New FSS Funding for Multifamily Owners and Program Operators (NOFO)

Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) is a program that helps residents realize benefits associated with increased earned income. As residents' income increases (based on documented milestones), the subsidy difference is deposited in to an escrow account available to each resident once they achieve certain goals.  

For those owner/agents who are interested in implementing the FSS program at their properties, a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for FSS grants will be released this summer. HUD has announced that, for the first time, owner/agents with Project-based Rental Assistance contracts (PBRA) provided through HUD’s Multifamily Housing program (MFH), will be eligible for program funding. 

There are a few steps necessary for an owner to be able to apply for funding: 

  1. By now, all owner/agents should have accessed the System for Award Management (SAM) to obtain the property’s Unique Entity ID (UEI) which replaced the DUNS Number as of April 4, 2022. If you have not done so already, please take a moment to review the notice posted at https://www.hud.gov/grants that provides guidance explaining how to ensure that your SAM.gov registration is up to date and that you have a Unique Entity ID (UEI). Owner/agents will need an up-to-date registration and a UEI in order to apply for the NOFO. 
  2. The NOFO will be available at grants.gov, so owner/agents, who have not done so already, will also need to be registered there. Owner/agents may sign up to receive notifications from www.grants.gov through their website (highly recommended).
  3. For all existing FSS Programs, FSS action plans must be updated and submitted for review and approval by September 30, 2022. Any entities with current programs must have an approved FSS Action Plan when HUD makes awards, or any awarded funds will be frozen and will not be accessible until the updated FSS Action Plan is approved. (Please see the FSS Resources page for multiple resources and guidance on this topic. Resources specific to HUD’s Multifamily Housing programs can be found at (https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/multifamily-fss/)
  4. New FSS programs that are funded via the competition will have time to develop an FSS Action Plan after funding is awarded.  
  5. HUD strongly recommends that owner/agents, responsible for preparing the application, sign up for the FSS listserv where information about the NOFO will be communicated. Sign up for the listserv here

Note: All PBRA applicants will be considered new applicants for purposes of the NOFO. 

Instructions explaining how to update or renew your entity record in SAM can be found here.