Springfield-Hampden County Continuum of Care

The CoC Board of Directors will meet Friday, July 28, 1:30-3 pm, at the offices of the Mental Health Association, 995 Worthington St., Springfield

The meeting is open for attendance by all CoC members.

The primary agenda item will be review of CoC funding priorities and the process for the FY17 CoC Competition, which will be recommended to the Board for approval. A more detailed agenda and supporting documents will be posted prior to the meeting.

HUD released the FY17 CoC NOFA on July 14. The NOFA makes available $3,619,553 in funding for permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, and a new category Transitional Housing-Rapid Rehousing, which allows a single provider to have a program that combines these two housing types in order to allow very short-term transitional housing placements followed by provision of rental assistance. The NOFA also makes available renewal funding for HMIS and Coordinated Entry.

Of this year’s grant, $339,807 are bonus funds for one or more new projects. In addition to these funds, there is the possibility that additional funds will be freed up from existing grants for new projects.

 

 

The Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Continuum of Care (CoC) Program Competition has been posted to the FY 2017 CoC Program Competition: Funding Availability page on the HUD Exchange.

You can access the NOFA here: https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/FY-2017-CoC-Program-Competition-NOFA.pdf

The Submission Deadline is Thursday, September 28, 2017. The electronic application in e-snaps will be available on or after next Tuesday, July 18, 2017.

What’s New and Special Considerations for the FY 2017 CoC Program Competition

The list below highlights some important information about what has changed, what is new, and special considerations that CoCs should make while planning for the FY 2017 CoC Program Competition. This list is not exhaustive and additional details are located in the FY 2017 CoC Program Competition NOFA.

• Tier 1 is 94 percent of the CoC’s ARD amount.
• The amount available for the Permanent Housing Bonus is 6 percent of the CoC’s Final Pro Rata Need (FPRN).
• Renewal project applicants may submit their renewal project applications with no changes. We strongly encourage you wait to access e-snaps to complete your renewal project application until the FY 2017 Renewal Project Application Detailed Instructions are posted on the HUD Exchange so you can determine if you want to take advantage of this new function.
• HUD has made several changes to the eligibility requirements for permanent housing, permanent supportive housing, and rapid rehousing. Applicants should carefully read the FY 2017 CoC Program Competition NOFA regarding these changes.
• Most of the mandatory HUD form attachments have been moved to e-snaps as fillable forms that only require a checkbox certification with the project applicant’s authorized representative information. The only HUD required form that remains an attachment is the HUD-2991, Certification of Consistency with the Consolidated Plan, and it must be attached by the Collaborative Applicant to the FY 2017 CoC Priority Listing.
• Tier 2 project-level scoring has been revised to include only three criteria – CoC Application score, ranked position of the project application in Tier 2, and the project application’s commitment to Housing First. The type of project has been removed as a Tier 2 scoring criteria.
• System Performance Measurement information will be largely scored on data submitted by the CoC to the Homelessness Data Exchange (HDX), although CoCs will be required to attach the FY 2017 Competition Report to their CoC Application in e-snaps.
• The local ranking process continues to be crucial to making the CoC Program as effective as possible. CoCs should use objective, performance-based criteria to rate projects and should consider both the need to serve particular populations of people experiencing homelessness (for example, survivors of domestic violence, youth, and persons with substance use disorders) and the effectiveness of their projects in reducing homelessness.
• All applicants must have a current HUD-approved Code of Conduct. Most organizations’ Codes of Conduct were removed from HUD’s website in early 2017, as they did not meet the requirements of 2 CFR part 200, and the organizations were notified by another HUD office that a new Code of Conduct must be submitted. Be sure to review the Code of Conduct for HUD Grant Programs page on HUD’s website to ensure your organization is listed which means you have submitted an approved Code of Conduct. If you do not see your organization on the list, be sure to attach a current and complete Code of Conduct to your Project Applicant Profile in e-snaps.

CHRONIC HOMELESSNESS

The CoC had a great month in June, coordinating placement of 10 individuals from our by-name list into permanent housing. Congratulations!

Over the last year, we have reduced the number of active people on the list by 42%. The number is now 73. We set a goal of getting the number to 48 by the end of August 2017, so we will need to continue the great work that providers accomplished in June.

VI-SPDAT and SPDAT

As I have mentioned in a few recent meetings, we have been trying to arrange for OrgCode to come to Springfield for training on the VI-SPDAT and the SPDAT. We have finally connected and are working toward a date in September or October–stay tuned!

 

HUD is expected to release the NOFA for the FY17 funding competition very soon. The CoC relies on HMIS data to review performance of all CoC projects to guide decisions about what to fund and where to rank projects.

The CoC will use data for the period 7/1/2016 to 6/30/2017 to evaluate projects for the competition.

