8076 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 35 / Thursday, February 22, 2007 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

Fund Availability Under the VA 

Homeless Providers Grant and Per 

Diem Program 

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans 

Affairs is announcing the availability of 

funds for applications for assistance 

under the ‘‘Per Diem Only’’ component 

of VA’s Homeless Providers Grant and 

Per Diem Program. This Notice contains 

information concerning the program, 

funding priorities, application process 

and amount of funding available. 

DATES: An original completed and 

collated grant application (plus three 

completed collated copies) for 

assistance under the VA’s Homeless 

Providers Grant and Per Diem Program 

must be received in the Grant and Per 

Diem Field Office, by 4 p.m. Eastern 

Time on April 4, 2007. Applications 

may not be sent by facsimile (FAX). In 

the interest of fairness to all competing 

applicants, this deadline is firm as to 

date and hour, and VA will treat as 

ineligible for consideration any 

application that is received after the 

deadline. Applicants should take this 

practice into account and make early 

submission of their material to avoid 

any risk of loss of eligibility brought 

about by unanticipated delays or other 

delivery-related problems. 

For a copy of the Application 

Package: Download directly from VA’s 

Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem 

Program webpage at: http://www.va.gov/ 

homeless/page.cfm?pg=3 or call the 

Grant and Per Diem Program at (tollfree) 1–877–332–0334. In this package is 

information on Grants.gov submission 

should applicants so desire. For a 

document relating to the VA Homeless 

Providers Grant and Per Diem Program, 

see the Final Rule published in the 

Federal Register on September 26, 2003. 

Submission of Application: An 

original completed and collated grant 

application (plus three copies) must be 

submitted to the following address: VA 

Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem 

Field Office, 10770 N. 46th Street, Suite 

C–200, Tampa, FL 33617. Applications 

must be received in the Grant and Per 

Diem Field Office by the application 

deadline. This includes applications 

submitted through Grants.gov. 

Applications must arrive as a complete 

package. Materials arriving separately 

will not be included in the application 

package for consideration and may 

result in the application being rejected 

or not funded. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Guy Liedke, VA Homeless Providers 

Grant and Per Diem Program, 

Department of Veterans Affairs, 10770 

N. 46th Street, Suite C–200, Tampa, FL 

33617; (toll-free) 1–877–332–0334. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

Notice announces the availability of 

funds for assistance under VA’s 

Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem 

Program for eligible programs that have 

not previously applied for or received 

per diem in connection with a grant (see 

38 CFR 61.1 through 61.82). Funding 

applied for under this Notice is 

authorized by Pub. L. 109–461, § 703, 

known as the Veterans Benefit, Health 

Care and Information Technology Act of 

2006, codified at 38 U.S.C. 2011, 2012, 

2061, 2064, and may be used for aid for 

supportive housing. Service Centers will 

not be funded in this NOFA. Funding 

will be in the form of per diem 

payments issued to eligible entities for 

the period beginning on July 1, 2007, 

and are subject to availability of funds 

and the recipients’ compliance with 38 

CFR 61.1 through 61.82. For eligibility 

criteria please refer to Final Rule 

published in the Federal Register on 

September 26, 2003, 38 CFC 61.30, 

61.31, and 61.32. 

As these ‘‘Per Diem Only’’ projects are 

currently serving homeless veterans, VA 

expects that it will take no longer than 

90 days from the date of award for 

projects to be inspected and become 

operational for receiving per diem. 

Failure to meet the 90-day milestone 

may result in the grant being 

terminated. 

Capital grant recipients who received 

capital grant funding under VA’s 

Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem 

Program in years 1994 through 2006 for 

acquisition, renovation or new 

construction should not respond to this 

NOFA. Per diem for those portions of 

their programs that were created with 

capital grant funds is requested in the 

capital grant application and paid at the 

time of capital grant project completion 

and inspection. 

Previous ‘‘Per Diem Only’’ recipients 

that renewed their PDO grants in 2005 

need not reapply. VA is pleased to issue 

this Notice of Fund Availability (NOFA) 

for the Homeless Providers Grant and 

Per Diem Program as part of the effort 

to end chronic homelessness among our 

nation’s veterans. The Department 

expects to create 1000 beds under this 

NOFA. 

