
(5) 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.
(6) Written procedures for determining the reasonableness, allocability and allowability of costs.
(7) Accounting records, including cost accounting records, which are supported by source documentation.
1. Public Nonprofit Status. Public nonprofit status is documented for community mental health centers by including a letter or other document from an authorized official stating that the organization is a public nonprofit organization.
m. Project Sponsor. The organization that is responsible for carrying out the proposed project activities. A project sponsor does not submit a SF–424, unless it is also the applicant. To be eligible to be a project sponsor, you must meet the same program eligibility standards as applicants do, as outlined in Section III.A.3, except in the Sponsor-based rental assistance (SRA) component of the S+C Program. Eligible sponsors for the SRA component are statutorily precluded from also applying for S+C funding.
n. SF 424. The application cover sheet required to be submitted by applicants requesting HUD Federal Assistance.
o. Safe Haven. A Safe Haven is a form of supportive housing funded and administered under the Supportive Housing Program serving hard-to-reach homeless persons with severe mental illness and other debilitating behavioral conditions who are on the streets and have been unwilling or unable to participate in supportive services. Safe Havens may be transitional supportive housing, or permanent supportive housing if it has the characteristics of permanent housing and requires participants to sign a lease.
9. Applicant Roles and Responsibilities. An applicant will be responsible for the overall management and administration of a particular grant, including drawing down the grant funds, distributing them to the project sponsors, overseeing project sponsors, collecting and disseminating community-level data, and reporting to HUD. 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 a grant (as the grantee) and carrying out the project activities (as the project sponsor).
II. Award Information
A. Amount Allocated. Approximately $1 billion is available for this CoC competition in FY 2005. Any unobligated funds from previous CoC competitions or additional funds that may become available as a result of deobligations or recaptures from previous awards or budget transfers may be used in addition to FY 2005 appropriations to fund applications submitted in response to this NOFA. The FY 2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act requires HUD to obligate all CoC homeless assistance funds by September 30, 2007. These funds will remain available for expenditure for five (5) years following that date, except as provided by the 2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act, including up to $20 million awarded for the Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Program to be available until expended. The funds available for the CoC competition can be used under any of the three programs that can assist in creating community systems for combating homelessness.
1. Distribution of Funds: As in previous NOFAs for the CoC Homeless Assistance Programs, HUD will not specify amounts for each of the three programs this year. Instead, the distribution of funds among the three programs will depend largely on locally determined priorities and overall demand.
a. Permanent Housing Requirement.
Local priorities notwithstanding, the FY 2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act requires that not less than 30 percent of this year’s Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) appropriation, excluding amounts provided for one-year renewals under the Shelter Plus Care Program, must be used for permanent housing projects for all homeless populations.
b. Chronic Homelessness Requirement. The Administration has established as a policy priority the goal of ending chronic homelessness. CoCs are strongly encouraged to use the funds available in this NOFA to target persons experiencing chronic homelessness in their communities. HUD encourages communities to select projects that will contribute to the achievement of this important goal. CoCs should work closely with appropriate state and local governments and interagency councils on homelessness that are establishing their own ten-year plan for eliminating chronic homelessness. All these efforts should be coordinated and consistent with the community’s HUD Consolidated Plan as well as the CoC’s plan to end chronic homelessness. To work towards this goal, HUD is targeting the Samaritan Initiative for projects that exclusively serve individuals who are experiencing chronic homelessness. In addition, at least 10 percent of the appropriation will be awarded to new or renewal, transitional or permanent housing projects where at least 70 percent of the project’s clients are expected to be chronically homeless (as defined by HUD) immediately prior to entry into the project. Housing projects include: SHP transitional housing, permanent housing and Safe Havens; S+C; and SRO projects. Since the housing funding allocation set-aside requirements are expected to continue in future competitions and may affect project funding selections, you are strongly encouraged to begin planning for new housing projects, particularly those serving individuals experiencing chronic homelessness, and include them as part of your submission in this competition. See Section V.B.3.a and V.B.3.b of this NOFA for additional information on the permanent housing and chronic homeless requirements.
c. Lower-rated SHP Renewals. HUD reserves the authority to conditionally select for one year of funding lower rated eligible SHP renewal projects that are assigned 40 need points in a CoC application receiving at least 25 points under the CoC scoring factor that would not otherwise receive funding for these projects. (See Section V.A.2.a and V.A.2.b of this NOFA for information on project rating and scoring.) Therefore, the projects must receive a minimum score of 65 points. Although these lower-rated SHP renewal projects will have scored below the otherwise recognized funding line, their funding 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.
