From: SSVF
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2015
2:08 PM
Subject: SSVF Program Updates December
23, 2015
Importance: High
Happy Holidays! Topics:
1. Community Planning Updates (Due 1/29/16)
2. SSVF FY16 Program Changes and Reporting Requirements
3. VAMC Expedited Assistance in Documenting Veteran Eligibility
4. Introduction to COA and Accreditation Process (Webinar)
5. Resource: Notice to CoCs Regarding HIC and PIT Data Collection
6. Resource: HEARTH Final Rule - Defining Chronic Homelessness
1. Community Planning Updates (Submission Process): Due January 29, 2016 First, the SSVF Program would like to thank all SSVF programs and their partners for your hard work and dedication since our inception in 2011. Within an ever-changing environment, it is nearly impossible to take time to reflect on accomplishments and forward planning.
Let us quickly reflect on your impact. SSVF has been involved in community planning to end Veteran homelessness since the first rounds of Veteran Boot Camps in 2013. Later, the 25 Cities Initiative was built on the foundation of those Boot Camps. This eventually led to the awarding of grants in SSVF Priority 1 communities. By the fall of October 2014, SSVF significantly increased system capacity by expanding community planning to end Veteran homelessness and introducing a structure to allow for consistent planning and goal setting across the nation. The role of SSVF expanded to the point where you became an integral part of some of the first efforts to support plan development, tools, and technical assistance to over 384 CoCs. Your commitment to ending Veteran homelessness has proven that every achievement, no matter how small, is becoming one amazing success!
Recently, the SSVF Program Office evaluated its role in community planning; its process for prioritizing needs, and the data gathered from the community plan summary submissions. During this evaluation, it was determined that SSVF would build on the solid foundation and open communication that had been established. The goal is to now take this work to the next level and refine information gathering and assessment, to target assistance, and to help communities reach their goals. At the same time, our goal is to support strategy development for system sustainability.
To this end, we are refining the format and submission timeline of the Community Plans during 2016. Community Plans will be submitted in an online format and will include questions that will mostly be drop-down selections to capture key elements of the community plan, and will help us reach this next level of understanding your communitys progress toward ending Veteran homelessness. More guidance on how to access the online format will be disseminated in the first week of January. The first submission for 2016 will be due on Friday, January 29, 2016.
2. SSVF Grantee Program Changes and Reporting Requirements Update
Program Change Requests: The SSVF Program Office would like to remind grantees that program change requests will be processed using the same timeline as the previous grant year. Grantees have the opportunity to submit requests for significant program changes 30 days before the end of Quarters 2, 3, and 4. Like other SSVF administrative procedures, the Program Office has converted this process to the online grants management system (GIFTS) and will require that grantees submit requests through the online Requirement form that will be available within your GIFTS user account. The online Requirement forms for Program Changes will be activated in Quarter 2 (mid-January) so that grantees may begin preparing their requests. Please understand that only one Requirement form will be available to grantees per quarter so it is important to plan accordingly and only submit the request when is complete. Additionally, grantees do not need to take any action with the online Requirement form for Program Changes if they do not have any change requests. Please do not submit the online Requirement form if you are not requesting changes. The Program Office will review and notify grantees of the status of Program Change Requests by the end of the Quarter. To clarify, the schedule is as follows:
Grantees May Submit Online Requirement Form for Program Changes No Later Than:
3/1/2016, 6/1/2016, 9/1/2016
Please note that online forms will be deactivated after the established deadlines.
SSVF Program Office Notifies Grantee of Status No Later Than:
3/31/16, 6/30/16, 9/30/16
Please note: The SSVF national webinar in January will cover the role of prevention services in ending Veteran homelessness. At that time, the SSVF Program Office will explain the process for requesting a waiver to increase prevention services. Please be mindful of this webinar, as this opportunity may result in necessary program changes.
