WASHINGTON, DC. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this week published a Notice that provides detailed instructions on the $1.43 billion FY 2009 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants competition. On July 15, 2009 HUD held a satellite broadcast to describe the 2009 application process and required registration steps. Interested applicants should read the full Notice for complete details. A summary of issues is provided here.

This specific competition uses an electronic system outside of grants.gov for registration as well as for submission of the application, called e-snaps. Notification of the availability of the 2009 application will be released via HUD's Homeless Assistance listserv. To join HUD's listserv, go to http://www.hud.gov/subscribe/mailinglist.cfm and click on "Homeless Assistance Program."

Following are highlights of the announcement. A webcast is archived at http://www.hud.gov/webcasts/schedule/

In an effort to streamline the renewal award process in 2009, HUD has modified the selection process. Eligible Supportive Housing Program (SHP) and Shelter Plus Care (S+C) renewal projects will be conditionally awarded as quickly as possible. New projects will be awarded after the project threshold review and the scoring of the Continuum of Care application have been completed. A project application will be required for new and renewal projects. However, for renewal projects, applicants will only be verifying basic project and budget information, selecting grant term request, and certifying request of renewal.

HUD encourages all projects to utilize Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) and any HUD-managed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) programs, i.e., Community Development Block Grant- Recovery (CDBG-R), Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP), NSP1, and NSP2 as a source of leveraging. A continuum that identifies coordination with NSP and any HUD-managed ARRA programs may receive extra points during the application review process.

As part of the application, each continuum will be required to address how they are participating in the new HUD Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re- housing Program (HPRP), as indicated in the substantial amendment to the Consolidated Plan.

Beginning in 2009, applicants for the Shelter Plus Care program will only be permitted to apply for 100 percent of the FMR and will no longer be permitted to request any amount that is greater or less than the local Fair Market Rent (FMR).

The calculation of housing emphasis and leveraging for the continuum score will be calculated using only new project requests.

For 2009, the Samaritan Bonus Initiative will be replaced with a Permanent Housing Bonus. A continuum will be able to use funds for homeless disabled individuals and families or for chronically homeless individuals. According to the announcement, as creating new permanent housing beds for chronically homeless individuals is still a HUD priority, HUD strongly encourages continuums to use at least a portion of available bonus funds to create a project that will exclusively serve persons who are chronically homeless.

In 2009, a continuum in Hold Harmless Need (HHN) status will not be able to reallocate funds to new projects. New project applications to be submitted must be either new projects within Final Pro Rata Need (FPRN) for a continuum in Preliminary Pro Rata Need (PPRN) status or projects that will be funded with permanent housing bonus funds.

HUD has determined that the merger of one or more existing continuums into a new merged, larger continuum can result in effective and efficient planning, program delivery, HMIS implementation, and continuum competitiveness. In recognition of these advantages, HUD has adopted a new continuum Hold Harmless Merger policy for calculating Final Pro Rata Need that ensures continuums will not lose Final Pro Rata Need by merging.

WASHINGTON, DC. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced this week the final allocations of more than 10,000 vouchers to local public housing authorities across the country to provide permanent supportive housing for homeless veterans.

"Numerous men and women voluntarily leave their families and put their lives on the line to ensure that we, their fellow Americans, live safely in our homes," said HUD Secretary and U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness Chairperson Shaun Donovan, who announced the $75 million in funding last month with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki at the Council meeting of June 18. "These vouchers offer veterans a permanent home and critically needed supportive services to those who have served our nation."

HUD's Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH) will provide local public housing agencies with 10,290 rental assistance vouchers specifically targeted to assist homeless veterans in their area. Public housing authorities, that administer HUD's Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV), work closely with Veteran Affairs Medical Centers to manage the program. In addition to the rental assistance, VA Medical Centers provide supportive services and case management to eligible homeless veterans.

"The announcement of an additional 10,290 HUD- VASH vouchers for homeless Veterans and their families allows us to take another giant step forward with a collaborative effort to reach some of the most vulnerable Veterans; including women Veterans and Veterans with children," said Secretary Shinseki. "We will connect these Veterans with dedicated case managers to insure they receive the health care and benefit assistance to help them to move on with their lives with dignity."

HUD allocates the housing vouchers to local public housing agencies across the country that are specifically targeted to homeless veterans based on a variety of factors, including the number of reported homeless veterans and the proximity of a local VA Medical Center with the capacity to provide case management.

In the last two years, HUD has provided $150 million that will sustain 20,000 vouchers to support the housing and service needs of homeless veterans across America. In its proposed 2010 budget, the Obama Administration demonstrates its support of homeless veterans by renewing these and other special purpose vouchers.

WASHINGTON, DC. Congressional committees are at work on the FY 2010 federal budget for the year which begins October 1. This story provides highlights of key actions by Congressional appropriators on programs that prevent and end homelessness.