2. Prioritizing Projects for Funding.
Project priority decisions are best made by members of the local community, including local government and community and faith-based organizations, which represent the various economic, housing and social resources within that community. For example, if HUD has funds available only to award 8 of 10 proposed projects, then it will award funding to the first 8 eligible projects listed, except as may be necessary to achieve the 30 percent overall permanent housing and the 10 percent chronic homelessness requirements; see Section V.B.3.a. and V.B.3.b. of this NOFA for additional information. In such cases, higher priority non-permanent housing projects may be de-selected to fund lower priority permanent housing projects and housing projects predominantly serving those persons experiencing chronic homelessness.
3. Grant Term. See chart in Section III.A.3. of this NOFA for information on the term of assistance for each of the three CoC programs covered in this NOFA.
III. Eligibility Information
A. Eligible Applicants
1. Eligible applicants for each program are those identified in the following chart.
2. Renewal Applicants. As a project applicant, you are eligible to apply for renewal of a grant only if you have executed a grant agreement for the project directly with HUD for SHP or S+C programs under a CoC NOFA. If you are a project sponsor or subrecipient who has not signed such an agreement, you are not eligible to apply for renewal of these projects.
3. CONTINUUM OF CARE HOMELESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
Elements / Supportive housing / Shelter plus care / Section 8 SRO
AUTHORIZING LEGISLATION
Subtitle C of Title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 11381.
Subtitle F of Title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 11403.
Section 441 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance 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)
States
Units of general local government.
Special purpose units of government, e.g. PHAs.
Private nonprofit organizations
Community Mental Health Centers that are public nonprofit organizations. /
States
Units of general local government.
PHAs/
PHAs
Private nonprofit organizations.
ELIGIBLE COMPONENTS
Transitional housing
Permanent housing for disabled persons only.
Supportive services not in conjunction with supportive housing.
Safe Havens
Innovative supportive housing
Homeless Management. Information System (HMIS)/
Tenant-based housing
Sponsor-based housing
Project-based housing
SRO-based housing/
SRO housing.
ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES (See footnotes 1,2 and 3).
Acquisition
Rehabilitation
New construction
Leasing
Operating costs
Supportive services/
Rental assistance/
Rental assistance
ELIGIBLE POPULATIONS (See footnote 2).
Homeless individuals and families./
Homeless disabled individuals
Homeless disabled individuals & their families/
Homeless individuals.
POPULATIONS GIVEN SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.
Homeless persons with disabilities.
Homeless families with children/
Homeless persons who are seriously mentally ill, have chronic problems with alcohol and/or drugs, have AIDS & related diseases.
N/A.
INITIAL TERM OF ASSISTANCE\
2 or 3 years for new SHP; 1, 2 or 3 years for new HMIS/
5 years: TRA, SRA, and PRA if no rehab, 10 years: SRO, and PRA with rehab/
10 years
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 for emergency shelters are statutorily ineligible for assistance under Shelter Plus Care and Section 8 SRO.
B. Matching (Cost Sharing)
You must match Supportive Housing Program 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, you must provide at least a 25 percent cash match of the total annual operating costs. In addition, for all SHP funding for supportive services and Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) you must provide a 25 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. The cash source may be your agency, other Federal programs, state and local governments, or private resources.
You 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 from any of the sources above. Documentation of the match requirement must be maintained in the grantee’s financial records on a grant-specific basis.
C. Other
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.3.
2. Threshold Requirements
a. Project Eligibility Threshold
HUD will review projects to determine if they meet the following eligibility threshold requirements. If HUD determines the following standards are not met by a specific project or activity, the project or activity will be rejected from the competition.
