HUD's homelessness grant competition goes ahead, with applications due Sept. 30, after an appeals court vacates the ruling that stopped it
The First Circuit paused a judge's ruling against the Continuum of Care funding notice on Sept. 16 and, at the challengers' request, vacated it on Sept. 24. Of the $4.04 billion on offer, $1.3 billion is set aside for new transitional housing and supportive services projects.
Boston. Communities competing for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's largest homelessness grants have until 8 p.m. Eastern time on Sept. 30 to apply, after a federal appeals court vacated the ruling that had stopped the competition.
The Continuum of Care program pays nonprofits, public housing agencies, local governments and tribes to house and serve homeless people; in each area they apply together through a planning body of the same name. HUD's funding notice of June 1 offers $4.04 billion and sets aside $1.3 billion for new projects, with priority for transitional housing and for services offered without housing. The Congressional Research Service said this moves roughly 30 percent of the money away from permanent housing; HUD had not funded new transitional housing projects since fiscal 2012.
Two rulings in eight days
On Aug. 7, U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy in Rhode Island set aside the whole notice in two suits, one brought by states led by Washington, the other by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, other nonprofits and local governments. She ruled that the set-aside was an incentive that the homelessness law allows only after public notice and comment, which HUD had not sought.
On Sept. 16, Judges Lara E. Montecalvo, Seth R. Aframe and Joshua D. Dunlap of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit paused that ruling. They found HUD likely to show that the set-aside is not a "bonus or other incentive" under the law, and noted that HUD must make its awards by Dec. 1. HUD reopened applications two days later.
The challengers then asked the court to vacate the ruling and send the cases back. On Sept. 24 it did, treating the request as a formal waiver of the notice-and-comment claim, which they may not raise again in the litigation. Their other claims, which Judge McElroy had not decided, go back to her, including the nonprofit group's challenge to conditions set by the Office of Management and Budget. She set a status conference with the lawyers for Sept. 29.
What applicants should know
HUD says the notice is unchanged apart from the deadline and one correction: continuums that have not yet told project applicants whether they made the priority list may now give seven days' notice instead of 15. A waiver issued Sept. 18 lets private nonprofits administer rental assistance under the awards, which HUD's regulation had reserved for states, local governments and housing agencies.
HUD, which maintains that the set-aside needed no public comment, is also taking comments until Oct. 13 on activities it proposes to reward in future competitions, including transitional housing with services, sober housing and coordination with law enforcement.
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