Reporting Requirements: Have you been wondering where your customized Quarterly Performance Report template is? The SSVF Program Office has determined that all grantees operating during FY16 have had at least one full year of SSVF program implementation, with the exception of a few Priority 1 programs that began operating in April 2015. Additionally, the VA has implemented several reporting mechanisms since its inception in 2011 that can now provide the most accurate and up to date information regarding SSVF grantee performance. Please note the following reporting modifications that will take place immediately for FY16:
Qualitative QPR Submissions (Narrative): Since program inception, VA has implemented an administrative process that allows for grantees to request technical assistance, to report on Critical Incidents, and to request significant changes to their grant program. The Resolution submissions that take place at the beginning of each grant term describe the specific services that are to be delivered to SSVF clients each quarter. The VA Repository uploads allow for monthly assessment of client service delivery and progress toward program goals. Furthermore, the community planning efforts have further strengthened the communication between grantees and the SSVF Regional Coordinators. It is our expectation that grantees will continue to inform Regional Coordinator of any critical needs or challenges with program implementation. With these procedures in place, the SSVF Program Office is removing the requirement to submit a quarterly narrative performance report.
Quantitative QPR Submissions (Financial): The HHS Payment Management System has been adopted as the most accurate mechanism for assessing grantee spending rates. The Resolution submissions that took place at the beginning of the grant term allowed for a final submission of projected spending during this grant term. Since all grantees have been operating for at least one full year, the VA does not anticipate significant variances in quarterly spending that cannot be identified within the Payment Management System. Therefore, the SSVF Program Office will no longer require grantees to submit a quarterly expenditure report for each budgeted line item. Instead, SSVF will require that grantees submit a financial expenditure report (similar to the QPR used in the past) at the end of the year (Quarter 4). The final expenditure report template will be provided to grantees during Quarter 4 and will be based off of the approved budget that was submitted with the Resolution, including any significant program changes that were adopted throughout the grant year. Please understand that SSVF reports to national leadership on spending rates and refers to the HHS Payment Management System for these monthly assessments. It is imperative that your agency draw grant funds as frequently as possible in order for SSVF leadership to report accurate data.
Replacement Reporting Requirement: Since the quarterly reporting submissions used since 2011 will no longer be required, the SSVF Program Office will ask that grantees certify compliance with the SSVF Final Rule and grant agreement on a quarterly basis using the online Requirement process within the grants management system (GIFTS). The SSVF Program Office will conduct monthly assessments of the VA Repository submissions and the HHS Payment Management System expenditure reports. The certification requirement will include a data quality component that asks grantees to confirm their ongoing review of their data quality scores and summary reports that are provided from the VA Repository. Overall, this quarterly certification requirement will reduce the current administrative burden for SSVF reporting and will allow for VA and SSVF grantees to utilize the systems that currently exist for program assessment. There will be more details provided to grantees in January.
3. VAMC Expedited Assistance in Documenting Veteran Eligibility for Services Homeless and at-risk Veterans seeking SSVF services may not possess a DD214 or a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Health Identification Card. As these Veterans and their eligible family members are facing a housing crisis that can have profound implications for their health and mental health, the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMC) will prioritize requests to determine their eligibility for SSVF services. Once requested, VA will provide written proof of eligibility within one working day to either the Veteran or to the SSVF grantee. If the Veteran requesting eligibility documentation is not available, where possible, VAMCs can send proof of eligibility by encrypted email or fax if this will speed receipt of needed documentation.
4. Introduction to COA and the Accreditation Process
Description: This live webinar is designed for people with little or no knowledge about COA. The introductory webinar provides an overview of the Council on Accreditation and the accreditation process. Participants will gain an understanding of the key concepts that define COA and elements of COA's accreditation process and standards.
