If you’re working on your application to the FY 2015 Continuum of Care competition you’ve probably noticed that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has placed a big emphasis on Housing First in this year’s Continuum of Care Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA).
With this NOFA, HUD is acknowledging that program barriers that exclude people from receiving help, or prolong their homelessness, are not a smart investment. It’s doing that by heavily incentivizing a low barrier, Housing First approach that will ensure people with the highest needs are not denied the help they need.
Like many of our colleagues around the country, folks at the Alliance are now carefully examining the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFA) that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued earlier this month for Continuum-of-Care (CoC) programs.
The CoC grant application process is always a competitive one, but the competition will be more, well, competitive, this year than in prior years. So, what’s at stake? We are told that there is significant risk that some communities will gain new funding at the expense of other communities who will lose it.
As many readers of this blog are no doubt already know, last week the Department of Housing and Urban Development Continuum finally released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Continuum of Care (CoC) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). If you’re applying for funds through the NOFA, you should pay close attention not just to the big picture, but to all the details. That’s why over the next few weeks, we will be releasing more detailed information on the NOFA.
For now, though, here is a quick look at the NOFA’s three big-picture trends just to get you started.
This sample master list is meant to serve as a model for communities following the Alliances “Five Steps to End Veteran Homelessness.” Creating and maintaining a master list of homeless veterans in your community is meant to ensure that service providers and partners that are working together to end veteran homelessness are on the same page and have a clear set of people who require housing. Also included with the sample list are answers to several frequently asked questions.
This resource examines the role of long-term, congregate transitional housing in ending homelessness. It was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, and the Office of Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice.
