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HUD issued procedural guidance for fiscal year 2026 Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS permanent supportive housing renewal and replacement applications in Notice CPD-26-14. The notice covers eligible existing grants expiring between June 1, 2026 and December 31, 2027 and sets an October 16 deadline for letters of intent.
The application deadline is November 6. HUD lists February 1, 2027 as the anticipated awards date, not a guaranteed date for every award or the start of every new grant. Its review and grant-execution provisions make those later steps distinct.
The cover identifies October 2, 2026 as the issue date, while the key-date table lists October 1 as the publication date. Both dates appear in the original PDF. This account preserves that discrepancy rather than silently changing the publication history. The operative submission dates are clearly stated in the table.
The guidance is not an open invitation to every organization providing HIV-related housing services. It applies to the current official grantees identified through Appendix A and the notice's eligibility requirements. HUD says applications from organizations not listed as eligible will not be reviewed.
Eligible applicants may seek a three-year renewal or a replacement grant. HUD explains that these PSH grants are not automatically renewed when their three-year performance period expires. Applicants must follow the new notice's requirements and pass the relevant reviews.
Renewal applications are limited to the funding activities and scope already approved under the expiring grant. Applicants wishing to make significant changes must submit a supplemental replacement application for HUD approval. The notice identifies possible changes such as different eligible activities, a changed population or service area, and the addition or removal of project sponsors.
Simply proposing to serve fewer households is not a valid basis for a replacement grant. For a renewal budget with fewer households or reduced leveraged resources, HUD requires justification. These distinctions connect application choice with the actual program changes being proposed rather than letting an applicant use the labels interchangeably.
The notice calls the funding competitive because of its original nonformula allocation history. It expressly says that term does not imply an open competition: only the eligible applicants in Appendix A may apply. That qualification is important when describing the opportunity to organizations outside the existing grant cohort.
A remaining grant balance does not, by itself, make an applicant ineligible. The notice says HUD may deem an otherwise eligible grant ineligible when the balance is large enough to fund activities beyond December 31, 2027.
Where HUD finds satisfactory prior performance, a grantee may request an extension of its current grant instead of applying for renewal or replacement. Extensions require HUD approval. During the project-confirmation process, if HUD and the grantee determine an extension beyond December 31, 2027 is necessary to spend the current grant fully, the grantee must pursue that extension rather than an award under this notice.
This is narrower than saying every grantee with unspent funds is barred. The application process itself requires confirmation of expenditures, a spenddown plan where applicable and confirmation that remaining funds will be spent by the specified date. The relevant issue is the size and expected duration of the remaining balance, considered with HUD, not merely whether the balance is greater than zero.
Letters of intent were due October 16 and had to be signed by an authorized representative, such as the executive director or equivalent. The notice requires email submission to both the Office of HIV/AIDS Housing at HOPWA@hud.gov and the applicant's local Community Planning and Development representative.
The letter must state the intention to submit a renewal application and, where applicable, a replacement application. It must also confirm expenditure information in the Project Confirmation Worksheet, include a spenddown plan if needed and confirm the timing for using remaining funds.
HUD says it will send eligible applicants a Letter of Invitation containing information about expenditure rates, the worksheet process and application tools. The intent step is therefore tied to project confirmation, not simply a one-line expression of interest in an unrestricted funding opportunity.
The notice provides calendar dates but does not state a specific clock time for either the intent or application deadline. An 11:59 p.m. cutoff is not established. HUD says late intent letters will be considered only where it determines that unique and extenuating circumstances prevented timely submission.
The Project Confirmation Worksheet includes the eligible total funding amount, approved budget-line amounts, spending analysis, the expiring performance period and projected and achieved outputs. Applicants must confirm or correct that information and provide required documentation with the intent letter.
HUD may request additional justification, particularly where there has been no drawdown in the Integrated Disbursement and Information System during the prior 90 days. The notice does not treat that circumstance as an automatic finding of misconduct; it identifies a reason for closer explanation during review.
The finalized worksheet establishes the maximum grant amount for either renewal or replacement. Renewal budget lines must match the approved worksheet amounts. Replacement applications may adjust the distribution, subject to the notice's rules and funding ceiling. This is not an announced nationwide award total, and the PDF does not establish a final funding amount for every listed applicant.
At least 51 percent of grant funds must provide eligible permanent supportive housing activities. The notice defines permanent housing through a continuous legal right to remain, established by a lease or binding occupancy agreement renewable after the first year. Assisted households must also have ongoing access to appropriate supportive services from qualified providers.
Tenant-based rental assistance, operating costs and leasing for PSH units are common eligible housing activities. Depending on program structure and leveraged resources, short-term rent, mortgage and utility assistance and permanent housing placement may contribute toward the PSH percentage.
HUD says both supportive services and permanent housing activities can be included when determining whether the 51-percent requirement is met. That is not permission to abandon the permanent-housing purpose. Applicants must show how their activities meet the notice's definition and keep PSH primary in both renewal and replacement proposals.
