Congress Releases Final FY2020 Appropriations Which Includes the Following Concerning 2020 Continuum of Care Program Application

“Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020“

HOMELESS ASSISTANCE GRANTS

 (from pages 1137 – 1141; 1185; 1186)

Provided further, That not less than $2,350,000,000 of the funds appropriated under this heading shall be available for such Continuum of Care and Rural Housing Stability Assistance programs: Provided  further, That of the amounts made available under this heading, up to $50,000,000 shall be made available for grants for rapid re-housing projects and supportive service projects providing coordinated entry, and for eligible activities the Secretary determines to be critical in order to  assist survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking:

Provided further, That such projects shall be eligible for renewal under the continuum of care program subject to the same terms and conditions as other renewal applicants:

Provided further, That up to $7,000,000 of the funds appropriated under this heading shall be available for the national homeless data analysis project:

Provided further, That for all match requirements applicable to funds made available under this heading for this fiscal year and prior fiscal years, a grantee may use (or could have used) as a source of match funds other funds administered by the Secretary and other Federal agencies unless there is (or was) a specific statutory prohibition on any such use of any such funds:

Provided further, That none of the funds provided under this heading shall be available to provide funding for new projects, except for projects created through reallocation, unless the Secretary determines that the continuum of care has demonstrated that projects are evaluated and ranked based on the degree to which they improve the continuum of care’s system performance:

Provided further, That the Secretary shall prioritize funding under the Continuum of Care program to continuums of care that have demonstrated a capacity to reallocate funding from lower performing projects to higher performing projects:

Provided further, That the Secretary shall provide incentives to create projects that coordinate with housing providers and healthcare organizations to provide permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing services:

Provided further, That any unobligated amounts remaining from funds appropriated under this heading in fiscal year 2012 and 10 prior years for project-based rental assistance for rehabilitation projects with 10-year grant terms may be used for purposes under this heading, notwithstanding the purposes for which such funds were appropriated:

Provided further, That all balances for Shelter Plus Care renewals previously funded from the Shelter Plus Care Renewal account and transferred to this account shall be available, if recaptured, for Continuum of Care renewals in fiscal year 2020:

Provided further, That the Department shall notify grantees of their formula allocation from amounts allocated (which may represent initial or final amounts allocated) for the Emergency Solutions Grant program within 60 days of enactment of this Act:

Provided further, That up to $80,000,000 of the funds appropriated under this heading shall be to implement projects to demonstrate how a comprehensive approach to serving homeless youth, age 24 and under, in up to 25 communities with a priority for communities with substantial rural populations in up to eight locations, can dramatically reduce youth homelessness:

Provided further, That of the amount made available under the previous proviso, up to $10,000,000 shall be available to provide technical assistance on improving system responses to youth homelessness, and collection, analysis, use, and reporting of data and performance measures under the comprehensive approaches to serve homeless youth, in addition to and in coordination with other technical assistance funds provided under this title:

Provided further, That the Secretary may use up to 10 percent of the amount made available under the previous proviso to build the capacity of current technical assistance providers or to train new technical assistance providers with verifiable prior experience with systems and  programs for youth experiencing homelessness:

Provided further, That amounts made available for the Continuum of Care program under this heading in this and prior Acts may be used to competitively or non-competitively renew or replace grants for youth homeless demonstration projects under the Continuum of Care program, notwithstanding any conflict with the requirements of the Continuum of Care program:

Provided further, That youth aged 24 and under seeking assistance under this heading shall not be required to provide third party documentation to establish their eligibility under 42 U.S.C. 11302(a) or 3 (b) to receive services:

Provided further, That unaccompanied youth aged 24 and under or families headed by youth aged 24 and under who are living in unsafe situations may be served by youth-serving providers funded under this heading:

Provided further, That persons eligible under section 103(a)(5) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act may be served by any project funded under this heading to provide both transitional housing and rapid re-housing:

Provided further, That when awarding funds under the Continuum of Care program, the Secretary shall not deviate from the FY 2018 Notice of Funding Availability with respect to the tier 2 funding process, the Continuum of Care application scoring, and for new projects, the project quality threshold requirements, except as otherwise provided under this Act or as necessary to award all available funds or consider the most recent data from each Continuum of Care.

SEC. 228. With respect to grant amounts awarded under the heading ‘‘Homeless Assistance Grants’’ for fiscal years 2015 through 2020 for the continuum of care (CoC) program as authorized under subtitle C of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, costs paid by program income of grant recipients may count toward meeting the recipient’s matching requirements, provided the costs are eligible CoC costs that supplement the recipient’s CoC program.

SEC. 229. (a) From amounts made available under this title under the heading ‘‘Homeless Assistance Grants’’, the Secretary may award 1-year transition grants to recipients of funds for activities under subtitle C of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 21 U.S.C. 11381 et seq.) to transition from one Continuum of Care program component to another. (b) In order to be eligible to receive a transition grant, the funding recipient must have the consent of the Continuum of Care and meet standards determined by the Secretary.