Sneak Preview: HUD Guidance Addresses Supportive Services Plans
(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants Compliance Expert article.) Many property owners receiving Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Multifamily Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program funding have not updated their original supportive services plan as required, so the agency recently issued guidance reinforcing the purpose and allowable uses of supportive services funds to enable them to better update their plans.
Section 202 Capital Advance properties with Project Rental Assistance Contracts (i.e., 202 PRAC properties) provide affordable supportive housing for very low-income elderly households. While Section 202 provides a certain amount of assistance funding, HUD notes that 202 PRAC properties should coordinate with community service providers and access other funding streams consistent with the property’s supportive services plan to adequately address all supportive service needs (e.g., the provision of meals, transportation, health and wellness programs). “Providing supportive services to 202 PRAC residents may help meet the needs of elderly persons aging in place and avoid unnecessary, unwanted and more costly institutionalization,” HUD explains.
Section 202 property owners are initially required to prepare a supportive services plan when they apply for an award, and HUD requires that it be updated by the property’s service coordinator. The timeline for submitting an updated plan varies depending on the respective notice of funding opportunity. However, HUD has determined that many 202 PRAC owners now have outdated plans because they have failed to update them.
In a Feb. 9 guidance, HUD provides requirements regarding the scope, content and timeline for supportive services plans when 202 PRAC property owners develop new plans or refresh existing plans to maintain program funding eligibility. It also clarifies that supportive service funds may be used to benefit the community as a whole (e.g., funding common area fitness equipment that can be used by all residents) when full resident participation does not significantly increase the operating budget of property or adversely affect the operation of the program.
(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
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