NOFO Explained

Fryda Ochoa • Sep 18, 2023

Certain times in the year you will hear us mention “NOFO”, but you might be thinking “What is NOFO?”

Each year the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) awards funding to organizations that support HUD initiatives to address homelessness, for programs that provide rental assistance, supportive housing and services.

These funds come through what we call “NOFO,” short for the annual Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO) application and competition. This funding is competitive and awarded through HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Program, which is the largest source of federal grant funding for homeless services and housing programs nationwide. A Continuum of Care (CoC) is HUD’s term for a local homelessness response system. Nearly 400 CoC’s across the country participate in this competition, which gives them the opportunity to renew existing projects, apply for new ones, and to reallocate resources from lower-performing projects.

How does the competition work?

The NOFO application is done collaboratively, meaning all project applications (new or existing) in each community are submitted as one directly to HUD by the lead agency of each CoC. In 2009, it became a requirement to submit a collaborative application to make sure the funds were being used strategically, effectively, and in a coordinated matter. (Previously, there was little collaboration and no technical assistance.)

As lead agency to The Way Home, we are in charge of preparing the annual application to participate in the competition. This requires a performance review of all CoC-funded projects within Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties. The performance review allows us to rank new and existing projects to establish funding priority.

Before the NOFO is announced, we work to form a review committee with representatives from various stakeholder groups within our system. This year, our review committee includes people with lived experience, representatives of local governments, a healthcare and victim service provider partner, a youth system representative and veteran system representative.

In some ways, the NOFO competition is like the FIFA World Cup. To begin the collaborative application, partners of The Way Home submit individual applications to the committee, which reviews and scores the project applications based on several factors including project performance and resource utilization — like how athletes in each country have to qualify to secure a spot on their national teams.

After the local review, we submit the final list of projects to HUD for consideration , along with a written narrative of our CoC’s overall performance. This makes us like a coach, coordinating and leading the team throughout the competition.

Then, just like a soccer team would compete against other countries in the World Cup, HUD evaluates applications from CoC’s across the country based on specific guidelines. They consider factors such as quality of application, CoC performance, and national policy priorities.

How does this funding impact our CoC (The Way Home)?

We count on this annual funding to allow us to sustain existing permanent housing slots. It plays a crucial role in keeping existing programs and individuals housed with the supports needed. Any new potential funding is made available through reallocation or from new projects dollars assigned by HUD.

In 2022, The Way Home was awarded over $46.2 million in funding for homelessness programs in the Houston area — including one new Permanent Supportive Housing project — further propelling our goal to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring in our region! We are proud to score a win for the homeless response system!

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