WASHINGTON, DC. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced the availability of a $1.42 billion for the 2008 competition for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants, including $25 million for the Family Rapid Re-Housing Demonstration Program. Interested applicants should read the full announcement and supporting materials at HUD's Homelessness Resource Exchange site for details for the competition, which includes substantive changes along with the shift to an electronic application.

The $1.42 billion available through the 2008 HUD competition continues the record of expanded federal resources being invested in solutions to homelessness and represents a record amount of resources available through the annual HUD competitive process.

In December 2007 HUD awarded its combined competitive Homeless Assistance Grants and formula Emergency Shelter Grants resources at a combined record $1.5 billion level to the field. Since 2001, HUD has awarded approximately $10 billion to local communities to support the housing and service needs of homeless individuals and families. A record $1.636 billion in the President's FY 2009 budget for both HUD competitive and formula homeless programs is currently before the Congress. This proposed FY 2009 increase represents a 55 percent increase over 2001 funding.

Background materials for HUD's 2008 competition are posted at HUD's Homelessness Resource Exchange site. HUD convened a Debriefing webcast on the 2007 competition in February 2008 and posted materials on line from the event which include 2007 Lessons Learned, Pro-Rata Need, and a 2008 CoC Application and Registration Overview. A list of all Continuum of Care applicants and a Preliminary Pro Rata Need list by geocode is included.

NOFA Changes for 2008. In May 2008, HUD published an advance notice on the competition concerning several key issues which are further addressed in today's NOFA. 2008 NOFA changes include classification and eligibility issues related to Safe Havens and opportunities to create multiple Samaritan Housing projects through the competition. Interested applicants should read all of the HUD materials, including a continuing posting of technical assistance tools on the Homelessness Resource Exchange site.

Included among other numerous major changes for the 2008 competition are the following and more, about which applicants can become more familiar by reading the entire announcement. The following are examples:

• HUD will continue to score CoC Homeless Assistance applications on a 100 point scale; however, the 40 need points previously allocated to projects are redistributed into the existing point structure.
• A CoC may create multiple Samaritan Housing Initiative projects as long as the total amount of funding requested for all initiative projects does not exceed 15 percent of the CoC's Preliminary Pro Rata Need.
• Safe Havens (SH) will no longer be given Transitional Housing (TH) or Permanent Housing (PH) classifications and grantees will have an opportunity through the FY 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 as chronically homeless and will therefore be eligible to enter a funded Samaritan Housing Initiative project.

Potential applicants are urged to read the full announcement using the link below.

This e-news story also focuses on the $25 million, 3-year Rapid Re- Housing for Families Demonstration Program. As directed by Congress in the FY 2008 HUD Appropriation (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, P.L. 110-161), HUD is implementing the Rapid Re- Housing for Families Demonstration Program. This demonstration program will serve homeless households with dependent children who are residing on the street or in emergency shelters. According to the NOFA, "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."

Housing First for individuals has been designated an evidence-based practice by HHS through its National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP), a service of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The new federal family demonstration resources for the 2008 competition emphasize the priority of the Congress for the family population. Congress directed HUD through the budget to select a limited number of sites for the demonstration based on proven experience in providing Rapid Re-housing, a record of performance, and geographic diversity.

According to the NOFA, 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 three years and may request up to 30 percent of the CoC's Preliminary Pro Rata Need or $2 million, whichever is less. Read the NOFA for full details on eligibility, eligible uses, scoring, and other key issues.

According to HUD, although the NOFA has been released, the new e- snaps electronic application system is not yet available to receive applications (Exhibits 1 and 2). HUD will notify the public via the Homeless Assistance listserv when the application is available, and will publish an additional Federal Register Notice that details the application deadline based on the date when the electronic application is made available to the public. CoC representatives and grantees/applicants should not attempt to enter application information into e-snaps until HUD has announced that the application is available, as this may adversely impact CoC Registration (which is still open).

HUD advises that, for training and additional information about e-snaps, go to the Homelessness Resource Exchange at http://www.hudhre.info/esnaps/. For questions concerning e-snaps, please contact the e- snaps Help Desk at 1-877-6esnaps or via email at esnaps@hudhre.info.

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