Please take time now to review your data for errors. Note the following schedule:

7/15    All data should be complete

7/17    Draft APRs for reporting period distributed to providers

7/28    Deadline to make corrections to data

7/31    Final APRs for FY17 competition produced

Data in the final APRs will be used for scoring and ranking. Thank you in advance for helping us get high-quality data!

Iain De Jong of OrgCode–the creators of the VI-SPDAT–has written a terrific blog post about the VI-SPDAT. I highly recommend that you click through to read the post: VI-SPDAT: 14 Things That Irk Me.

Here are a few excerpts which address some issues relevant to our CoC:

Don’t have an inconsistent introductory script. 

But really, you should read the whole thing: VI-SPDAT: 14 Things That Irk Me.

 

 

 

Many of us are still struggling with all parts of the chronic homelessness definition and what is required to verify chronic status.

HUD is hosting a webinar next Wednesday, June 21, 11 am to noon, to help clear up issues and answer questions. The webinar will be followed by a question and answer/discussion period. Please make time for this really important training!

To join the webinar, pre-register at the link below and you will get a confirmation email with log-in information:

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5218258379321914881

 

 

Pamela Schwartz has provided a report on yesterday’s fabulous Family Homelessness Resource Fair:

What an amazing morning!  45 providers from every sector and every county of Western Massachusetts came together today – housing and shelter providers, domestic violence service providers, mental health and substance use treatment providers, child care, health care and youth providers, veterans services, employment services, secondary and higher education providers and state agencies all under one roof at CHD.  Roughly 200 people attended!  You can get a sense of the crowd in the room from the pictures below. The room teemed with the excitement of people connecting, learning, and building relationships, all in service of our shared goal to support families in their efforts at greater housing stability.

The feedback has already been overwhelmingly positive: “This was amazing!” “What a great event!” “I learned so much.”  “Great information.”  And so much more of the same.

Special thanks to CHD (and Jane Banks) for their fiscal sponsorship of the event and provision of space and related supplies.  We could not have done it without them!

Thanks also to our additional planning partners at Way Finders (Janette Vigo) and Community Action of Franklin, Hampshire and North Quabbin (Janna Tetreault).  And finally thanks to every single Network partner who showed up to share or to learn or (mostly) do both.  It was a fine moment reflecting what this Network is all about: collaboration and coordination towards preventing and ending homelessness.

Congratulations to all!

Check out the coverage on Channel 22 here.

 

This is a reminder that the Springfield-Hampden County CoC is meeting this FRIDAY morning. We are meeting:

Friday, June 9, 9 – 11 am

                Springfield Municipal Operations Building conference room, 70 Tapley St

The agenda—

• Final 2017 PIT count
• Youth News – Count and HUD Technical Assistance
• Update on Coordinated Entry
• Built for Zero campaign – Report from CoC team that traveled to DC, next trip September to Chicago
• Vacancies on the CoC Board of Directors

The meeting scheduled for May 25 has been RESCHEDULED.

The Springfield-Hampden County CoC Board of Directors is meeting:

                Friday, June 9, 9 – 11 am

                Springfield Municipal Operations Building conference room, 70 Tapley St.

This is an open meeting, meaning that anyone from the CoC is welcome (whether or not on the Board).

Agenda:

• Final 2017 point-in-time count report & news from the Youth Count
• Status of Coordinated Entry & next steps
• Built for Zero campaign—info from our team’s DC Learning Session trip
• Filling Board vacancies

Existing CoC grantees–

[Please note: this information is only relevant to you if you currently receive a CoC grant from the Springfield-Hampden County CoC. The current CoC grantees are Catholic Charities, CHD, FOH, Gandara, WayFinders, HRU, MHA, SMOC, RVCC and VOC.]

As you have already been informed, all grants are being shifted to fiscal year terms, meaning that all grants are being shifted to having the same start dates (July 1) and end dates (June 30).

In order for this shift to take place, some grants will have shortened grant periods, and some will have extended grant period. All grants will have continued funding through June 30, 2018. Funding after that date will depend on successful funding in the FY17 CoC competition, which will take place in the next several months.

HUD has provided the following information about how the shift will happen:

1. If your current grant expires prior to or on June 30, 2017, the existing grant will expire as usual, and the APR will be due 90 days after expiration of the grant. Your new grant will start the day after the existing grant ends, and will continue to June 30, 2018, even though that is longer than 12 months–the grant amount will be increased to cover the additional months. The next APR will be due Sept. 30, 2018.
2. If your current grant is set to expire after June 30, 2017, the City will be amending the current grant so that it will now end June 30, 2017, and your new 12-month grant will begin July 1, 2017. The APR for your current grant will be due Sept. 30, 2017, even though you will be reporting on fewer than 12 months. Your next APR will be due September 30, 2018.

The CoC has set up a call-in information session for grantees with questions about this process. The session is OPTIONAL, and is for you to have the opportunity to ask questions. There will not be a presentation at the session. The session will take place Wednesday,  May 24 at 9:30 am. The call-in number is 1-866-710-5357, Participant Code:  2283427.