- Q: Where are the uniform applications found?
A: There is a link on the main NOFO page under "GA".
- Q: Is there any flexibility about the sections outlined in the Eligible Grantees and Program Participant Eligibility Housing First PSH Program Guide? I think we would be great at administering this program, and we have several unsheltered community members with mental health conditions, but we're so geographically far from any Front Door Diversion Program, PATH program, or State Operated Psychiatric Hospital that I'm afraid we're defacto disqualified from applying.
A: While DMH recognizes the need for housing beyond the specific target populations and eligible grantees identified in the NOFO, applicants must meet the requirements outlined in the NOFO to qualify for funding under this grant.
- Q: Can the full cost of the housing administrator position be applied to the grant?
A: Up to 20% of grant funds can be used for Case Management that is directly related to the requirements of this program as stipulated in the Program Guide. That may or may not fund the full cost of any positions for grant applicants.
- Q: Are provider agencies (CMHC) allowed to have our own staff certified to conduct the HQS inspections? Will HUD accept that? If not is there a list of agencies that provide this?
A: : Yes - Staff time necessary to conduct and document inspections may be included under Inspection Costs. This is not a HUD-funded program. However, HUD HQS standards are the inspection standards for this program. HQS certification is also not a HUD requirement, but many employers require their staff to be certified to demonstrate that they have the knowledge to successfully and accurately complete both the inspection and HQS forms. HQS certification fees are also an eligible expense under Inspection Costs when providers require certification of their staff. If you know you have qualified staff that can conduct those inspections, DHS/DMH is not going to require that certification. If you are an employer that intends to require certification, those training and certification fees are an eligible expense under inspection costs.
- Q: Is the HQS considered part of the 20% case management or a separate position?
A: The costs associated with conducting and documenting HQS inspections fall under Inspection Costs for this program. This is separate and exempt from the 20% limit on case management costs.
- Q: Is the $1500 transition assistance funds over and above the amounts allocated for Williams and Colbert class members or FDDP clients?
A: Grantees must make a good faith effort to cover/minimize these costs and/or acquire necessary furnishings through other resources and describe those efforts and/or lack of other resources in their request to authorized DMH staff to fund these costs. If another program pays transition assistance funds (i.e., Comprehensive Class Member Transition Program for Williams & Colbert class members) those funds must be used first and the need for the additional funds from this program to cover remaining needs must be justifiable and documented in their request to authorized DMH staff to fund these costs.
- Q: Is the 220 grant guaranteed if this grant is approved?
A: IDHS can never guarantee that an applicant will receive funding, but awardees of this program will be given the opportunity to either increase their (or their partner's) current Program 220 contract funding in proportion to the number of people they propose to serve under this program or, for those who are not currently grantees of Program 220, will be given the opportunity to apply for funding under Program 220 in proportion to the number of people they propose to serve under this program. There is not a good precedent for how we can get applicants and awardees of one program into another one, but we certainly will be evaluating our options as soon as we have the scoring completed and we have notified agencies of the awards. We will do our best to provide access to those services but would not advise applicants to do any planning that is absolutely contingent on Program 220 funding for services as part of your model for delivering the services under this program.
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Q: This grant states that it is for 7 months with two subsequent, one-year renewal options with a total estimated funding of $2,000,000. If the first 7 months are estimated at a total of $2,000,000, are the subsequent, total one-year renewal budgets also $2,000,000 or are they anticipated to be higher (approximately $3,428,571) reflective to cover 12 months instead of the initial 7 months?
A: IDHS can never guarantee that an applicant will receive funding, but awardees of this program will be given the opportunity to either increase their (or their partner's) current Program 220 contract funding in proportion to the number of people they propose to serve under this program or, for those who are not currently grantees of Program 220, will be given the opportunity to apply for funding under Program 220 in proportion to the number of people they propose to serve under this program. There is not a good precedent for how we can get applicants and awardees of one program into another one, but we certainly will be evaluating our options as soon as we have the scoring completed and we have notified agencies of the awards. We will do our best to provide access to those services but would not advise applicants to do any planning that is absolutely contingent on Program 220 funding for services as part of your model for delivering the services under this program.
- Q: How is this program different than the Comprehensive Class Member Transition Program (850) when it comes to serving the Williams Class Members, in terms of the housing? Does a provider need to utilize the current bridge subsidy process or can these funds be utilized for the housing?
