Help Sheet
2015 Project Application
Helpful Websites:
1.
Alliance Website: Check the NOFA 2015 page at http://suburbancook.org/nofa
2.
HUD/Esnaps Website: https://www.hudexchange.info/e-snaps
3.
Ask A Question: https://www.hudexchange.info/get-assistance/my-question/
Project Congressional District(s):
1.
Enter your ZIP PLUS FOUR at www.house.gov to determine your US Representative. The
district number is next to his/her name.
2.
To find your ZIP PLUS FOUR, enter your physical address at
http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp
Continuum of Care Name and Number
1.
This refers to HUD’s name for our continuum: Cook County Continuum of Care.
2.
Our CoC number is: IL-511
Project 6-digit Geographic Code:
6-digit Geocode
179031
170222
170606
171302
171332
171776
172238
173228
174734
175148
175154
175364
176300
176498
Area
COOK COUNTY
Arlington Heights
Berwyn
Chicago Heights
Cicero
Des Plaines
Evanston
Hoffman Estates
Mt. Prospect
Oak Lawn
Oak Park
Palatine
Schaumburg
Skokie
FY 2015 Fair Market Rents (FMR):
1.
METROPOLITAN FMR AREA: *Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL HUD Metro FMR Area
2.
Note: The FMRs for unit sizes larger than 4 BRs are calculated by adding 15% to the 4 BR
FMR for each extra bedroom.
EFFICIENCY
$812
1 BR
$922
2 BR
$1,093
3 BR
$1,393
4 BR
$1,624
What are the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers (CFDA) and Funding
Opportunity numbers for the Applicant Profile/SF-424?
 CFDA: 14.267 Continuum of Care Program
 Funding Opportunity No. FR-5900-N-25
4415 HARRISON STREET, SUITE 228 ▪ HILLSIDE, IL 60162
telephone 708.236.3261 ▪ fax 708.236.3299 ▪ web www.suburbancook.org
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Helpful Hints:
1.
Your Applicant Profile must be marked Complete before you can work on the Project Application. You
can return to the Applicant Profile to edit it later. The e-snaps training modules cover this in detail.
2.
Within your Applicant Profile, be sure to replace the HUD Form 2880 and other attachments with new
ones from this year, dated July 1 or after, rather than leave last year’s forms there. Update the forms
with the correct info.
3.
If a renewal, your request amount must match the Ranking List adopted by the Alliance board in July.
(See Alliance NOFA webpage.) Many projects received 3% reductions. If your project was NOT
reduced, its budget must match what is shown in Section 3.1 on the Grant Inventory Worksheet (GIW),
found on the Alliance NOFA webpage. If the project was reduced, you decide in what categories you
make the deduction, but remember...
4.
Make sure your administrative request is no greater than 7% of program expenses. “Program
expenses” is your request subtotal before admin. Round down, not up.
5.
If a renewal, use the Grant Number that appears in the Grant Inventory Worksheet, available on the
Alliance NOFA webpage.
6.
For new projects: Capital projects must complete the restrictive covenant (15 year use form) and have a
three-year term.
7.
“Special projects” refer to Permanent Housing Bonus or Samaritan Initiative projects from past
competitions or this year’s bonus projects.
MATCH & LEVERAGE QUESTIONS:
What should be in our match and leverage letters?
 For new projects: Match must be cash or in-kind resources in hand for 1st year. All match and leverage
must be documented with letters to accompany your application. Match and leverage letters need to
include the following: name of the organization providing the resource; the amount of cash (or the cash
value of the in-kind contribution); the type of activity for which the resource will be used (e.g.,
acquisition, rehabilitation, new construction, operations, services, etc.); the name of the project sponsor
organization and/or the name of the project; and the time period the funds or resource will be
available.
Can we use ESG as cash match for our project?
 Very few activity costs are allowable under both ESG and CoC funds. In the limited instances where
ESG is covering a cost that is also a CoC eligible activity, and the program participants meet both the
ESG and CoC eligibility criteria, you may be able to use the ESG as match for the CoC program. Note,
you cannot use CoC funds to match ESG and use ESG to match CoC funds, and you cannot “doublecount” other private funds as match for both CoC and ESG.
What is the value of volunteer services for in-kind match or leveraging purposes?
 Donated professional services should be valued at the customary rate.
 A helpful resource on the value of volunteer time: http://www.independentsector.org/volunteer_time.
GOOD TO KNOW:

Educational Assurances: Similar to last year, project applicants who will be serving families with
children need to assure that their policies are consistent with a child’s educational rights and that a staff
person is designated to assist them, as explained in the NOFA.

FFATA Reporting: Read the General Section for more detail. In short, any awardee receiving $25,000
or more must report some basics about the organization and the award into a government website
www.fsrs.gov, including executive compensation if organization revenues are greater than $25 million.
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Also, the awardee must report information about any subawardees receiving $25,000 or more,
including executive compensation if their revenue exceeds $25 million.

