Notice2026-02341
Implementation of Section 402 of Title IV (HOME Act of 2024) of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act
Primary source
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Published
February 6, 2026
Effective
February 6, 2026
Issuing agencies
Veterans Affairs Department
Abstract
This notice informs the public of the VA's implementation of Title IV, Section 402 of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, which increased the maximum per diem rate from 115 percent to 133 percent of the State Home domiciliary care rate beginning on the date of the enactment of the HOME Act of 2024 and ending on September 30, 2027.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 25 (Friday, February 6, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 25 (Friday, February 6, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5576-5578]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-02341]
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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
[Docket No. VA-2026-VACO-0001]
Implementation of Section 402 of Title IV (HOME Act of 2024) of
the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and
Benefits Improvement Act
AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
ACTION: Notification of subregulatory guidance.
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SUMMARY: This notice informs the public of the VA's implementation of
Title IV, Section 402 of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century
Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, which increased the
maximum per diem rate from 115 percent to 133 percent of the State Home
domiciliary care rate beginning on the date of the enactment of the
HOME Act of 2024 and ending on September 30, 2027.
DATES: This guidance is effective on February 6, 2026.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chelsea Watson, Grant and Per Diem
Program, Veterans Health Administration. <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#82c5d2c6c5f0e3ecf6f1c2f4e3ace5edf4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0e495e4a497c6f607a7d4e786f20696178">[email protected]</span></a>; (202) 461-
0056.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On January 2, 2025, the President signed
into law the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare
and Benefits Improvement Act (the Act; Public Law 118-210). Section 402
of the Act amended 38 U.S.C. 2012(a)(2)(B)(i)(II)(aa)(BB) and increased
the maximum per diem rate from 115 percent to 133 percent of the State
Home domiciliary care rate beginning on the date of the enactment of
the HOME Act of 2024 (title IV of Public Law 118-210) and ending on
September 30, 2027. Section 402 also amended 38 U.S.C.
2012(a)(2)(B)(iii) to allow VA, for each of fiscal years (FY) 2025-
2027, to waive the maximum rate for per diem payments to provide
payments at a rate that does not exceed 200% of the rate authorized for
State homes for domiciliary care under 38 U.S.C. 1741(a)(1)(A) for no
more that 50% of all grant recipients and eligible entities for a FY,
subject to the availability of funding. VA must also notify Congress of
the waiver. In addition, section 402 stipulates that VA may not provide
more than 12,000 per diem payments under this section for a fiscal
year. As of October 1, 2025, VA implemented the provision of the Act
allowing for increased per diem payments up to 133 percent of the State
Home domiciliary care rate. This notice informs the public of VA's
approach to implementing the provision that allows VA to waive the
maximum rate for per diem and, subject to the availability of
appropriations, provide such payments at a rate that does not exceed
200 percent of the rate authorized for State homes for domiciliary care
under 38 U.S.C. 1741(a)(1)(A), if VA notifies Congress of such waiver.
This notice provides information on how VA will implement section
402 of the Act and is not a solicitation for public comment or a
request for information regarding VA's implementation of section 402 of
the Act. Therefore, responses to this notice may not be used to inform
VA's implementation of section 402 of the Act, and VA will not address
such responses.
VA has found that in certain time-limited circumstances, increased
per diem payments help sustain GPD grantee operations and service
delivery for Veterans experiencing or at risk of experiencing
homelessness. GPD remains VA's most enduring and cost-effective
transitional, supportive housing program with demonstrable success in
achieving permanent housing placements for Veterans.
Examples of circumstances for time-limited per diem increases
include:
a. Relocating Veterans in grantee-furnished housing due to natural
disasters, fires, or other urgent instances.
b. Maintaining grantee-furnished housing in areas with limited
housing and/or high costs to operate transitional housing.
c. Addressing fluctuations in operating costs due to variations in
demand stemming from seasonal changes or the changing availability of
other community housing resources.
d. Managing variations in the availability of funding from
collaborative sources, such as other Federal, state, or local grants,
or private donations.
e. Providing individual or less congregate living spaces for
Veterans to accommodate various programmatic needs (e.g., Veterans with
custody of minor dependents, support for physical and/or mental health
needs).
f. Enhancing staffing resources to facilitate same-day access,
increased outreach within the community, and/or address emerging needs
of Veterans, such as those who are older or disabled.
In these examples, GPD grantees may incur significant costs, which
impact their ability to remain financially solvent and potentially
jeopardize GPD-furnished services to Veterans. Although the State Home
rate inherently adjusts annually to roughly align with inflationary
pressures, these examples of increased costs represent instances where
annual adjustments may not suffice to preserve continuity of services
to homeless Veterans.
An initial application period of 30 days will be open to allow any
interested and eligible grantee to request a waiver of the maximum rate
for per diem payments under the criteria outlined in this notice. VA
will select grantees starting with the highest-ranking requests and
continuing in order until available funding is exhausted or until 50
percent of the currently eligible grant awards are selected for a
waiver, whichever comes first. As noted above, under the amendments
made by section 402, VA may not waive the maximum rate for more than 50
percent of all grant recipients and eligible entities for a fiscal
year. If more than 50 percent of all grantees request a per diem rate
waiver, VA will evaluate the requests as described below. If fewer than
50 percent of all grantees request a per
[[Page 5577]]
diem rate waiver, VA will select all eligible grantees, subject to the
availability of funding and the grantees' ability to demonstrate
allowable, allocable, and reasonable costs warrant the waiver. All
requests for a waiver will be accepted through the normal per diem rate
request process as detailed on the GPD website: <a href="https://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/GPD_Providerwebsite.asp#rate">https://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/GPD_Providerwebsite.asp#rate</a>.
VA will consider five factors when deciding which current grantees,
per Federal Award Identification Number (FAIN), will be granted a
waiver. VA will also establish procedures to evaluate financial
accountability to ensure that funds are used appropriately and
effectively.
Five Criteria Establishing if a Current Grantee Is Eligible To Request
a Temporary Per Diem Rate Waiver
To determine if a grantee is eligible to request a temporary per
diem rate waiver, VA will establish that the grantee is in good
standing. Grantees not meeting the criteria outlined below will be
disqualified from consideration for a per diem rate waiver:
a. The requester is a current GPD grantee with an active grant
award/FAIN authorized by 38 U.S.C. 2011, 2012;
b. The per diem budget request demonstrates sufficient allocable
costs allowed under these awards to prevent overdrawing funds, which
could result in unobligated funds and debt to VA;
c. The waiver request certifies compliance with Federal cost
principles outlined in 2 CFR part 200, known as the Uniform Guidance
[e.g., allowable (2 CFR 200.403), reasonable (2 CFR 200.404), and
allocable (2 CFR 200.405) costs], requirements in part 61 of title 38
CFR, all applicable statutes and regulations, and the terms of the
grant agreement. (By regulation, the rate of per diem for each Veteran
in supportive housing will be the lesser of 100% of the estimated cost
of care, minus other sources of income, or the current State Home rate
(38 CFR 61.33(c)(1)).);
d. The requesting grantee has certified their commitment to
maintaining records that accurately identify the amount, source, and
expenditure of funds by Federal award, as well as track unobligated
balances. (Per diem rates must be reviewed at least monthly to prevent
the accrual of excessive unobligated balances. If necessary, the
grantee will take immediate corrective action to adjust the per diem
rate.); and
e. The grantee does not have an outstanding obligation to VA that
is in arrears or an overdue or unsatisfactory response to an audit.
Need-Impact Ranking Calculation for Grantees Determined Eligible To
Request a Temporary Per Diem Rate
If a requesting grantee meets the above five criteria, the
following two areas (need and impact) will be used to evaluate the
merit of the request:
a. Need: GPD grantees must demonstrate a need for the increased per
diem funding through the submission of a per diem rate budget request.
