From: SSVF
Sent: Friday, December 20, 2019 1:06 PM
To: SSVF
Subject: SSVF Program Update Friday December 20th, 2019
Topics:
1.
Reminder: Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Notice of Funding
Availability (NOFA) Published in the Federal Register
2.
Update: SSVF Program Guide Updated December 2019
3.
Important: Mandatory Return of Funds Exception for First Quarter fY2020
4.
Save the Date: Rapid Resolution Office Hours Call January 8, 2:30 Eastern
5.
Save the Date: SSVF GPD Joint call January 14, 2:00 Eastern
6.
Update: Master List Template and Benchmark Generation Tool
Reminder: Supportive
Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)
Published in the Federal Register
On December 5,
2019, a new SSVF NOFA has been published in the Federal Register. This NOFA
provides funding opportunities to renew existing grants. This NOFA is
competitive, and applicants are urged to closely review the NOFA and the
associated training available on the SSVF website by using the link
below. The principal goal of this NOFA is to provide support to those
applicants who demonstrate the greatest capacity to end homelessness through
the adoption of evidence-based practices likely to lead to reductions in
homelessness. Scoring criteria are described in 38 CFR 62.21, 62.23, and
62.24. Awards are for services to begin October 1, 2020. Applications are due
no later than January 31, 2020 at 4pm EST. Please contact SSVF@va.gov if you have questions.
Applications can
be accessed on the SSVF website using the link below:
The NOFA and
training are available on the SSVF website and can be found using the link
below:
https://www.va.gov/homeless/ssvf/index.asp
Update: SSVF
Program Guide Updated December 2019
The SSVF Program
Guide has been updated as of December 1, 2019. The main changes are
provided in the attached summary, and in Exhibit I of the document. It is
highly recommended that grantees review the complete guide and share with SSVF
staff. The new Program Guide is available on the SSVF website at:
https://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/ssvf/docs/SSVF_Program_Guide_December_2019.pdf
Important:
Mandatory Return of Funds Exception for First Quarter FY2020
As stated in each
SSVF grant agreement, at the end of each quarter a grantee’s requests for SSVF
funds (also known as draw-downs) must meet the minimum spending percentage rate
outlined in the grant agreement. Grantees that don’t meet minimum
spending percentage rates will be subject to a mandatory return of funds.
Please note that grantees do not submit physical invoices to the SSVF Program
Office; therefore, expenditure rates are assessed using the draw down
information in the HHS Payment Management System. As a reminder, the process
requires grantees to have drawn down at least 15% of the full award by the end
of the first quarter, 40% by the end of the second quarter, and 65% of the
award by the end of the third quarter, if that standard is not met then a
mandatory return is processed.
The program office
will NOT be implementing the mandatory return of funds process after the first
quarter. Please note that the mandatory return process WILL be in effect
after the second and third quarters of FY2020. Shallow subsidy awards and
grantees that have received Disaster Relief funds in FY2019 will be exempt from
mandatory return of funds during the FY2020 grant year. If you have
any questions, please direct them to your Regional Coordinator.
Save the Date:
Rapid Resolution Office Hours Call January 8, 2:30 Eastern The SSVF Program
Office will continue to support grantees in their efforts to implement Rapid
Resolution in their communities by holding Office Hours calls. SSVF Program
Office staff and Technical Assistance Providers will be available to answer
questions and provide guidance during this time. The next SSVF Rapid Resolution
Office Hours call will provide an overview of the updated Rapid Resolution
Compliance guide and will take place on January 8, at 2:30 Eastern time.
Save the Date: GPD
and SSVF Joint Call January 14, 2:00 Eastern
GPD and SSVF Joint
Call: 2019 VA, HUD, and USICH Community Planning Survey
The SSVF and GPD
Program Offices would like to invite you to save the date for a joint call on
Tuesday, January 14th at 2pm Eastern/11am Pacific. GPD will provide general
program updates for their grantees, and then the results from the 2019 VA, HUD,
and USICH Community Planning Survey will be shared. Both Program Offices are
thankful for the work that SSVF and GPD grantees did with their CoC, VAMC, and
community partners to prepare responses to the survey. Please join us for
this exciting presentation.
Update: Master
List Template and Benchmark Generation Tool
This tool provides
communities with templates to help develop or improve their master list – also
known as the “active” or “by-name” list – in order to meet the Criteria and
Benchmarks for Achieving the Goal of Ending Veteran Homelessness. The templates
can be used “as-is” or can be adapted by communities to enhance local efforts.
Users should closely review the Criteria and Benchmarks for Achieving the Goal
of Ending Veteran Homelessness (revised June 2019) using the link below when
using the template and generation tool.
https://www.usich.gov/tools-for-action/criteria-for-ending-veteran-homelessness
The Master List
template includes all data fields necessary to measure each of the four Federal
benchmarks, as well as other fields to support case conferencing with the goal
of rapidly exiting the Veteran to permanent housing. The Benchmark Generation
Tool uses data from the Master List template to automatically calculate the
benchmarks and accurately monitor progress. Instruction tabs are included to
provide guidance for how to use the tools and programming logic for the
benchmarks.
This Tool was
updated in December 2019 to Version 3 to include a new data element,
Transitional Housing Type to identify the type of transitional housing bed the
Veteran entered, and to update the Benchmark Report logic for Benchmarks B and
D. A complete description of the changes to the Tool can be found in the
Technical Notes tab. The Tool is available on the HUD Exchange and can be
found using the link below:
https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/4900/master-list-template-and-benchmark-generation-tool/
Thank You,
SSVF Program
Office