In HUD Project Application, Part 3B, Question 2: Answer yes to this question about whether you
participate in the CoC’s coordinated assessment system. What this implies is that you coordinate with the
Alliance staff to prioritize vulnerable homeless households for vacancies and/or that your agency’s
resources can be accessed through the Virtual Call Center or a resulting referral. Note that the Alliance
is planning significant improvements to our Coordinated Entry system, but your current participation in
our current system is required by HUD.

In HUD Project Application, Part 3B, Question 4: Both Permanent and Transitional Housing programs
will be evaluated on whether they are Housing First. Both HUD and the suburban Alliance expect
programs to eliminate restrictive eligibility criteria (i.e., screening out for substance use, mental illness,
criminal history, etc.) and to minimize program terminations (i.e., terminating for not following a service
plan or not improving income). Your project(s) individually and our Continuum of Care as a whole are
evaluated on to what extent we practice a Housing First approach.

In HUD Project Application, Part 4B: HUD has set a benchmark of 75% of Permanent Supportive
Housing (PSH) beds being prioritized for chronically homeless individuals or chronically homeless
families. Please review the HUD Project Application Detailed Instructions, pp. 21-23, for an
explanation of how to answer these questions. We know these questions are asked in a confusing way,
and so please ask for additional help from Alliance staff if you need it. Yes, even family PSH programs
should be making this commitment; although CH families are very rare in our geography, HUD wants to
know you would prioritize an eligible CH family over another eligible family. The Alliance is requiring
PSH renewals to provide a letter to reinforce this commitment. A template will be provided. You will
attach this letter to the email you send to nofa@suburbancook.org when you submit your application by
the Alliance deadline.

In HUD Project Application, Part 5A-B: This is a projection of households and clients to be served. HUD
has clarified that this section is intended to reflect the households and persons proposed to be served on
a given night when the project is at full operational capacity. For renewals, it should match the program
participant population reflected in the most recent grant agreement, as amended. This section is not
asking for HMIS data, and there is no HMIS report intended to help you answer this question.
HEARTH-Related Changes:

Homeless definition: With the HEARTH Act passed in May 2009, HUD was instructed to make changes
to the homeless definition. The final rule (https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/1928/hearthdefining-homeless-final-rule/) was published on December 5, 2011, and the new definition is in effect.
HUD has placed limitations on when “Category 3” homeless households (doubled up families and
children) can be served, and no projects in our Continuum are currently eligible to serve doubled up
families and children.

CoC Interim Rule: The Continuum of Care Program Interim Rule was released on July 31, 2012, and is
posted here: https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/2033/hearth-coc-program-interim-rule/. In the
rule, the Supportive Housing Program (SHP) and Shelter Plus Care (S+C) program are combined into
the Continuum of Care Program. While all renewals eligible under the old programs are eligible to
renew under the new program, every project is responsible for getting familiar with many important
changes that will impact them, including...

Match requirements: Match can be cash or in-kind. New projects must provide match and leverage
letters to the Alliance as a part of their application. Renewal projects are responsible for keeping match
and leverage commitments on file and available for monitoring. Match is calculated on your total
request amount, excluding leasing. Example: Your total request is $260,000, and $160,000 of that is
for leasing. That leaves $100,000 in other budget items including admin. Take 25% of $100,000
(which is $25,000) to get your match requirement. You could fulfill that match requirement with a
combination of cash and in-kind resources whose total value is at least $25,000.
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
One-Year Term: New projects may request a one-year term unless they are requesting capital funds
(acquisition, rehab, new construction). In that case, the project must have at least a three-year term. All
renewal projects will have one-year terms.

Ranking and Tiers: When the Alliance submits the combined application to HUD, all projects must be
listed in a ranked order. Furthermore, HUD has created two tiers, where Tier 1 projects can add up to
an amount equivalent to our Annual Renewal Demand minus 15%. Tier 2 includes those projects that fit
into our Final Pro Rata Need but that were ranked lower than the Tier 1 projects.
Participant Eligibility

Subpopulation Consistency: Both the HUD Project Application and the Alliance application ask for your
subpopulation targeting in a number of different ways. Be sure that your figures make sense and are
consistent with each other. Use consistent figures whenever you’re asked about persons served,
households served, number of units, the performance measure universe, subpopulation targeting and so
forth. Chronic homelessness shows up in a number of places. Know the difference between total units
and turnover units. Be consistent throughout.

Permanent Supportive Housing: PSH participants can only come from the streets, other places not
meant for human habitation, emergency shelters or safe havens. If they come from transitional housing,
then they must have come from the streets, shelters, etc., at the time they were entering TH. However, a
person living in TH is no longer considered chronically homeless for the purposes of entering PSH. So, for
PSH that is dedicated to chronically homeless people, no one can come from TH.

Rapid Re-Housing: Three CoC-funded projects in our Continuum are considered Rapid Re-Housing. RRH
participants can only come from the streets or shelter. Transferring a participant from RRH to PSH is
permitted. You should discuss individual cases with your HUD field office representative.

See the NOFA for more info on eligible participants.
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