(1) Applicants and sponsors must meet the eligibility requirements of the specific program as described in program regulations and provide evidence of eligibility and appropriate certifications as specified by the attachments in Section VIII.
(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 to be served pertaining to homelessness and disability status.
(3) New this year, the only persons who may be served by new and renewal permanent housing projects are those who come from the streets, emergency shelters, or transitional housing. As participants leave currently operating projects, participants who meet this new eligibility standard must replace them.
(4) Projects that involve rehabilitation or new construction must meet the accessibility requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the design and construction requirements of the Fair Housing Act and the accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as applicable.
(5) The project must be cost-effective, 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.
(6) 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.
(7) S+C renewal applications that are not submitted as part of a CoC application will not be considered as eligible for funding.
(8) Under the Sponsor-based rental assistance S+C component, an applicant must subcontract the funding awarded with an eligible 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.
(9) 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.
(10) Applicants agree to participate in a local HMIS system when it is implemented in their community.
b. Project Quality Threshold. HUD will review projects to determine if they meet the following quality threshold requirements. 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) 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 vast majority of the proposed participants come from the streets or homeless shelters or transitional housing for homeless persons.
(3) 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.
(4) 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.
(5) How participants are helped to obtain and remain in permanent housing is described.
(6) How participants are assisted to both increase their incomes and live independently is provided.
(7) Applicants and sponsors must evidence satisfactory performance for existing grant(s).
c. Project Renewal Threshold. Your local needs analysis process must consider the need to continue funding for projects expiring in calendar year 2006. HUD will not fund competitive renewals out of order on the priority list except as may be necessary to achieve the 30 percent overall permanent housing requirement and the 10 percent requirement for individuals experiencing chronic homelessness requirement. It is important that SHP renewals and S+C non-competitive 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 applicable civil rights laws and Executive Orders, and must meet the threshold requirements of the General Section.
(1) Projects funded under this NOFA shall operate in a fashion that does not deprive any individual of any right protected by the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601–19), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d) or the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 6101).
(2) Local Resident Employment. To the extent that any housing assistance (including rental assistance) funded through this NOFA is used for housing rehabilitation (including reduction and abatement of lead-based 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.
(3) 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.
(4) 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.e(3)(a)), 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.
3. Program Requirements.
a. CoC Geographic Area. In deciding what geographic area you will cover in your CoC strategy, you should be aware that the single most important factor in being awarded funding under this competition will be the strength of your CoC strategy when measured against the CoC rating factors described in this NOFA. When you determine what jurisdictions to include in your CoC strategy area, include only those jurisdictions that are fully involved in the development and implementation of the CoC strategy. The more jurisdictions you include in the CoC strategy area, the larger the pro rata need share that will be allocated to the strategy area (as described in Section V.B.2.b. of this NOFA). If you are a rural county, you may wish to consider working with larger groups of contiguous counties to develop a regionwide or multi-county CoC strategy covering the combined service areas of these counties. The areas covered by CoC strategies should not overlap.
b. Expiring/Extended Grants. If your SHP or S+C Program grant will be expiring in calendar year 2006, or if your S+C Program grant has been extended beyond its original five-year term and is projected to run out of funds in FY 2006, you must apply as a renewal under this CoC NOFA to get continued funding.
c. Coordination with Mainstream Resources. If your project is selected for funding as a result of the competition, you will be required to coordinate and integrate your homeless program with other mainstream (non-homeless targeted) health, social services, and employment programs for which homeless populations may be eligible, including Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Food Stamps, and services funded through the Mental Health Block Grant and Substance Abuse Block Grant, Workforce Investment Act, Welfare-to- Work grant program and Veterans Health Care.
d. Prevention Strategies and Discharge Policies. In addition, as a condition for award, any governmental entity serving as an applicant must agree to develop and implement, to the maximum extent practical and where appropriate, policies and protocols for the discharge of persons from publicly funded institutions or systems of care (such as health care facilities, foster care or other youth facilities, or correction programs and institutions) in order to prevent such discharge from immediately resulting in homelessness for such persons. While the state or local governmental entity having jurisdiction in the area of the Continuum’s application has the formal responsibility to enact the discharge policy, the Continuum is expected to actively involve itself in the planning and implementation of the discharge policy. This condition for award is intended to emphasize that states and units of general local government are primarily responsible for the care of these individuals, and to forestall attempts to use scarce McKinney-Vento Act homeless assistance funds to assist such persons in lieu of state and local resources.
e. Program-Specific 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 organizations 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.