Funding available under this NOFA is 

being offered to help offset the operating 

expenses of existing state and local 

governments, Indian Tribal 

governments, faith-based, and 

community-based organizations that are 

capable of providing supported housing 

and/or supportive service center 

services for homeless veterans. The 

District of Columbia, the 

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any 

territory or possession of the United 

States, may be considered eligible 

entities under the definition of ‘‘State’’

in the 38 CFR 61.1 Definitions. It should 

be noted that VA payment is limited to 

the applicant’s cost of care per eligible 

veteran, minus other sources of 

payments to the applicant for furnishing 

services to homeless veterans up to the 

per-day rate VA pays for State Home 

Domiciliary care. Awardees will be 

required to support their request for per 

diem payment with adequate fiscal 

documentation as to program income 

and expenses. 

Interested organizations should know 

that the vast majority of homeless 

veterans in this country suffer from 

mental illness or substance abuse 

disorders or are dually diagnosed with 

both mental illness and substance abuse 

disorders. In addition, many homeless 

veterans have serious medical problems. 

Collaboration with VA medical centers, 

VA community-based outpatient clinics 

or other health care providers is an 

important aspect of assuring that 

homeless veterans have access to 

appropriate health care services. 

It is important to be aware that VA 

places great emphasis on responsibility 

and accountability. VA has procedures 

in place to monitor services provided to 

homeless veterans and outcomes 

associated with the services provided in 

grant and per diem-funded programs. 

VA is also implementing new 

procedures to further this effort. 

Applicants should be aware of the 

following: 

All awardees that are conditionally 

selected in response to this NOFA must 

meet the Life Safety Code of the 

National Fire and Protection 

Association as it relates to their specific 

facility. VA will conduct an inspection 

prior to awardees being able to submit 

request for payment to ensure this 

requirement is met. 

Each per diem-funded program will 

have a liaison appointed from a nearby 

VA medical facility to provide oversight 

and monitor services provided to 

homeless veterans in the per diemfunded program. 

Monitoring will include at least an 

annual review of each per diem 

program’s progress toward meeting 

internal goals and objectives in helping 

veterans attain housing stability, 

adequate income support, and self 

sufficiency as identified in each per 

diem program’s original application. 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 35 / Thursday, February 22, 2007 / Notices 8077 

Monitoring will also include a review of 

the agency’s income and expenses as 

they relate to this project to ensure per 

diem payment is accurate. 

Each per diem-funded program will 

participate in VA’s national program 

monitoring and evaluation system 

administered by VA’s Northeast 

Program Evaluation Center (NEPEC). It 

is the intention of VA to develop 

specific performance targets with 

respect to housing for homeless 

veterans. NEPEC’s monitoring 

procedures will be used to determine 

successful accomplishment of these 

housing outcomes for each per diemfunded program. 

VA encourages all eligible and 

interested entities to review this NOFA 

and consider applying for funds to 

provide service for homeless veterans. 

Authority: VA’s Homeless Providers Grant 

and Per Diem Program is authorized by Pub. 

L. 109–461, § 703, known as the Veterans 

Benefit, Health Care and Information 

Technology Act of 2006, codified at 38 U.S.C. 

2011, 2012, 2061, 2064. The program is 

implemented by the Final Rule codified at 38 

CFR Part 61.0. The Final Rule was published 

in the Federal Register on September 26, 

2003, the regulations can be found in their 

entirety in 38 CFR 61.0 through 61.82. Funds 

made available under this Notice are subject 

to the requirements of those regulations. 

Allocation: Approximately $10 

million annually is available for the per 

diem only award component of this 

program. This funding is subject to the 

availability of funds, and will be 

available so long as recipients meet the 

requirements of 38 CFR 61.1 through 

61.82. 

Funding Priorities: VA establishes the 

following funding priorities in order to 

bolster capacity for populations in areas 

that are underserved by the Homeless 

Providers Grant and Per Diem Program. 

Specifically, VA is seeking programs 

that are not necessarily women-specific, 

but in the course of daily operations 

serve women veterans with care of 

dependent children, and provide them 

with an opportunity to secure funding 

to offer services to this population. VA 

is not seeking to create large womenspecific programs, rather small niche 

housing and services for this 

underserved population in both urban 

and rural areas. 

