Housing Choice Voucher and FSS Coordinators PositionsTHE CITY OF
Dui
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Housing Choice Voucher, HCV, and Family Self Sufficiency, FSS
Coordinators Positions
DATE: February 27, 2013
Dubuque
kital
All- America City
II 111!
2012
On Friday February 22, 2013, the City received a letter from HUD indicating that the
original funding for three Family Self Sufficiency Coordinators is being reduced to one
effective this current fiscal year. HUD is describing the situation as a miscalculation on
their part and offers regret for the error. Attached is the letter dated February 15, 2013.
for your review. A summary of the situation is:
• The Reduction of funding takes the City from $178,260 for three full time FSS
positions to $63,478 for one FFS position. The City has already hired all three
FSS coordinators.
• Since the City was originally awarded three positions, the City will request
Federal Administrative fees to cover the costs of the reduction through the end of
calendar year 2013, as allowed by HUD rules.
• Since the funding request for the Administrative fees may take weeks, staff will
be informed of the pending problem in case the City does not get the
administrative fees and /or the City is unable to find an alternative funding source
for the remainder of the calendar year.
The City can reapply for a more permanent funding stream at the end of calendar year
2013.
Until the City learns in a few weeks the fate of the Administrative Fees application, this
is just informational.
Michael C. Van Milligen
MCVM:jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Teri Goodmann, Assistant City Manager
Alvin Nash, Housing and Community Development Department Director
Jennifer Larson, Budget Director
2
THE CITY OF
Dui
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
Dubuque
All- America city
1111'
2012
To: Mike Van Milligen, City Manager
From: Alvin Nash, Housing and Community Development Manager
Re: Housing Choice Voucher, HCV, and Family Self Sufficiency, FSS Coordinators
Positions
Date: February 25, 2013
On Friday February 22, 2013, we received a letter from HUD indicating that the original
funding for three Family Self Sufficiency Coordinators is being reduced to one effective
this current fiscal year. HUD is describing the situation as a miscalculation on their part
and offers regret for the error. I have attached the letter dated February 15, 2013 for
your review, however allow me to summarize the situation:
• The Reduction of funding takes us from $178,260 for three full time FSS
positions to $63,478 for one FFS position. We have hired all three FSS
coordinators working closely with the Section 8 Case managers and the Circles
program.
• Since we were originally awarded three positions, we have the option to request
HCV Administrative fees to cover the costs of the reduction. We will request the
original amount awarded to us by the March 1st deadline.
• Since the funding request for the Administrative fees may take weeks, we will
inform staff of the pending problem in case we don't get the administrative fees
and /or we are unable to find an alternative funding source for the remainder of
the year ending December 2013.
• Although two of the positions do not qualify for renewal funds (one of the three
positions will qualify), we may be able to submit a new application for these
positions in 2014.
I recommend that we wait to see if we get the HCV administrative fees to cover the
reduction, if so then we will proceed with program goals and objectives, if we don't get
the fees then we can only explore any possible alternative funds. We may not earn
enough funding to cover the weeks it may take to get the administrative fees without
interruption of services or termination of staff.
Enclosure
Office MPoMic and lnd;+s Wv+m
Ms. Janet V. Walker
Assisted Housing Supervisor
City of Dubuque
350 West 6th Street
Suite 312
Dubuque, IA 52001 -4648
Dear Ms. Walker:
US DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20410 -5000
February 15, 2013
Your agency previously received a funding award letter and amended Annual Contributions
Contract (ACC) for funding under the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Family
Self- Sufficiency (FSS) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA).
Subsequent to those letters, HUD determined that the PHI Information Center (PIC) report used to
determine the eligibility and funding under the FY 2012 HCV FSS Coordinator NOFA was inaccurate.
As a result, some public housing agencies (PHAs) did not receive funding or received funding that was
less than what they qualified for under the terms of the NOFA, and other PHAs were awarded funding
that would not have been available to them had the correct PIC data been used to determine funding
eligibility. Your agency received letters on December 5, 2012 and December 7, 2012, alerting you that
HUD would reprocess applications in accordance with the terms of the NOFA using a corrected PIC
report that provided the number of families that participated in your agency's HCV FSS program
through the time period of October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011.
The Grants Management Center has completed its reprocessing of the FY 2012 HCV FSS
applications. In reprocessing the HCV FSS applications, any supplemental information submitted as part
of the PHA's original application, or in response to the December 7, 2012 letter, was taken into
consideration. Based on the reprocessing of the HCV FSS applications, your agency is eligible for
less FY 2012 HCV FSS coordinator funding than what was originally awarded to you. Your
agency's corrected FY 2012 HCV FSS Coordinator funding award is as follows:
Original Funding
Number of Positions Amount Full - Time/Part -Time
Total HCV FSS position(s): [3] [$178,260] [Full -Time]
Corrected Funding
Number of Positions Amount Full - Time/Part -Time
Total HCV FSS position(s): [1] [$63,478] [Full -Time]
An amended funding letter and Consolidated Annual Contributions Contract reflecting the
reduction to your FY 2012 HCV FSS funding award will be sent to you separately by the Office of
Housing Voucher Programs Financial Management Center.
The letter you received dated December. 5, 2012 stated that "Should your agency's FY 2012 FSS
Coordinator funding need to be reduced from the amount specified in the original award letter, your
agency will be eligible to receive HCV administrative fee funding to cover this reduction." Your agency
may submit a request for additional administrative fee funding to cover the reduction in your agency's
FY 2012 HCV FSS Coordinator funding. The amount of additional administrative fee funding you
may receive is limited to no more than the amount your FY 2012 HCV FSS Coordinator funding
was reduced as a result of the reprocessing of applications.
To request the additional administrative fee, please submit your request by email
to PIH. Financial .Management.Division@hud.gov, by no later than March 1, 2013. Please identify the
amount of additional administrative fee you are requesting and enter "Admin Fee Request — Reduced
FSS" and your PHA number in the subject line. After your request is reviewed and any funding
approved, your agency will receive a funding letter and amended Consolidated Annual Contribution
Contract notifying you of the additional funds you are entitled to receive. The funding process for the
administrative fees may take several weeks.
Also, please note that any funding received by your PHA under the administrative fee set -aside to
address the adjustment to your FY 2012 HCV FSS coordinator funding is not HCV FSS funding. The
position(s) funded with those resources consequently will not qualify as FSS Coordinator renewal
positions under future HCV FSS NOFAs. This means your PHA will need to cover these HCV FSS
program costs with other existing resources should FY 2013 HCV FSS funding be insufficient to fund
additional HCV FSS coordinator positions; therefore you should plan accordingly
HUD deeply regrets this error and the ensuing complications regarding the funding and your PHA's
administration of the FSS program. HUD realizes that your agency may already have incurred costs or
hired staff based on the incorrect funding award letter. You should discontinue incurring any costs
which would put you over the adjusted funding amount of your FY 2012 HCV FSS Coordinator
funding. Once your request for additional administrative fees is approved, you may use those funds to
cover any additional costs of administering your HCV FSS program during calendar year 2013. Further
instructions will be provided separately from the Office of Housing Voucher Programs Financial
Management Center regarding FY 2012 HCV FSS Coordinator funding that has already been expended
by your agency.
In accordance with the requirements of the General Section NOFA, you may request a debriefing
related to your application, GMC Assignment Number 2012- FSS8 -IA087 -5357. The debriefing period
will continue for at least 120 days from the date of this letter. Requests for debriefing must be made in
writing or by email and signed by the authorized official whose signature appears on the Application for
Federal Assistance (form SF -424), or his/her successor in office. Requests for debriefings must
reference the GMC application assignment number identified above and be addressed as follows:
Cedric A. Brown, Acting Director
Department of Housing and Urban Development
PIH Grants Management Center - HCV -FSS
451 7th Street, S.W.
B133 Potomac Center, 3rd Floor
Washington, D.C. 20410
Should you have any questions about this award letter, please contact Grant Administrators Lisa
Smyth at (202) 475 -8835 or Dorothy Ivory at (202) 475 -8983.
Sincerely,
Cedric A. Brown
Director
Grants Management Center