Department of Housing and Urban Development. The House Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee this week passed draft language that includes $1.85 billion for HUD's Homeless Assistance Grants, which is about $60 million more than the President's request and $170 million more than FY 2009 level. The draft also includes $18 billion for tenant-based rental assistance, $1 billion more than FY 2009, with provision to renew all current vouchers and add 10,000 vouchers for homeless veterans. $4.6 billion is provided for the Community Development Block Grant program, $700 million more than the FY 2009 level, $2 billion is included for the HOME program, $175 million more than both the President's FY 2010 request and the FY 2009 level.

Department of Veterans Affairs. The House and Senate both completed draft FY 2010 legislation for Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs. The Senate included a total of $500 million in direct programs that will assist homeless veterans, including $75 million for VA case management for the HUD-VASH supportive housing program. $26 million is included for a pilot prevention program for homeless veterans requested by both President Obama and the House. The Senate legislation included $172 million for the VA Homeless Grant and Per Diem Program, which is $22 million more than the House and $28 million more than the Presidents request and the FY 2009 level.

Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Senate FY 2010 Homeland Security appropriations bill included $175 million for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP). The House included $200 million for EFSP. The President's budget requested $100 million. EFSP was funded at $200 million in FY 2009.

WASHINGTON, DC. New federal data indicate that uninsured persons accounted for nearly one-fifth of the 120 million hospital-based emergency department visits in 2006. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius this week released new data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample - the largest, all- payer emergency department database in the United States. Emergency room use as documented for persons experiencing chronic homelessness has been shown to contribute to the high costs of the problem of homelessness for local communities.

The Nationwide Emergency Department Sample is designed to help public health experts, policymakers, health care administrators, researchers, journalists and others find the data they need to answer questions about care that occurs in U.S. hospital emergency departments.

The database is managed by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and generates national estimates on the number of emergency department visits in all community hospitals, by region, urban/rural location, teaching status, ownership and trauma designation. It also provides in-depth information on acute management of patients for all visits, including why patients were seen in the emergency department, the treatments they received, what happened to them at the end of the visit (admitted to the hospital, discharged home, transferred to another hospital, died in the emergency room or left against medical advice), the charge for their care and who was billed.

The Nationwide Emergency Department Sample contains 26 million records from emergency department visits from approximately 1,000 community hospitals nationwide. This represents 20 percent of all U.S. hospital emergency departments. The database also provides weighted calculations for national estimates of the 120 million emergency department visits in 2006.

WASHINGTON, DC. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), through its Enhanced-use Lease program, will be conducting an upcoming Industry Forum announcing a unique opportunity for a private or public sector entity's redevelopment of a 22,500 square foot building on an approximately 1.9 acre parcel of land at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center in New York. VA's primary objective in leasing the property is for a selected developer to develop transitional housing units for veterans who are homeless or at imminent risk of being homeless; returning Iraqi veterans; female veterans, including those with dependent minors; frail, elderly, and/or physically challenged eligible veterans, and eligible veterans in transition to and from treatment at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center.

The Industry Forum will be held in the Auditorium on the Canandaigua, VA Medical Center campus on July 28, 2009. A walk-through of the building will commence at 9:00 am (EDT) with the Industry Forum commencing at 10:00 am and adjourning at 1:00 pm (EDT). The Industry forum will be open to all interested developers and industry affiliates who pre- register via the website located at the following address: http://www.va.gov/ASSETMANAGEMENT/EnhancedUse /Canandaigua/index.asp. Registration provides an opportunity to provide VA with preliminary contact information and allows you to provide initial commentary. Questions will be directed through the website. In addition, further details regarding the Industry Forum and RFP will be directly provided to those interested developers and Industry affiliates that pre-register via the website. The Forum will entail a presentation of the proposed leasing and development opportunity, an open discussion, and will be followed by a reception among forum attendees.

Following the Industry Forum, VA plans to solicit competitive offers from private and public sector entities through the issuance of a VA "Request for Proposals" (RFP). The RFP will provide more detailed information about the proposed transaction, including a scheduled date and time for interested persons to tour the site. Developers' proposals will likely be due in Fall 2009 (i.e., by a specific date and time to be contained in the RFP), and VA's selection of the selected developer is expected to occur in early 2010.

The Canandaigua VA Medical Center, located at 400 Fort Hill Avenue in Canandaigua, New York, is within 50 miles of Rochester, NY and 100 miles of Buffalo and Syracuse, NY. The Medical Center is situated on 163 acres that straddle the line of the Town of Canandaigua and the City of Canandaigua. Most of the VAMC is located in the Town. Both of these jurisdictions are within Ontario County in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.

