Description
During the National Emergency due to COVID–19, VA announces the availability of approximately $50 million in capital grants to increase safety and reduce the risk to Veterans in GPD transitional housing who otherwise would be experiencing homelessness. Funding for grants awarded under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is made available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, 2020 (the CARES Act; P.L. 116-136). Mounting risks posed to vulnerable populations from public health concerns such as the coronavirus and other infectious diseases show a need to increase safety in transitional housing provided by GPD grantees. This funding will allow current GPD grantees to improve the transitional housing they offer to Veterans resulting in less congregate housing and more individual unit style housing. This funding will improve personal safety for Veterans, reduce risks associated with close quarters living and increase the availability of individual unit style transitional housing. This funding will allow GPD grantees to continue to transform programs and to meet the challenges local communities face when providing safe spaces for Veterans experiencing homelessness. DATES: Applications for grants must be received by the GPD National Program Office no later than 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on May 25, 2021. In the interest of fairness to all, this deadline is firm as to date and hour. VA will treat any application received after the deadline as ineligible. Applicants should take this practice into account and submit their materials early to avoid the risk of unanticipated delays, computer service outages or other submission-related problems that might result in ineligibility. APPLICATION SUBMISSION: Applications must be submitted by following instructions at www.va.gov/homeless/gpd.asp. Applications may not be submitted any other way. Applications must be received by the GPD National Program Office no later than 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the application deadline date. Applications must be submitted as a complete package. Materials arriving separately will not be included in the application package for consideration and may result in the application being rejected or not funded. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: Information regarding how to obtain technical assistance with the preparation of a grant application is available on the GPD program website at www.va.gov/homeless/gpd.asp. A. Purpose In response to the President’s March 2020 National Emergency declaration related to COVID–19, VA announces the availability of approximately $50 million in capital grants to increase safety and reduce risk for Veterans in GPD transitional housing who otherwise would be experiencing homelessness. Mounting risks posed to vulnerable populations from public health concerns such as the coronavirus and other infectious diseases show a need to increase safety in transitional housing provided by GPD grantees. This funding will allow current GPD grantees to improve the transitional housing they offer to Veterans resulting in less congregate housing and more individual unit style housing. This funding will improve personal safety for Veterans, reduce risks associated with close quarters living and increase the availability of individual unit style transitional housing. This funding will allow GPD grantees to continue to transform programs and to meet the challenges local communities face when providing safe spaces for Veterans experiencing homelessness. Funding is offered to current GPD grantees only. For purposes of this NOFO, a current GPD grantee is an organization that successfully applied to NOFO VA-GPD-PDO-FY2020 and received a new GPD Per Diem Only (PDO) grant with an award date of October 1, 2020, and with an end date of September 30, 2021, and that is eligible for an option year award starting October 1, 2021. For purposes of this NOFO, a current GPD grantee includes PDO transitional housing projects. For purposes of this NOFO, a current GPD grantee does not include GPD grantees with only a PDO Service Center grant, Transition in Place (TIP) grant, Special Need grant or Case Management grant unless they also have an active PDO transitional housing grant. The purpose of this NOFO is to provide capital grants to support acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of real property used for GPD transitional housing facilities. Funds provided through this NOFO are not to support per diem costs, services costs or the cost of operating transitional housing beds for Veterans. Eligibility is summarized here and discussed in detail in the Eligibility section of this NOFO: Applicants, as defined by Employer Identification Number (EIN), are limited to one application per currently active GPD PDO grant per VA medical facility catchment area. • Applications must be from the same organization with the same Employer Identification Number (EIN) as is associated with the currently active GPD PDO Federal Award Identifying Number (FAIN). • Each application must be for the improvement of some or all the GPD beds currently associated with the active GPD PDO grant. Temporary sites (e.g., sites not under the applicant’s direct ownership or control such as motels being used as a temporary measure during the COVID-19 National Emergency) are not eligible for improvement under this NOFO. See Payment section of the NOFO for site control requirements. • Each application may request no more than $50,000 total costs per GPD bed that, upon completion of the project, will be changed from a bed in a shared space to a bed in a private room (with a private bath). • Each application may request no more than $2.5 million total costs per application. • The number of beds proposed to be changed from a bed in a shared space to a bed in a private room (with a private bath) with funds from this capital grant may be less than, but must not exceed, the total number of beds authorized under the GPD PDO grant. NOTE: For grantees with GPD beds in spaces that flex over time, the maximum number of beds proposed to be changed under this capital grant must not exceed the average number of GPD beds documented over the 3 months prior to the NOFO publication month. • Upon completion of the project, the GPD beds changed from a bed in a shared space to a bed in a private room (with a private bath) must continue to be in the same VA medical facility catchment area as the active GPD PDO grant. A change in VA medical facility catchment areas is not allowed. Applicants proposing sites that are within the VA medical facility catchment area, but are a significant distance from their current location, must describe in the Abstract section of the application how they will address relevant impacts (e.g., proximity to VA, employment, transportation). Applicants are reminded that they must continue to provide the same level (or better) of staffing and services as described in their FY 2020 PDO application, or as modified through an approved change of scope. Applicants are encouraged to consider the responsibilities they assume if they are funded and to carefully request only the changes to beds and dollar amounts that correspond to the responsibility, they are willing to assume. Specifically, successful applicants are subject to the recovery provisions of 38 C.F.R. 61.67. VA will seek recovery for awarded capital grant funds on a prorated basis if at any time during the minimum operational period a grantee no longer has an active GPD PDO grant and/or if a grantee does not maintain bed numbers. Applicants should become familiar with the amount of time the PDO project must operate in order to avoid capital grant repayments. Operational time for these grants will begin on the activation date (i.e., not the award date, but the date GPD approves activation after project completion; see definition of “activation date” later in the NOFO). For details, refer to the table at the end of this NOFO and the regulations.