Today, HUD issued a memorandum providing regulatory waivers of certain Continuum of Care (CoC), Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), Housing for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA), and Consolidated Plan requirements to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to provide additional supports to individuals and families eligible for CoC, ESG, and HOPWA assistance who are economically impacted by COVID-19. The memorandum is posted on the HUD Exchange Disease Risks and Homelessness Page and HOPWA Resources Page.
Recipients wishing to utilize any of the waivers provided in the memorandum should notify their local CPD Director, by email, of their intent to utilize a specific waiver flexibility two days before they anticipate using the waiver flexibility. HUD has established email addresses by CPD Field Office that recipients should use to direct all waiver requests that will be live beginning April 2, 2020. Download the list of CPD email addresses. Attachment #1 of the memorandum provides details of the exact information the recipient must include in their notification.
Outside of what is required in Attachment #1, recipients are not expected to provide any additional information to HUD at this time, but are expected to update their program records to include written documentation of the specific conditions that justified the use of the waiver consistent with the justifications and applicability provided for each waiver flexibility in the memorandum.
As always, HUD is available to answer questions and provide technical assistance to our homeless assistance and HOPWA providers who need support in preventing or responding to the spread of COVID-19. Please submit your questions to the Ask A Question (AAQ) portal. In Step 2 of the question submission process, homeless assistance providers should select “CoC: Continuum of Care Program” and HOPWA grantees and project sponsors should select “HOPWA: Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS” from the “My question is related to” drop down list and write “Health Preparedness and Response” in the subject line. | 
