Homelessness

HUD Updates Notice on Prioritizing the Chronically Homeless in Permanent Supportive Housing

~ Jenny Hsu ~ Leave a comment

On July 25, 2016, HUD published Notice CPD-16-11 entitled, “Notice Prioritizing Persons Experiencing Chronic Homelessness and Other Vulnerable Homeless Persons in Permanent Supportive Housing.” This notice supersedes the previous Notice CPD-14-012, and provides guidance to Continuums of Care (CoC) and recipients of CoC Program funding for permanent supportive housing (PSH) regarding the order in which eligible households should be served in all CoC Program-funded PSH. This Notice reflects the new definition of chronically homeless as amended by the HUD Final Rule on Defining “Chronically Homeless” and updates the orders of priority that were established under the prior Notice.

CoCs that previously adopted the orders of priority established in Notice CPD-14-012 and who received points for having done so in the FY 2015 CoC Program Competition are encouraged to update their written standards to reflect the updates to the orders of priority as established in this updated Notice. CoCs that have not previously adopted the orders of priority established in Notice CPD- 14-012 are also encouraged to incorporate the orders of priority included in this Notice into their written standards.

Access Notice CPD-16-11 here.

Learn more about HUD’s Final Rule on Defining “Chronically Homeless” here (NAHRO login required).

HUD Seeks Comments on CoC Formula, Proposes Formula Alternatives

~ Georgi Banna

On July 25, the “Continuum of Care Program: Solicitation of Comment on Continuum of Care Formula” notice will be published by HUD in the Federal Register. The purpose of the notice to solicit comments on the current Continuum of Care (CoC) formula and a number of updated CoC Preliminary Pro Rata Need (PPRN formula) options. Comments will be due 60 days after the notice is issued – September 23, 2106, based on the anticipated Federal Register date of July 25.

The current PPRN formula was published by HUD as the interim rule on July 31, 2012, and is a combination of Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) program grant funds and Community Development Block Grant (CBDG) funds awarding formulas. This notice proposes four alternative formulas that use various factors and factor weights.

HUD has made available two tools to explore potential updates to the PPRN formula. The first tool is the CoC PPRN Proposed Formula Impacts by CoC resource where users can learn more about the CoC-level PPRN funding impact of implementing each of the four proposed formulas in the Notice, as compared to the FY 15 PPRN amounts by CoC. The second tool, CoC PPRN Alternate Formula Testing Tool, tests the impact of potential factors for an alternate CoC PPRN formula.

Additional information will be available on NAHRO’s Community Development Resource Center and on HUD’s notice website.

PAHRC Releases “Housing is a Foundation” 2016 Report

~ Tushar Gurjal

Today, July 20, PAHRC released its yearly research report for 2016 titled “Housing is a Foundation.” This year’s report focuses on the lack of available housing assistance, the people who receive housing assistance, and the beneficial impacts of housing assistance. The report supplies data to “foster a better understanding of the need for housing assistance and how this assistance helps meet the needs of low-income families and their communities.”

Here’s a great graphic on how helpful rental assistance is on all facets of a household.

https://www.housingcenter.com/sites/default/files/styles/panopoly_image_full/public/general/Summary.png?itok=lOA8Moub

The full report can be read here.

HUD Opens FY 2016 Continuum of Care Competition

~ Jenny Hsu

Yesterday, HUD published the FY 2016 Continuum of Care (CoC) Program Competition Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), making $1.9 billion available in funds available for continuums across the nation. For this competition, the total amount of funding available may not cover all anticipated eligible renewal projects and HUD continues to require CoCs to rank their projects into two tiers (Tier 1 and Tier 2). The submission deadline for this competition is Wednesday, September 14, 2016.

A few notable changes to this year’s NOFA include:

  • Changes to Tiers: Funding for Tier 1 this year is equal to 93 percent of the CoC’s Annual Renewal Demand (ARD). This is an increase from 85 percent last year, which means CoCs will have a the better opportunity to protect those higher priority projects and fewer projects will be in jeopardy of cut funds.
  • New Policy Priority: Creating a systematic response to homelessness is a new policy priority this year. According to a recent CoC Competition Focus message from HUD, having a systemic response to homelessness requires establishing a coordinated entry system, cohesive planning by the entire community, making assistance appealing and accessible, and using system performance measures.
  • Additional Points: System performance and reallocation will be worth more points in this NOFA. Beginning this year, CoCs are now required to report their system performance measures into HUD’s Homeless Data Exchange (HDX) by August 1, 2016. For this competition, a CoC could receive up to 10 points for attaching their system performance measures report to it’s application.

HUD’s announcement for the competition also included a message encouraging CoCs to reallocate funds from lower performing transitional housing projects serving households fleeing domestic violence to other types of projects serving people fleeing domestic violence. This would “ensure that CoC-funded projects serving people fleeing domestic violence are as effective as possible.” HUD will soon release further guidance on this issue.