HUD Service Coordinator Grant Applications Due Feb. 7

Posted on January 13, 2022 by Bobbie Guidry

In late December, HUD opened renewal applications for existing Service Coordinator grants for Calendar Year 2022. Applications are due Feb. 7 and must include HUD's one-year budget form. The agency has applied a 5.9% Cost of Living Adjustment, higher than in previous years and falls in line with this year's Social Security benefits increase.

While the agency opened the renewal applications more than two months earlier than last calendar year, housing providers can still expect several month-long delays in receiving funds for drawdown. Grantees can also expect a possible bifurcated approach where partial awards are made to grantees by HUD in the spring, and the remainder of the grant is awarded when the agency receives their full-year appropriations from Congress.

Service Coordinators are critical in supporting healthy aging in the community. Service Coordinators in HUD-assisted housing are funded either through grants, as described above, or through a property's regular operating budget. Throughout both funding mechanisms, less than half of Section 202 properties have a Service Coordinator on site. LeadingAge has been working with HUD and housing providers to increase Service Coordinators throughout the portfolio.

HUD recently received a $25 million increase from Congress in their Service Coordinator appropriations, allowing the agency to release a NOFA for new grant-funded Service Coordinators for the first time in several years. The timing of the NOFA has fallen behind schedule due to the lack of a full-year appropriations package in FY21 and FY22 and due to staffing issues at HUD. The NOFA is expected to be released this year as a combined funding award for both fiscal years.

Aside from grant-funded Resident Service Coordinators (RSC), Section 202 housing providers can add an RSC program to their community through a budget-based rent increase request. For example, by submitting a services plan and a projected RSC budget to HUD, PRAC properties can request increased rents to cover the cost of a Service Coordinator (projects must receive approval from HUD to add a Service Coordinator program to their property, even if funded through non-HUD sources). 

The Calendar Year 2022 Service Coordinator grant renewal guide is available here. HUD has made sample Service Coordinator budgets and forms available on the HUD exchange. In 2021, HUD also released a new guide on virtual Service Coordination due to pandemic conditions.