Replacement budgets have additional limits: the supportive-services budget line cannot exceed 50 percent of the total award, and resource identification cannot exceed 10 percent. Those caps are separate from the overall PSH threshold and should not be collapsed into one universal services percentage.
CPD-26-14 prohibits capital-development spending for acquisition, new construction and rehabilitation under this application cycle. The broader HOPWA regulation lists some of those activities as potentially eligible program uses, but general regulatory authority does not override this notice's narrower funding restrictions.
The notice also excludes health-service costs already paid or expected to be paid through insurance or other specified health-benefit arrangements. HOPWA can act as a payer of last resort for eligible health services for individuals with HIV, not their family members.
Emergency shelters and transitional housing funded through operating and leasing lines are ineligible unless the applicant establishes a clear connection to permanent-housing activities. This is a conditional limitation, not an absolute statement that every transitional arrangement is prohibited. The notice gives an example involving eligible people leaving incarceration while permanent housing is located.
The November 6 submission must include the applicable standard forms, certifications, budget documents and narratives. HUD requires the HOPWA budget summary form and detailed budget pages for the grantee and each project sponsor. Amounts must be in whole dollars and agree across the budget summary, detailed pages and narrative.
Renewal applications require an executive summary, approach narrative and budget narrative. The notice says these explanations have been expanded or added compared with earlier cycles. Applicants need to describe housing activities, client engagement, supportive services, assessment and proposed outcomes rather than relying on a minimal program description.
The application must be emailed to HOPWA@hud.gov as one attached PDF, with a filename identifying renewal or replacement. Required documents must follow the stated order, without a table of contents. The notice also supplies formatting and page-limit requirements. Those instructions govern the grant application, not the format of this news account.
Threshold requirements include active SAM registration and a valid Unique Entity Identifier, program compliance, the PSH percentage, Appendix A eligibility, timely submission and specified certifications. Applications passing that stage undergo risk review, including performance, audits, capacity, financial stability and outcomes.
The notice clarifies that its drug-related certification is not a requirement that assisted individuals be sober, participate in treatment to receive assistance or be removed for a first violation of a drug-related policy or lease provision. That qualification prevents a broader participant exclusion from being inferred from the certification language.
HUD can impose conditions, reduce funding or reject an award based on risk review. Where application deficiencies are identified, the notice allows no more than two meetings and two resubmissions, with up to four business days after each meeting to address requested changes. Missing those requirements can delay funding.
After review, HUD will notify applicants of funding recommendations and provide the approved application that becomes part of the grant agreement. The award letter establishes approval and the final amount. The new performance period begins when the grant agreement is executed, not automatically on the anticipated February awards date.
The milestones were the October 16 intent letter and the November 6 application. For existing grantees, the practical work is confirming eligibility, expenditure timing, the correct renewal or replacement path and a complete application. For the public, the notice establishes procedures for continuing a defined cohort of supportive-housing programs, not guaranteed new grants for every provider or new construction awards.
1. Confirm Appendix A eligibility and review the invitation and Project Confirmation Worksheet. Reconcile expenditures and remaining balances with HUD, including whether an extension is needed instead of a renewal or replacement award.
2. The intent letter was due by October 16, 2026. An authorized representative had to sign it and email it to both HOPWA@hud.gov and the local CPD representative, with the required project confirmation, expenditure information and any applicable spenddown plan.
3. Assemble the required forms, consistent budgets and narratives for the appropriate renewal or replacement path. Email the complete application as one PDF to HOPWA@hud.gov by November 6, 2026, using the notice's document order, filename and formatting instructions.
Existing HOPWA permanent supportive housing grants do not renew automatically. The intent letter and application are separate steps toward continuing eligible programs, so grantees need to address both deadlines. This is a restricted renewal and replacement cycle, not an open competition for new providers or a new construction funding opportunity.
Current official grantees eligible under Appendix A of HUD Notice CPD-26-14, with covered permanent supportive housing grants expiring between June 1, 2026, and December 31, 2027. Project sponsors, grant finance staff and service partners need to supply the application information. People with HIV and eligible families served by these programs are affected by their continuation.
HUD's CPD-26-14 sets FY2026 renewal and replacement procedures for listed HOPWA permanent supportive housing grantees.
Letters of intent were due October 16 to both HOPWA@hud.gov and the applicant's local CPD representative.
Applications are due November 6, with awards anticipated February 1, 2027, not guaranteed on that date.
The notice covers eligible grants expiring June 1, 2026 through December 31, 2027; Appendix A and current grantee status control eligibility.
Remaining funds do not automatically disqualify applicants, but balances requiring expenditure beyond December 2027 can lead to an extension instead.
PSH must remain the primary activity, with a 51-percent threshold and separate limits for replacement budgets.
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