Example: In the course of providing 

daily services a homeless provider 

serves 2–5 homeless veteran women 

with care of dependent children. This 

provider would create a small program 

that would supply appropriate housing 

and services to this population. 

In this round of ‘‘Per Diem Only’’

funding, VA expects to award funding 

for approximately 1,000 communitybased supported housing beds. 

Funding priority 1. Those programs 

that are not necessarily women-specific, 

but in the course of daily operations 

serve women veterans with care of 

dependent children and will create a 

niche program to serve this population. 

The applicant must clearly demonstrate, 

in the need section of the application, 

the number of beds for the women 

veterans and the number of beds for 

their dependent children. With this in 

mind, applicants are reminded that VA 

may only pay per diem for the women 

veteran—not the dependent children. 

Based on the total number of beds 

expected to be funded in this round, 

approximately 150 of the 1,000 beds 

expected to be funded) from eligible 

entities whose projects will provide 

housing and services specifically to 

homeless women veterans, with care of 

dependent children will be selected as 

the first funding priority. Of those 

eligible entities in the first funding 

priority, that are legally fundable, the 

highest scoring applicants will be 

funded first, followed by the second 

highest scoring applicants, until enough 

projects totaling approximately 150 beds 

for women are identified for funding. 

Applicants not selected in this priority 

will be placed in the second funding 

priority. Should the projected 150 bed 

total not be reached, remaining beds and 

funding will be placed in the second 

funding priority. 

Funding priority 2. Finally, VA is 

encouraging interested, state and local 

governments, Indian tribal governments, 

faith-based, and community-based 

organizations to apply for funding under 

this NOFA to serve all homeless 

veterans populations. Based on the total 

number of beds expected to be funded 

in this round, approximately 850 beds 

will be funded in this priority. Of those 

eligible entities that are legally 

fundable, the highest-ranked 

applications for which funding is 

available, will be selected for eligibility 

to receive per diem payment in 

accordance with their ranked order until 

enough projects totaling approximately 

850 beds are identified for funding or 

until funding is expended. 

Methodology: VA will review all noncapital grant recipients in response to 

this notice of funding availability. Then, 

VA will group the applicants into the 

funding priorities categories. Applicants 

will then be ranked within their 

respective funding category based on 

score and any ranking criteria set forth 

in that funding category, only if the 

applicant scores at least 500 cumulative 

points from paragraphs (b) (c) (d) (e) and 

(i) of 38 CFR 61.13. 

The highest-ranked application for 

which funding is available, within the 

highest funding category, will be 

conditionally selected for eligibility to 

receive per diem payment in accordance 

with their ranked order until VA 

reaches the projected bed totals for each 

category. If funds are still available after 

selection of those applications in the 

highest priority group, VA will continue 

to conditionally select applicants in 

lower priority categories in accordance 

with the selection method set forth in 

the Interim Final Rule Sec. 61.32. 

Application Requirements: The 

specific grant application requirements 

will be specified in the application 

package. The package includes all 

required forms and certifications. 

Selections will be made based on 

criteria described in the application, 

Interim Final Rule, and NOFA. 

Applicants who are selected will be 

notified of any additional information 

needed to confirm or clarify information 

provided in the application. Applicants 

will then be notified of the deadline to 

submit such information. If an applicant 

is unable to meet any conditions for 

grant award within the specified time 

frame, VA reserves the right to not 

award funds and to use the funds 

available for other grant and per diem 

applicants. 

Dated: February 16, 2007. 

R. James Nicholson, 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 

[FR Doc. E7–3024 Filed 2–21–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8320–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

Fund Availability Under VA Homeless 

Providers Grant and Per Diem Program 

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans 

Affairs (VA) is announcing the 

availability of funds for currently 

operational VA Homeless Providers 

Grant and Per Diem (GPD) providers to 

make applications for assistance under 

the Special Need Grant Component of 

VA’s GPD Program. The focus of this 

Notice of Fund Availability (NOFA) is 

to encourage new applicants to create 

new projects that will deliver services to 

the homeless Special Need veteran 

population. This Notice contains 

information concerning the program, 

application process, and amount of 

funding available. Note: Current Special 

Need providers should not respond to 

this NOFA. Renewal funding is being 

offered under a separate NOFA. 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES