HUD recently announced its 2011 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Competition for new projects and project renewals.

“Recent homeless counts indicate there are an estimated 6,500 homeless persons in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community, with about 15 percent who are considered chronically homeless,” said Peter Safir, Community Support Services homeless services director. “In order to continue to help these folks in our community, funding such as this is vitally important.”

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg region received $3,569,277 for renewal projects in 2010 to assist the homeless. An additional $262,439 has been made available over the next 5 years for new projects that will provide permanent housing for homeless disabled families and chronically homeless individuals and families under the Supportive Housing (SHP), Shelter Plus Care or Section 8 Single Room Occupancy programs.
 
The Continuum of Care Workgroup of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Homeless Services Network receives and reviews applications locally. The group will meet to discuss the funding opportunity and answer questions from potential applicants at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 22. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held at the Mecklenburg County Hal Marshall Center, 700 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, in the Hoffman Conference Room (basement).

If you are interested in applying for this funding opportunity, you must complete the attached application form and meet all HUD eligibility requirements, which may be found in Sections II and III of the HUD Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) (http://www.hudhre.info/documents/FY2011_CoC_NOFAFinal.pdf). In addition, please refer to pages 9-17 of the NOFA for definitions of all terms relevant to CoC project applicants.
New projects must be submitted to the Continuum of Care workgroup by NO LATER than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 3, 2011. Please email to Peter.Safir@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov.

The schedule for the new project selection process follows:
Public notice of funding availability: Sept. 15

Bidders’ Conference: Sept. 22

Proposal due date: Oct. 3 (NO EXCEPTIONS)

Applicant follow-up, if needed, including any requested changes: Oct. 3-5

Selection and notification of new project applicant(s): Oct. 5-7

Grant application submitted NO LATER than Oct. 21.

 Media Contact: Peter Safir at 704-336-3100 or Peter.Safir@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov.