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FY 2015 CoC Program Competition - Funding Announcement for Tier 2
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Earlier today, Secretary Julián Castro announced $355 million to more than 1,200 local homeless housing and service programs across the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These Continuum of Care (CoC) grants support the Obama Administration’s efforts to end homelessness and build upon the $1.6 billion in funding HUD awarded through a first round of funding in March. View a complete list of all the state and local homeless projects awarded funding.
Secretary Castro stated, “We know how to end homelessness and these grants support local programs that are proven to prevent and end homelessness as we’ve come to know it. As we continue to make progress toward ending homelessness in this country, HUD is challenging communities to use more cost effective solutions to help those experiencing homelessness.”
The competition to award FY 2015 CoC Program grants was the most competitive ever, both locally and nationally. This is consistent with HUD’s policy goals as well as Congressional direction to stringently review performance, increase competition for CoCs, and not simply fund renewals in the FY 2015 CoC Program Competition.
HUD strongly encouraged local applicants to prioritize their funding request very carefully, using a mix of performance data and local needs. In addition, applicants were encouraged to submit projects that were based on research-driven approaches and supported the nation’s goals to prevent and end homelessness. As a result, local CoCs reallocated a combined $124 million in renewal funding from lower performing projects in order to apply for new housing projects. These new projects will provide permanent supportive housing (PSH) and rapid re-housing (RRH) solutions for those experiencing homelessness.
Ultimately, the awards made today, and those awarded in March, will help us achieve the bold goals established in 2010 by President Obama and 19 federal agencies and offices that form the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) in the nation’s first-ever comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness, Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. This means continuing the progress made in reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness and setting a path to ending homelessness in this country. HUD estimates there were 564,708 persons experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2015. Since 2010, local communities around the country reported an 11 percent reduction in overall homelessness, a decline of more than 72,000 persons. During that same time, veteran homelessness fell by 36 percent; chronic homelessness declined 22 percent; and family homelessness declined by 19 percent.
Adjustments to Funding
The conditional awards for renewal projects may be different than what was requested in the project application. The McKinney-Vento Act requires HUD to make certain adjustments to funding prior to award. These adjustments were made after the tiers were established and are as follows:
- Funds awarded for rental assistance were adjusted by applying the Fair Market Rent (FMR) in effect at the time of application submission (including decreases). View the FY 2016 Fair Market Rent Limits.
- Funds awarded for operating and leasing in permanent housing projects were increased based on the average increase in FMR amounts within a CoC’s geographic area, weighted for population density. Because operating and leasing costs do not decrease relative to rent amounts for specific units, adjustments were not made to these costs if the FMRs decreased in the geographic area.
- In addition to these required adjustments, projects were reviewed to ensure that they were consistent with the approved Grant Inventory Worksheet (GIW) and CoC Program interim rule.
- In some cases, a project straddled Tier 1 and Tier 2 and only the Tier 1 portion of the project was funded.
If you have additional questions or require more specific information, please submit a question to the e-snaps HUD Exchange Ask A Question (AAQ) portal or contact your local HUD CPD field office.
To submit a question to the e-snaps AAQ portal, select “e-snaps” from the “My question is related to” drop down list on Step 2 of the question submission process. If you have questions related to the CoC Program interim rule or a policy related question, please submit your questions to the CoC Program AAQ portal. To submit a question to the CoC Program AAQ portal, select “CoC Program” from the “My question is related to” drop down list on Step 2 of the question submission process.
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