VA Enhanced-Use Lease authority is a proven method for VA to leverage its diverse real property/facilities to private or other public entities for up to 75 years in order to realign unused or underutilized real assets in a manner that will yield a "highest and best" use and return to veterans, taxpayers, and the government through revenues and/or in-kind consideration in the form of facilities, space and/or the provision of goods and services. Through the EUL authority, VA can outlease the targeted land and improvement for a term of up to 75 years to accommodate the scope of the project. In return for a long-term lease of the assets, the offeror will provide "fair consideration" to VA. VA's primary objective in leasing the property is for a selected developer to establish and thereby increase the number of housing units with on-site supportive services available to homeless Veterans, including those at imminent risk of homelessness, and eligible non-Veterans.

In December 4, 2006, the VA Secretary signed the site review initiative with the objective of conducting a comprehensive review and assessment of VA's vast infrastructure and capital asset inventory to decrease the amount of underutilized real property and maximize its value through EUL. The EUL proceeds from the executed projects will be reinvested to enhance services provided to the Veterans. On May 5, 2008 the VA Secretary approved 49 sites for EUL development under this initiative. Projects were divided in two phases for implementation. OAEM already awarded four of the Phase I projects in FY 2009. In Phase I , 22 sites are actively pursuing the homeless component and 23 projects are on hold. On Hold projects are being evaluated for feasibility and need to proceed as a housing development or some other development within the long term care continuum such as assisted living. In the Phase II site review initiative, 15 sites are approved for a market driven project which may include a housing or long term care component. There is opportunity to develop multiple projects within each site.

For the past six years she has been one of the architects of the Federal national plan to end homelessness. Working behind the scenes, Deputy Director Mary Ellen Hombs helped coordinate the national partnership, planned strategy, drafted logistics, attended meetings, and did a thousand other things while avoiding the glare of the spotlight. Ms. Hombs is pictured here.

Left to her own devices, Mary Ellen would quietly pack her bags and unceremoniously slip out of Washington when she steps away from the Council and heads back to Boston this week. But some of us who have worked with her are not that reserved. And so, we take this opportunity to thank her, not only for her contributions to the Council, but for her lifetime of commitment and advocacy on behalf of the most vulnerable and destitute among us.

Pete Dougherty, Acting Executive Director of the Council, who has known Mary Ellen since before her tenure at the Council, spoke for many in discussing her versatility and dedication to her work. He said: "Her real interest is driving innovation to end homelessness. Cutting-edge work on policy and innovation fuels her passion. She has a sharp mind, is meticulous, and she has done a lot to help many understand the policy implications of their effort. She was the glue that held a small and efficient office in Washington together. She helped many understand the dynamic character of homelessness, and was the institutional memory of USICH. It's sad to see her leave."

She chose working with the homeless as a vocation, and over the course of 35 years has worked on public policy and advocacy in New York, Washington, and Boston. A 30 percent dip in chronic homelessness is just one hallmark of her time here at the Council.

Prior of joining the Council in 2003, Mary Ellen was Executive Director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance. She was the Alliance's Director of Special Projects and coordinated statewide assistance initiatives in the areas of housing development, homeless programs, and discharge planning. She was instrumental in lobbying for passage of the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, the primary federal legislation on homelessness to date. She has authored several books and numerous articles, including the award-winning "American Homelessness."

Though many people experiencing homelessness have never heard her voice or seen her face, her creativity and caring have touched, and will continue to touch the lives of many who are homeless in America.

Mary Ellen, thank you for a job well done!

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news spotlights comments this week by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary and U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness Chairperson Shaun Donovan. Secretary Donovan keynoted an event with former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros and former HUD Chief of Staff and Vice President and Founding Director of the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program which advises national, state, regional and municipal leaders on policy reforms that advance the competitiveness of metropolitan areas. The event - "From Despair to Hope: Two HUD Secretaries on Urban Revitalization and Opportunity" - focused on urban revitalization and opportunity, including the HOPE VI program created under Secretary Cisneros and the Obama's Administration's announcement of the Choice Neighborhoods initiatives.

Following are excerpts from Secretary Donovan's remarks.

"I believe Choice Neighborhoods will do for our communities what HOPE VI did for public housing - as far as I'm concerned, it must.

"Indeed, it must do better. The 'technology' of combining housing and supportive services has progressed enormously - particularly for our most vulnerable populations. Back in 1992, it was virtually inconceivable that we could try to help the longest standing, most chronically homeless-whether on LA's Skid Row, the streets in Seattle, or in the parks in New York City-and find that a year later nearly 90 percent of those individuals remain housed. Yet that is happening now, every day.

"There is no excuse any longer, if there ever was, to fail to house and support every family now living in a distressed public or assisted housing project.

"The simple fact is, today we can house anyone.

"Our challenge now is to house everyone."

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