Title: Introduction to COA and the Accreditation Process
Date: January 12, 2016
Time: 3:00pm to 4:30pm EST
Register here: http://coa.force.com/coasite/EventDetail?eventId=70138000001326HAAQ&origin=EventSearch
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
5. Resource: Notice for Housing Inventory Count (HIC) and Point in Time (PIT) Data Collection for Continuums of Care (CoCs) This Notice provides information to Continuums of Care (CoCs) on what information to collect in order to successfully complete their 2016 Housing Inventory Count (HIC) and Point-in-Time (PIT) count. As CoCs begin to organize and plan these activities, staff should review this guidance and use it as a reference to ensure that they are capturing all of the required information.
HIC Changes
o HUD has clarified that CoCs will only report rapid re-housing (RRH) beds and units that are occupied by RRH participants on the night of the count (i.e., in their own permanent housing unit and actively enrolled in RRH on the night of the count), whether or not rental assistance was provided.
o CoCs that have beds dedicated to veterans, youth, and individuals and persons in families experiencing chronic homelessness will need to report those beds by household type, instead of providing a single number of dedicated beds.
o HUD will no longer be collecting the unmet need data as part of its HIC data collection process in the Homelessness Data Exchange (HDX). As part of their local planning process, CoCs should continue to analyze their homeless response system to determine what inventory is needed to meet their local needs.
o CoCs should no longer report inventory and persons in VA-funded Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans (i.e., VADOM) as part of the HIC and PIT count. This is a change that applies to all reporting going forward. HUD and the VA will consider VADOM beds treatment beds and not include that inventory, or persons in that inventory, as part of the dedicated homeless inventory.
o HUD has created a new data collection field for CoCs to indicate for each project whether it is funded through other federal funding sources than HUD McKinney-Vento funding.
o HUD has included a new field to record the Transitional Housing (TH) Unit Type. Similar to the Bed Type field for Emergency Shelter projects, the TH Unit Type field allows communities to indicate whether the persons served in the TH projects are served in a single site (i.e., congregate or project-based) or multiple sites (i.e., scattered-site or clustered).
PIT Changes
o For purposes of reporting in the PIT count, a chronically homeless person:
Is homeless and lives in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or in an emergency shelter; and
Has been homeless and living or residing in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or in an emergency shelter continuously for at least 1 year or on at least 4 separate occasions in the last 3 years where the combined length of time homeless in those occasions is at least 12 months; and
Has a disability.
o In addition to reporting on individuals and persons in families over 18 experiencing chronic homeless, HUD requires communities to collect and report chronically homeless status on heads of households that are under 18, which includes both unaccompanied youth and parenting youth under age 18.
o After receiving important feedback HUD decided to collapse the transgender categories back into a single reporting option "Transgender."
o HUD is requiring CoCs to report the demographic data on parenting youth and unaccompanied youth in separate tables. For the parenting youth table, CoCs will only report the demographics on the youth parents and exclude the demographic data on the children of the youth parents.
Resource Links
Notice CPD-15-010: 2016 HIC and PIT Data Collection for CoC and ESG Programs (PDF)
Preparing for Your 2016 Housing Inventory Count (HIC) & Point-in-Time (PIT) Count Webinar (HTML)
6. Resource: Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH): Defining "Chronically Homeless" Final Rule This final rule establishes the definition of "chronically homeless" that will be used in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) Continuum of Care (CoC) Program, and in the Consolidated Submissions for Community Planning and Development (CPD) Programs. This definition has been the subject of significant public comment which has guided HUD in establishing the definition of "chronically homeless" that will be used in its homeless assistance programs. The final rule also establishes the necessary recordkeeping requirements that correspond to the definition of "chronically homeless" for the CoC Program. Historically, other programs within HUD, as well as other agencies such as the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) and the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), have adopted HUD's definition of chronically homeless and may also choose to adopt the definition of "chronically homeless" included in this final rule, however, it is not required.
The final regulation was published in the Federal Register on December 4, 2015. CoC recipients must comply with the regulations promulgated by this rule as of January 15, 2016.
Resource Link
Defining "Chronically Homeless" Final Rule (PDF)
https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/Defining-Chronically-Homeless-Final-Rule.pdf
Thank you,
SSVF Program Office