From: SSVF

Sent: Friday, March 6, 2020 7:52 AM

To: SSVF

Subject: SSVF Program Update Friday March 6, 2020

Topics:

1. Upcoming Webinar: Infectious Disease Preparedness for Homeless Assistance Providers and Their Partners – March 10, 3:00 pm Eastern

2. Reminder: Mandatory Return of Funds for 2nd Quarter FY2020

3. Register Now: SSVF National Webinar: Returning Home Overview- March 12, 2:00 pm Eastern

4. Announcement: SSVF Regional Meetings in Ft. Lauderdale and New Orleans Postponed

Important Upcoming Webinar: Infectious Disease Preparedness for Homeless Assistance Providers and Their Partners – March 10, 3:00 pm Eastern

The SSVF Program Office understands that many grantees have concerns and questions about responding to the needs of Veterans during the current outbreak of coronavirus. The SSVF Program Office will provide information and resources as they become available. We encourage grantees to attend an upcoming webinar on March 10, titled Infectious Disease Preparedness for Homeless Assistance Providers and Their Partners. The webinar will provide current information and guidance to the field. Join the meeting using the link below:

https://tdainc.adobeconnect.com/preparedness/

Reminder: Mandatory Return of Funds for 2nd Quarter FY 2020

At the end of each quarter, a grantee's total payment requests for SSVF funds (also known as drawdowns) must meet the minimum quarterly spending percentage rate outlined in the SSVF grant agreement. Please note that grantees do not submit physical invoices to the SSVF Program Office; therefore, expenditure rates are assessed using the drawdown information in the HHS Payment Management System.

For the second quarter ending on March 31 at 5 pm EDT, the minimum spending rate of the overall grant award is 40%. To clarify, a grant is "40% spent" when 40% or more of the SSVF grant funds have been drawn down from the HHS Payment Management System. A favorable lag of 10% (or 5.2 weeks of expenses) has been incorporated into the quarterly minimums. This allows for a grantee to meet the minimum rate while still reconciling the previous month's SSVF expenses. For this reason, it is critical for grantees to review their spending information frequently; there is no exception to the 40% requirement for grantees that had been on extension during the first quarter of FY20.

The process for identifying grantees that will be required to return funds and for identifying the amount of funds to be swept is as follows: At the start of the quarter (8 am EDT on the second business day of the new quarter, which is April 2), the HHS Payment Management System drawdown report will be used to calculate grantee expenditure rates. Those grantees that are below 40% spent will be subject to mandatory funding sweeps. Note, the expenditure rate calculation will be rounded to a whole number (i.e. 39.4% will be rounded down to 39% and 39.6% will be rounded up to 40%). For any grantee below 40%, the difference between 40% and that grantee's current drawn down rate will be the amount swept from the OVERALL grant total. For example, if a grantee is 35% drawn down, the difference is 5%; as such, there will be a 5% reduction of the authorized award amount. The result will move a grantee closer to the quarterly minimum rate of 40%. The intent of the funding sweep is to: 1) reallocate funds from geographic areas where the need is not currently being recognized to areas of higher need where funding is lacking and 2) to assist grantees in moving towards compliance with grant requirements and eliminating the need for an extension. The funds will be swept on that second business day of the new quarter, and a grantee will be notified by the SSVF Program Office of the amount of funds that were swept from the grant.

How do the minimum quarterly spending rates impact the fiscal staff of SSVF grantees?

The last business day of the quarter is March 31. Payment requests (drawdowns) that are made after 5 pm EDT on this day will NOT be included in the HHS drawdown report used to calculate grantee expenditure rates. As a reminder, the grantees identified as spending less than 40% of the total grant will have funds swept on the second business day of the new quarter, April 2. These values will stand; there will be no exceptions. Since there will be no exceptions, it is recommended that grantee fiscal staff responsible for completing drawdowns not wait until March 31 to complete payment requests, as these requests generally require a full business day to process. If a grantee finds it is necessary to wait until March 31, it would be important to enter the request early in the day. (Note that any grantees outside of EDT, including but not limited to the West Coast, Hawaii, and Guam, are still held to the 5 pm EDT deadline, so plan accordingly).

If you have any questions, please contact your SSVF Regional Coordinator. Please include your grant number and "2nd Quarter Mandatory Return of Funds" in the subject of the email.

Title: Returning Home Overview

Overview: This webinar will describe the use of Returning Home as an approach to support Veterans experiencing homelessness. Returning Home helps reunite Veterans with family or other social supports by allowing SSVF grantees to use Temporary Financial Assistance to help them return to their community of origin. SSVF Program Office staff will provide an overview of how to determine when to use Returning Home as well as promising practices from the field.

https://tacinc.adobeconnect.com/returninghomeinterview03122020/event/registration.html

Announcement: Regional Meetings in Ft Lauderdale and New Orleans Postponed

Due to public health concerns, the Regional Meetings scheduled to take place in Ft. Lauderdale and New Orleans have been postponed. Please cancel your travel arrangements, including hotel and air travel, as soon as possible. We hope to reschedule this important training opportunity at a later date and will keep you informed if and when these Regional Meetings are rescheduled. Please submit any questions to your Regional Coordinator or the SSVF TA inbox at ssvf@tacinc.org. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

Thank You,

SSVF Program Office