This weekly update is targeted towards the SSVF Grantees and shared with valuable partners for awareness.        

July 7, 2023    

ANNOUNCEMENT: VA 2023 Permanent Housing Conference – Call for Presenters! 

DUE: SSVF Quarter 3 Certification due in UDPaaS July 20, 2023 

NEW: Information related to the Medicaid/CHIP Renewal Process

NEW: SSVF Website Calendar 

REMINDER:  The FY2023 VA Data Guide Published  

REGISTER: SSVF National Webinar Series: VA CY2023 Goals and SSVF Implications Jul 13, 2023, 02:00 PM Eastern Time 

ANNOUNCEMENT: VA 2023 Permanent Housing Conference – Call for Presenters! 

The SSVF Program Office, in partnership with the VA Homeless Program Office and national HUD-VASH office, is excited to bring together practitioners from across the country for the 2023 VA Permanent Housing Conference – One Team Approach: Collaborating to End Homelessness Among Veterans. The tentative dates for these conferences include: 

· West Coast November 14-15, 2023 

· East Coast December 5-6, 2023 

For 2023, VA is committed to highlighting innovative practices happening in the field and to giving SSVF Grantees and their partners more opportunity to share their successes in effectively serving Veterans experiencing or at-risk of homelessness locally. With that, we are asking Grantees to share with us your innovative practices related to the topics of the conference so we can feature local highlights, panels, and presentations throughout the two-day event. This year’s conference is organized around lessons learned in pursuing VA’s 2023 Housing Goals. We are requesting Grantees review the attached outline of topic areas for possible presentation topics. Attached to this email is a general description of the topic areas we are planning to include at the conference. In addition, if you or your community are doing innovative work in ending Veteran homelessness that does NOT fit into the topics below, we welcome ideas for other topics or highlights to be added to the conference. 

If your organization is interested in presenting your local practices or innovations related to any of the topics in the attached document or other practices that are working well locally, please submit an abstract with a brief summary of your presentation or panel ideas using the following link. If you are submitting for multiple topics, you will need to fill out the survey once for each presentation idea being submitted: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SB93C9H  

Presentation proposals are due by 5pm PST on Friday July 14, 2023 

Thank you in advance for your interest in contributing to the expertise offered at this important event. We hope to hear from many of you soon! 

DUE: SSVF Quarter 3 Certification due in UDPaaS July 20, 2023 

The SSVF Program Office is requiring all grantees to complete a Quarterly Certification in UDPaaS.  This process is defined in your signed Memorandum of Agreement for your grant and is a requirement of all grantees.  The Quarter 3 (April 1-June 30) Certification is now available in UDPaaS for completion.  Please ensure accuracy of submission as the Program Office will compare all data provided through Repository uploads from Quarter 3 of FY23.  Please refer to the Companion Guide for detailed instructions on completing the certification available here Quarterly Cert Companion Guide.   

NEW: Information related to the Medicaid/CHIP Renewal Process

Prior to the pandemic, states were required to renew coverage for people with Medicaid or CHIP coverage at least once a year and to disenroll individuals who no longer qualified for coverage. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress acted to ensure Americans did not lose access to critical health care by preventing states from terminating a person’s Medicaid coverage, even if they no longer qualified. Now that the public health emergency has ended, federal law requires states to restart regular Medicaid renewals. This means that over the next 12 months, everyone with health care coverage through Medicaid or CHIP will renew their coverage. If an individual is no longer eligible for Medicaid or CHIP, they can transition to another form of health coverage, such as the Affordable Care Act Marketplace or employer-sponsored coverage. Approximately 700,000 Veterans receiving care in VHA also have Medicaid – and it is estimated that many more Veteran family members, caregivers and support persons also utilize Medicaid and CHIP across the country. The White House and Health and Human Services (HHS) are requesting VA’s assistance in raising awareness about the Medicaid renewal process.

Request: Please find the attached informational flyer and link to resources to inform and educate Veterans, their families, caregivers, support persons and staff on the Medicaid renewal process to ensure that individuals do not lose their Medicaid coverage as a result of missing the renewal deadline. Please share these resources with staff in your program areas and raise this topic with Veterans, their families, caregivers and support persons for visibility of the Medicaid renewal process.

NEW: SSVF Website Calendar 

The SSVF website calendar has information is being updated to reflect upcoming webinars, events, and due dates. Please note that all events listed on the calendar are in Eastern Standard Time. Detailed information about calendar events, including webinar registration information, can be found in SSVF’s weekly program updates. The calendar can be accessed at https://www.va.gov/homeless/ssvf/calendar/ 

REMINDER:  The FY2023 VA Data Guide Published  

The SSVF Program Office in coordination with our technical assistance providers have updated the VA Data Guide with fiscal year 2023 guidance.  This document can be found under the HMIS/Data Reporting section of the SSVF website at: https://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/ssvf/docs/SSVF_VA_Data_Guide.pdf  

REGISTER: SSVF National Webinar Series: VA CY2023 Goals and SSVF Implications Jul 13, 2023, 02:00 PM Eastern Time  
This webinar will review VA’s 2023 National Housing goals and offer insights in the specific areas where those goals intersect with SSVF services and coordination efforts. The webinar will also review further guidance on elevating SSVF services and more deliberate implementation of Shallow Subsidy to stabilize tenancies, including coordination with other temporary VA homeless programs. All SSVF staff are encouraged to attend this webinar. 

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mvf1Rv6cRZ-0pnc-wq22Hw 