Agencies applying for 2015 Continuum of Care (CoC) renewal funding were recently given guidance on pulling and reviewing data that will be used in scoring those renewal applications. After the guidance was issued, the Kentucky Homeless Management Information System (KYHMIS) Help Desk received numerous requests for assistance related to errors appearing on the KYHMIS 625 Annual Performance Report (APR). With these requests, we are aware that due to the HUD Data Standards implemented in October 2014, the 625 APR will not be able to be pulled for the dates previously proposed without null values and errors appearing.

To remedy this issue, CoC agencies should run a 625 APR for the dates October 1, 2014 through May 31, 2015.

Each provider, including any sub-recipients of the grant, must have all data reviewed and all corrections made, as needed, by Wednesday, July 8, 2015. There will be no opportunity to correct and resubmit data for project scoring after Wednesday, July 8, 2015.

For all Programs

• Percentage of clients exiting to permanent housing destinations.   
• Participants with one or more source(s) of non-cash benefits by program exit.
• Participants age 18 and older who maintained or increased their total income (from all sources except employment) as of the end of the reporting period or program exit.
• Percentage of client entries from streets/emergency shelter only. 
• Percentage of clients with no income at program entry. 
• Percentage of client entries from streets/emergency shelter only.

For PH/TH Programs

• Average daily bed utilization.

The ranking subcommittee has developed a renewal CoC project evaluation process that will be used to review, score, and rank all renewal CoC projects as part of the 2015 CoC competition. The priority areas that will be reviewed are as follows:

Project Participant Impact

• Housing stability
• Access to income and benefits

Meeting Community Need

• Bed utilization
• Targeting hard to serve persons/households

Project Capacity

• Meeting reporting requirements
• Unspent funds
• KYHMIS data quality
• 2015 leverage documentation
• Audit/monitoring findings

Almost all data used in project evaluation will come from the KYHMIS or comparable data base 625 APR report for dates October 1, 2014 through May 31, 2015. Other project evaluation will come from Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) audit, monitoring findings documentation; information on unspent funds from previously awarded CoC grants; information on HIC/PIT data submission; project leverage; and the CoC capacity scorecard.  

Victim Service Providers (VSPs) will provide the 625 APR report from their comparable data base.

Over the next few weeks, additional information for 2015 renewal projects will be shared with CoC partners via eGrams. 

If you have any questions related to making corrections to your KYHMIS 625 APR, please contact the Housing Contract Administration (HCA) Help Desk. If you have any other questions related to this process, please email Lynn Chrisman at lchrisman@kyhousing.org .

As a reminder, the 2012 CoC Interim Rule included information that specified all projects receiving and utilizing CoC leasing funds must perform an environmental review for the units in which they are providing leasing assistance. The CoC Interim Rule states that projects with leasing budgets must provide information for each site containing one or more units to receive leasing or project-based rental assistance. A site includes a building or group of buildings on the same or contiguous lots and will be referred to as a single "project" for the purposes of this review.

The environmental review of each of the units and/or buildings must be completed prior to lease-up. 

Any CoC projects with leasing funds should contact Antwoine Linton at alinton@kyhousing.org to make sure the project is in full compliance with all requirements.

As a reminder, KHC changed the submission process of the Universal Draw Request form for all existing and new projects in February 2015. This change allowed KHC to streamline processes and, in turn, provide a faster turnaround of fund requests. All draws are now required to be submitted to KHCDrawRequest@kyhousing.org.

As of Wednesday, July 1, 2015, all agencies are required to be signed up for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) of funds. The EFT Sign-Up Form  is available on KHC's website, under Specialized Housing.

You may refer to the User Guide on any page of the Universal Draw Request form for assistance in completing the draw request. Additional guidance can be found in the Universal Draw Change Training  available on KHC's website, under Specialized Housing. Please note, this process does not apply to draws for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) or Weatherization programs.

If you have any questions or need help completing the request, please contact your assigned Program Representative. Also, your program representative can provide a report of projects, which may be helpful for identifying project numbers to include on the draw request. When submitting the electronic draw request, please do not copy your program representative. They will be notified of the submission.