In addition to outlining the allocable, allowable, and reasonable costs
factored into their budget, grantees are instructed to provide a brief
narrative describing how the funding received, if approved for the per
diem rate waiver, will primarily be directed towards supporting direct
services to Veterans. To calculate need, VA will weigh the difference
between the per diem rate requested under the Act and the normal
maximum per diem rate, i.e., 133 percent for Per Diem Only (PDO)
grantees currently under the Act, and 150 percent for Transition in
Place (TIP) grantees by statute. Applicants who have demonstrated a
greater need for a higher per diem rate will have a higher need
multiplier as part of the need-impact ranking discussion below.
b. Impact: VA will evaluate the impact of increased per diem
funding. Established grantees with grant/FAINs that are larger in scope
(i.e., have a greater number of GPD-funded beds available to Veterans)
and demonstrate consistently high occupancy rates under their current
FAIN will be determined to have greater impact in the community and
have served a greater number of Veterans. VA will base impact
assessment on the average number of occupied beds for the two months
preceding the waiver request submission. For new grantees without
historical occupancy data, VA will assume a 70 percent occupancy rate.
VA is using the 70 percent occupancy rate as a baseline measure for
impact assessment in the absence of historical data and demonstrates a
reasonable program utilization rate for the first year of operation.
VA will determine the need-impact ranking for each waiver request
by assigning a numerical score to both the ``need'' and ``impact''
criteria. VA will then multiply these two scores to produce a final
score for each request. VA will then rank requests from highest to
lowest based on these final scores. VA will select the highest-ranking
requests until the available funding is exhausted or until 50 percent
of the eligible grant awards have been granted a waiver, whichever
comes first.
Example 1: Grantee A is a PDO grantee with a current maximum per
diem rate of $82.73, which is 133% of the State Home domiciliary care
rate. Grantee A is authorized to provide up to 20 beds, but their
average number of occupied beds for the two months preceding the waiver
request submission was 18 beds. They requested a waiver and submitted a
properly completed per diem rate budget request for $124.40. Grantee A
meets the five eligibility criteria. The need-impact calculation is
$41.67 ($124.40-$82.73) x 18 beds = 750.06 need impact ranking score.
Example 2: Grantee B is a PDO grantee with a current maximum per
diem rate of $82.73, which is 133% of the State Home domiciliary care
rate. Grantee B is authorized to provide up to 50 beds, but their
average number of occupied beds for the two months preceding the waiver
request submission was 39 beds. They requested a waiver and submitted a
properly completed per diem rate budget request for $101.00. Grantee B
meets the five eligibility criteria. The need-impact calculation is
$18.27 ($101.00-$82.73) x 39 beds = 712.53 need impact ranking score.
Based on the examples above, Grantee A would be ranked higher and
selected for a per diem rate waiver before Grantee B. VA will utilize
this ranking process to select eligible grantees for the per diem rate
waiver.
VA retains discretion to award additional per diem rate waivers
after the period for the initial solicitation of waiver requests ends.
If a per diem rate waiver is awarded and then rescinded, or if VA does
not receive applications from up to 50 percent of eligible grantees, VA
will consider additional applications for the waiver, on a case-by-case
basis, until VA has reached the 50 percent cap of eligible grantees or
until funds are no longer available.
VA's decisions regarding per diem rate waivers are final. VA
reserves the right to modify or rescind per diem rate waiver increases
at its discretion for any reason; as noted above, if VA rescinds a
waiver, it will not consider this waiver as counting against the 50
percent cap established by law. Per diem rate waivers will only be
provided if funding is sufficient. As noted above, section 402 provides
that VA may waive the maximum rate for per diem payments and, subject
to the availability of appropriations, provide payments at a rate that
does not exceed 200 percent of the rate authorized for State homes for
domiciliary care. However, the actual increased per diem payment rate
made available to eligible grantees who are
[[Page 5578]]
selected for a waiver will be based on the grantee's need, impact, and
actual costs.
VA is not yet exercising its authority to establish through
regulation other matters that VA may consider in exceeding its
established per diem rate. Should VA do so in the future, it will do so
through rulemaking consistent with the Administrative Procedure Act (5
U.S.C. 553).
Signing Authority
Douglas A. Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, approved this
document on February 2, 2026 and authorized the undersigned to sign and
submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for
publication electronically as an official document of the Department of
Veterans Affairs.
Gabriela DeCuir,
Alternate Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Veterans
Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2026-02341 Filed 2-5-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on February 6, 2026.
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