1 - Learning the Basics
Section 1: Performance Measures
A critical aspect of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is a focus on viewing the local homeless response as a coordinated system of homeless assistance options as opposed to homeless assistance programs and funding sources that operate independently in a community. To facilitate this perspective the Act requires communities to measure their performance as a coordinated system, in addition to analyzing performance by specific projects or project types.
The Act has established a set of selection criteria for HUD to use in awarding CoC funding that require CoCs to report to HUD their system-level performance. The intent of these selection criteria are to encourage CoCs, in coordination with all other homeless assistance community partners in the community, to regularly measure their progress in meeting the needs of people experiencing homelessness in their community and to report this progress to HUD.
Section 2: Joint Transitional Housing-Rapid Rehousing (Joint TH-RRH) and Rapid Rehousing (RRH) Performance
Performance Measures required from Joint Transitional Housing-Rapid Rehousing (Joint TH-RRH) and Rapid Rehousing (RRH) Projects:
Must maintain an average of 7 days or less between participants' project start and entry into HMIS (Homeless Management Information System)
Must maintain an average data completeness score of less than 2% missing data
Total move-in date error should be less than 5%
Total exit destination error should be less than 10%
Must sufficiently prioritize literally homeless participants or those fleeing domestic violence and meet the threshold of 95% or higher
Must have an average time to permanent housing under 30 days
Must have ≥25% of all adult participants who increased total income from entry to exit
Must have ≥80% of exits to Permanent Housing
Must serve ≥10% Chronic population
Each of these performance measures ensures data quality and positive performance as required by HUD.
Section 3: Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Performance
Performance Measures required from Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Projects:
Must maintain an average of 7 days or less between participants' project start and entry into HMIS (Homeless Management Information System)
Must maintain an average data completeness score of less than 2% missing data
Total move-in date error should be less than 5%
Total exit destination error should be less than 10%
Must sufficiently prioritize literally homeless participants or those fleeing domestic violence and meet the threshold of 90% or higher
Must have an average time to permanent housing under 30 days
Must have ≥25% of all adult participants who increased total income from entry to exit
Must have ≥85% of exits to Permanent Housing
Must serve 50% Chronic population
Each of these performance measures ensures data quality and positive performance as required by HUD.
Section 4: HUD Requirements
HUD has specific requirements laid out for projects:
Have 25% match for their budget
Have an acceptable organizational audit
Be an active SAM Registrant to receive federal funding
Be an active CoC member (this is why we require attendance at Board meetings and the CoC Annual Meeting)
Be an active participant in Coordinated Entry (this is why we require projects to utilize Coordinated Entry to pull participants into their program openings)
Demonstrate the need for the project
Show effective use of federal funds
Have equity in organizational and project practices
Demonstrate the capacity for financial and organizational capacity to carry out the project and administer federal funds
Have financially feasible projects
Participate with Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) or Domestic Violence Information Management System (DVIMS) if they are a victim service provider
Be Housing First & Low Barrier
Show an increase in employment and/or income in participants
Leverage housing resources without CoC or Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Funding
Not have any debarments/suspensions
Have no outstanding delinquent federal debts
Have partnerships showing commitment to housing and/or healthcare resources
Ensure participants are able to rapidly secure and maintain permanent housing
Have a valid Unique Entity Identifier
These requirements have helped us build our competition process to ensure projects are strong and providing the best services possible.