Privacy and Confidentiality Notice:  Partner agencies transmitting documentation in support of Universal Draw Request system must take every precaution necessary to ensure a customer's Non Public Information or Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is not sent to the designated email box. PII consists of but not limited to: Social Security Number, date of birth, mother's maiden name, etc.

This year, KYHMIS users will be able to submit the annual required documentation online via the HCA Help Desk. The following four documents must be signed and submitted via "Submit a Request" on the HCA Help Desk by Monday, August 3, 2015, in order to remain compliant with KYHMIS:

• 2015 KYHMIS External Policies and Procedures 
• 2015 KYHMIS Participation Agreement 
• 2015 Security Monitoring Form (one per agency)
• 2015 KYHMIS User Confidentiality Agreement 

Failure to submit the required documentation by Monday, August 3, 2015, may result in agency licenses being suspended and/or withholding of draws until compliant.

The KYHMIS Privacy Notice  has also been updated. All KYHMIS agencies are responsible for ensuring the current KYHMIS Privacy Notice and Privacy Policy are posted and available to all clients. These documents are available on the HCA Help Desk.

Effective Wednesday, July 1, 2015, the updated KYHMIS External Policies and Procedures will be implemented. Slight changes have been made for clarification purposes. The document is available on the HCA Help Desk. KHC asks partners to review the document and reference it when addressing roles, responsibilities, and liabilities for their agency, users, and clients.

If you have questions concerning the changes made to the KYHMIS External Policies and Procedures, or the other required KYHMIS annual required documentation, please contact Anne Colly Rose toll-free in Kentucky at 800-633-7630 or 502-564-7630, extension 259; TTY 711; or email arose@kyhousing.org .

KYHMIS users will soon be able to access their invoices online! KHC is working with PNC Bank to use Automated Clearing House (ACH) to accept payment.
 
Louisville CoC:  Billing will still be processed through Will King, the system administrator for the Louisville CoC. Stay tuned to KHC eGrams with billing procedures within the next 2-3 weeks.

Lexington CoC:  Billing for the first quarter of the fiscal year will come from KHC. Payments for the October 2015-June 2016 billing will be collected by the Lexington CoC system administrator. In October, the Lexington CoC system administrator will contact the Lexington CoC users regarding the remainder of their billing. Stay tuned to KHC eGrams with billing procedures within the next 2-3 weeks.
 
BoS CoC Agencies:  Stay tuned to KHC eGrams with billing procedures within the next 2-3 weeks.
 
All required forms will be available online for download and submission to KHC electronically.

If you have any questions, please contact Lena Columbia toll-free in Kentucky at 800-633-8896 or 502-564-7630, extension 448, TTY 711; or email  lcolumbia@kyhousing.org 

To better serve partners, KHC is implementing new requirements for KYHMIS continuing education. This change will help agencies save staff and travel time by substituting face-to-face training with online training.

Previously, KYHMIS users were required to attend at least one training session in person each year. The new process requires KYHMIS users to watch all seven training videos, mentioned above, then complete and submit a survey. Once KHC receives the completed survey, the user will receive credit for completing the annual continuing education requirement. These videos can be found on KHC's YouTube training channel.
 
KHC is not currently offering regularly scheduled KYHMIS refresher training sessions, but will continue to focus on training new users. To maintain a KYHMIS license, users must complete the continuing education requirement annually, per our External Policies and Procedures . 

KHC encourages your participation in the next Kentucky Statewide CoC meeting on Wednesday, July 1, 2015, at 2 p.m. ET. By joining this Webinar, which covers all six CoC regions, your attendance will be counted for the July 2015 CoC meeting.

Topics that will be discussed include HUD opening comments for the ESG Interim Rule, the 2015 ESG Award status, the 2015 CoC Application, CoC Advisory Board, Coordinated Assessment, and KYHMIS updates.  

Individuals must register to attend and will receive a confirmation email including Webinar instructions. Please send suggested agenda topics to Lynn Chrisman at lchrisman@kyhousing.org.

A series of seven training videos are now available as either a refresher or new user training. These videos total approximately two hours of content, including details on how to remain compliant with HUD's 2014 Data Standards when entering client data into KYHMIS. The playlist for these videos can be found on KHC's YouTube training channel .