(1) SHP—New Projects
(a) Please note that the grant term for new SHP projects is two (2) or three (3) years.
(b) HUD will require recordation of a HUD-approved use and repayment covenant (a form may be obtained from your 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 McKinney-Vento 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.3. As in past years, HUD will review sponsor eligibility as part of the selection process. Project sponsors are required to submit evidence of their eligibility with the application (See Section IV.B.1.(3)(a).
(2) SHP—Renewal Projects
(a) For the renewal of a SHP project, you may request funding for one (1), two (2) or three (3) years.
(b) The total request for each renewable project cannot exceed the average yearly amount received in your current grant for that project, plus up to five percent for administration. Projects proposing both to renew the existing project and expand the number of units or number of participants receiving services must submit a new project proposal for the expansion portion of the project. HMIS activities being renewed should be included on the HMIS budget chart.
(c) HUD will recapture SHP grant funds remaining unspent at the end of the previous grant period when it renews a grant.
(3) S+C—New Projects
(a) A project may not include more than one component, e.g., combining Tenant-based Rental Assistance (TRA) with Sponsor-based 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.2.d.(4), Environmental Reviews.
(b) S+C/SRO Component. If you are a state or a unit of general local government, you must subcontract with a Public Housing Authority to administer the S+C assistance. Also, no single project may contain more than 100 units.
(c) S+C SRA Component. Project sponsors must submit proof of their eligibility to serve as a project sponsor.
(4) S+C Renewal Projects
HUD encourages the consolidation of appropriate S+C renewal grants when the grants are under the same grantee, same component and expire in the same year. However, renewal requests for expiring S+C grants should still be listed individually on the CoC priority list and will be awarded as individual renewal grants. Where the grantee wishes to consolidate the renewal grants, this action may be subsequently accomplished by the field office at the point of renewal grant agreement execution. The field office will receive instructions for this process in the S+C Operating Procedures guidance for 2005 awards.
(a) For the renewal of a S+C project, including S+C SROs, the grant term will be one (1) year, as specified by Congress. For the renewal of S+C rental assistance that is Tenant-based (TRA), Sponsor-based (SRA) or Project-based (PRA), you may request up to the amount determined by multiplying the number of units under lease at the time of your application for renewal funding by the applicable 2005 Fair Market Rent(s) by 12 months. Current FMRs can be found at www.hudclips.org. For S+C grants having been awarded one year of renewal funding in 2004, the number of units requested for renewal this year must not exceed the number of units funded in 2004. As is the case with SHP, HUD will recapture S+C grant funds remaining unspent at the end of the previous grant period when it renews a grant. The one-year term of non-competitively awarded S+C renewal projects may not be extended.
(b) The renewal of S+C SROs expiring in 2006 will also be non-competitively awarded under this NOFA. For the renewal of S+C SRO rental assistance, you may request up to the amount determined by multiplying the number of units under contract at the time of your application for renewal funding by the contract rent at the time of expiration by 12 months.
(c) Under the FY 2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act, eligible S+C Program grants whose terms are expiring in 2006, and S+C Program grants that have been extended beyond their original five-year terms but which are projected to run out of funds in 2006, will be renewed for one year provided that they are determined to be needed by the CoC as evidenced by their inclusion on the priority chart. These projects must also demonstrate that their applicant and sponsor meet eligibility, capacity and performance requirements described in Section V.A.1 of this NOFA. Non-competitive S+C renewals should be submitted by the application deadline. These S+C renewal projects will not count against a continuum’s pro rata need amount, but should be numbered, continuing the priority sequence, on the CoC Priority Chart. On the other hand, no community hold harmless amount will be computed for any CoC using S+C renewal amounts since these projects are being funded outside of the competition.