HPC staff urge partners to help strengthen HUD community application ahead of NOFO

Allison (staff member) briefed the council on plans to coordinate the Homeless Planning Council’s inputs to the Continuum of Care community application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and warned that system performance measures (SPMs) and other data-heavy elements can comprise a large share of the annual HUD funding competition score.

Allison said the community application is intended to capture the full scope of work in Nashville — agencies funded by the Continuum of Care, non-funded agencies and other partners — and that HUD scoring is driven in significant part by metrics pulled from HMIS and other formal inventories. “The system performance measures alone are 30% of our score,” Allison said. She encouraged council members and community groups to submit program details and examples the application should reflect.

Allison summarized sample application sections where strategy answers matter: infectious disease prevention and communications, trauma‑informed services for domestic violence survivors and emergency transfer plans. She said the application is long (the full submission runs well over 100 pages in prior years) and that staff will circulate draft answers and solicit contributions as the HUD Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is released.

Council and COC members discussed benchmarking and the need for clearer data context. Members asked for comparative benchmarks — national or peer community figures — and past-year application results so reviewers can tell whether current numbers reflect improvement. Allison said she would share last year’s application and work with committees to gather supporting evidence and suggested submitting improved, strategy-focused responses that align with the UHS where relevant.

Ending: Staff asked partners to review and help refine community application materials once the NOFO is published and to contribute updates that show how local strategies and programs address the application’s strategic questions.