A: Housing First PSH is an additional option for the placement of Williams and Colbert class members. Class members may be eligible for the Bridge Subsidy or Housing First PSH but cannot be served by both programs. Recipients of the Housing First PSH funds should consider which housing program is better suited to meet the needs of the individual. If a Bridge Subsidy is sufficient to meet the housing needs of a class member, then the Bridge Subsidy process should be followed. If the class member's housing needs will not be met by the Bridge Subsidy program (particularly due to extremely limited or no income to meet their basic monetary needs for independent living), then class members should be considered for the Housing First PSH program.
- Q: Can you serve more than one of the target populations with this grant? Can you submit an overall budget or do you need separate budgets for each target population?
A: Applicants may propose to serve more than one target population with this grant, but Program Proposals must be fully responsive with information included for each target population as appropriate. If you are approved for a grant to serve multiple populations under this program, Performance Measures will need to be reported for each target population separately. A single overall budget must be submitted for all target populations in your proposal.
- Q: Do you have to have a services contract with IDHS for one of the target populations to be eligible for this funding opportunity?
A: An applicant does not necessarily have to have an existing services contract with IDHS for any of the target populations to be eligible for this funding opportunity. However, the applicant or their partner must meet the requirements to serve the target populations identified in their application. For example, an applicant could have an MOU with a Front Door Diversion provider funded by IDHS, a PATH provider funded by IDHS, a Comprehensive Class Member Transition Program Provider funded by IDHS, or a Managed Care Organization participating in the Community Transitions Initiative funded by HFS. Please carefully read the requirements and respond accordingly in your application.
We would like to expand this program for the homeless population, but we prioritized this program for the SMI population participating in the PATH Program, because we of the funding limitation and because of the need identified by providers and the strain on housing resources available to the people they are trying to transition out of homelessness through that program. There may also be considerations with your local Continuum of Care (CoC) that you want to take under advisement. For example, all the PATH Programs are now required to enter the minimal data requirements in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and beds/units dedicated for homeless persons within a CoC often gets reported through their housing inventory. If you do have a policy in the local CoC about your participation in an HMIS or prioritization of housing resources, please comply with the CoC Standards. For DHS/DMH, the ultimate requirement is that participants meet the HUD definition for homelessness and are enrolled in the PATH Program.
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Q: What is the referral process? Do we receive referrals or seek out qualified tenants?
A: You will want to include that information in your application; that's part of the program design that is open for being scored. An example is for the homeless population and the PATH program - , your process may be that you communicate with the Continuum of Care (CoC) staff who enroll these individuals from the PATH program into their Coordinated Assessment process. They double check that across their list of coordinated assessment and the top person on the list then gets the first referral to the program and so on down the line. If your organization is a Comprehensive Class Member Transition Program grant recipient, you may already have the members of the target population identified who could be on "income- hold" in your pipeline for transitioning people out of long-term care facilities into permanent supportive housing. It depends on the target population, but you can demonstrate your knowledge/experience and the merits of your program design by telling us how you intend to identify participants and enroll them in your program.
- Q: Can you give a bit more information about the landlord incentives? What types of incentives will be approved to landlords in terms of providing financial incentives to them and at what level?
A: They are itemized clearly in the Program Guide. What can be included for a security deposit is up to a 2-months rent. If 3rd month's deposit is required to secure a commitment from a landlord, that is allowable but will be recorded under landlord incentives as an eligible cost. You can also do a one-time non-refundable signing bonus that is equal to no more than 2 month's rent. Effectively, you could provide a 2-month security deposit, a 3rd month's security deposit as a landlord incentive, a signing bonus for and additional months' rent, and pay for the first month's rent all at lease-signing. That is up to 6 months' rent up front and is intended to give you the maximum negotiating power with landlords. You can also budget to pay the cost of repairing damages or remediating conditions like infestations that may occur, as long as they're clearly documented and not covered by the property's responsibility or covered by the security deposit while they're still residing in the unit. If you have another proposed type of incentive aside from that, you can request it of DMH staff in writing and we would consider it, but for now that should cover most of the incentives you'd want to be able to give a landlord. We do want to encourage grantees to start low and negotiate up, to most effectively and efficiently utilize program funds.
- Q: Are you planning awards be spread throughout the state given the low number of awards?
A: We hope to have as much geographic distribution as possible, but awards will be based on demonstrated needs and the merit of the applications as we score them. Complete coverage statewide will not be feasible, given the limit of the current program budget.
- Q: On page 2 of the NOFO it states that you must be a member of one of the four listed target populations and the estimated number of awards is also four, does this mean the focus is to give one grant per target population?
A: No, but it depends on what applications we get and the strength of the applications. You could technically apply to serve all 4 populations, but just be mindful that if you're applying to serve a population, you will be expected to serve that population. Do not include multiple populations only as a way to increase your score on the application, because it will not.
- Q: In terms of serving individuals, let's say under Williams, in the comprehensive program, you talked about moving through two the paths if you go through the traditional path we are on or we could use this grant opportunity. Can you clarify?
A: For Williams and Colbert class members, housing resources are sort of separate from all the services. The state has provided the housing support where it might not otherwise be available (primarily through the Bridge Subsidy), but also we see class members moving into Statewide Referral Network units, Section 811 units, project- based subsidized housing developments and through housing choice vouchers issued by local public housing authorities. When someone receives a Bridge Subsidy, the intention is that it is a bridge to a more permanent subsidy. This Housing First PSH program is not a bridge program. A participant could stay enrolled in this program for the remaining duration of their natural life. However, even though permanent supportive housing is permanent in the sense that it has no time limits or expiration of assistance, we want to make sure people get the services and the stability they need to move on to more independence if they are able to and open up the permanent supportive housing opportunity for another individual. We really encourage everybody to think about the hardest to serve members of the target populations for this program that truly need all of the allowable expenses in order to successfully achieve housing stability.
- Q: I'm a service provider in human trafficking victims. Our human trafficking clients typically have severe mental health and addiction issues. Are we eligible to apply for these funds? We don't enter data into HMIS for these components for these types of clients, but they are entered in another program in order to protect clients.
A: If you otherwise meet all the other requirements, then yes - ,you can apply because your clients are going to meet HUD's definition of homelessness. From there, your CoC should have a policy on a comparative database or other methods of satisfying the HMIS and data reporting requirements. It would not preclude you from applying for this opportunity with all other requirements being met.
- Q: We are planning to apply for the 215 Housing First PSH Grant with our primary focus being Class Members through our CMCTP however we wanted to verify if we would be able to extend the grant opportunities to individuals who meet homelessness definition even if we don't currently have a PATH program.
A: DHS/DMH does not require applicants to be a current PATH program provider in order to qualify to serve homeless individuals under the Housing First PSH. However, the target population identified is currently homeless (HUD definition at 76 FR 75994) PATH Program participants and not just currently homeless individuals in general. If an applicant for this program is not a PATH program provider, they will need to have a partnership in place with a current PATH provider that enables them to identify and admit eligible PATH program participants into their Housing First PSH program. See Scope of Services, Program Participant Eligibility, 4 c of the NOFO.
- Q: Must an individual have a undergraduate degree or is this program encouraging people to go into the feels of human service?
A: No undergraduate degree is required. High school diploma and lived expertise are the only pre-requisites.
- Q: The NOFO asks us to create a 7 month budget but later the NOFO states that the term agreement is 11/1 through 6/30. This is an 8 month timeframe.
A: The term of agreement is 8 months and Budgets should be prepared for 8 months rather than 7 months.
- Q: If proposing Cook County, the zip code must also be included." We are only targeting the City of Chicago. Do we include all of Cook County Zip codes and Demographics, or only the demographics and zip codes for Chicago?
A: You should only include zip codes and demographics for where you propose to serve.
- Q: When filling out the budget in the CSA Tracking Uniform GATA Budget for the grant Housing First Permanent Supportive Housing PSH 215, normally when calculating indirect costs with De minimis we use the MTDC in which you cannot include rent as most of our DHS Grants are services based and not including rental costs for participants. I want to be sure that my understanding if this particular grant 22-444-22-2616-01 different in that the Housing costs for this grant are included in the IDHS funding (Rental Assistance, Utilities, transition funds, subsistence allowance) are these allowable for use as direct costs in the Modified Total Direct Costs or are we supposed to exclude these as well. Also, Under what section do we put the Housing Rental Assistance costs? Occupancy? Other?
A: Funds reserved for client assistance are part of participant support costs. Per 2 CFR 200.68, all participant support costs need to be excluded from the MTDC base. Also, "Grant Exclusive line Item" can be used to budget for " Housing Rental Assistance".
