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

June 2, 2023

NEW: Shallow Subsidy Grant Award Extension Request: Required Activity in UDPaaS due June 6, 2023 

NEW: HUD-VASH and SSVF Collaboration Memo  

REGISTER: SSVF National Webinar: Financial and Operational Fitness Audit (FOFA)  

FY22 Common Findings June 8 2023, at 2:00pm EST 

REMINDER: Temporary Financial Assistance (TFA) Maximums Removed 

REMINDER: SSVF Grantee Equity Report Invite - Shinyapps  

REMINDER: SSVF Required Outreach Activities 

NEW: Shallow Subsidy Grant Award Extension Request: Required Activity in UDPaaS by June 6, 2023 (non-Pilot sites) 

The SSVF Program Office has extended the end date for Shallow Subsidy (SS) funds to September 30, 2024. An extension activity has been published in UDPaaS for completion. All SSVF grantees spending SS funding (Account 20zz-zz-zzzSS) past September 30, 2023, are expected to complete the activity. This will extend utilization of these funds up to September 30, 2024.  Please go into UDPaaS, locate the activity under “My SSVF Tasks” and indicate “Yes” on the request to extend SS spending. This task is due no later than June 2, 2023. Please reach out to your Regional Coordinator if you have any questions.    

NEW: HUD-VASH and SSVF Collaboration Memo  

The Office of the Assistant Under Secretary for Operations has released a new Secretary memorandum titled, “Housing and Urban Development – Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing and Supportive Services for Veteran Families Collaboration.”  Please share this memo widely with your teams.  

The memo is directly linked here, or can be found on the SSVF website under Supportive Services > Coordination and Planning. 

REMINDER: Temporary Financial Assistance (TFA) Maximums Removed 

The SSVF Program Office would like to remind grantees, there is NOT a cap on the amount of Temporary Financial Assistance (TFA).  Grantees may spend more than 50% of their award on TFA when necessary, to address the needs of Veterans experiencing homelessness in their service area.  

REGISTER: SSVF National Webinar: Financial and Operational Fitness Audit (FOFA) FY22 Common Findings June 8, 2023, at 2:00pm EST  

This SSVF National Webinar will feature SSVF Program Office and the Office of Business Oversight (OBO) and will review the FY22 FOFA Common Findings and summary of FY22 audit results. This webinar will not only highlight the common findings, but frequent causes of those findings, and suggestions to avoid similar issues with financial and operational activities going forward. It is strongly recommended that program leadership and fiscal staff attend this webinar. 

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rhy4s1KbQUqtuuwO9FfeRw 

REMINDER: SSVF Grantee Equity Report Invite - Shinyapps   

The SSVF Equity Report provides an analysis of SSVF program services and outcomes by race and ethnicity of the Veteran receiving the assistance. The May webinar was about the Equity Report, the recording can be found here: CLICK HERE to access the recording  

To access the Report, check your email, including your spam or deleted email folders, for an email with a subject of “hmisssvf@abtassoc.com has invited you to access an application on shinyapps.io.” That email contains a link for you to access the report. If you did not receive an invite, please email us at ssvfhmis@abtassoc.com so we can send your invite.  

REMINDER: SSVF Required Outreach Activities 

As part of SSVF Program Office’s ongoing support to end Veteran homelessness it is important to remind grantees about conducting outreach within their entire services area.  Outreach is a required activity for all SSVF grantees nationwide.  Per the SSVF Program Guide:  

Performing outreach is a critical component of grantees’ programs. Outreach services must be customized to the target populations being served by the grantee (i.e., a plan to target very low-income Veteran families, who are literally homeless, or at imminent risk of becoming homelessness). Outreach plans also depend upon the area or community in which supportive services will be provided (e.g., urban vs. rural) and the available resources in those areas or communities. Grantee outreach should be comprehensive and targeted to all communities and CoCs listed in their resolution and ensure that historically underserved populations, such as persons of color, are included in targeting considerations. Grantees should maintain documentation of where outreach is conducted and how often it takes place.  

There are two parts to the provision of outreach services: identifying very low-income Veteran families and screening them to determine eligibility for supportive services provided by a grantee. Grantees should work with other SSVF grantees in their geography and other local CoC stakeholders to ensure outreach is coordinated and consistent with the CoCs overall outreach and coordinated entry policies. SSVF Grantees are expected to participate in planning, implementation and operation of the local CoC’s Coordinated Entry (CE) process (which should account for SSVF and VA homeless programs in general) for Veterans and should align all outreach and referral activities, to the extent possible, with the local CE Policies and Procedures. 