30-Day Notice Waiver for Continuum of Care Program (CoC); Notice of Waiver

Issuing agencies

Abstract

This notice announces a waiver, granted by the Secretary, through the Deputy Secretary, of the minimum 30-day application period required under section 102(a) of the HUD Reform Act for the FY2026 Continuum of Care Program (CoC) notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), which was re-opened for application submission on September 18, 2026 (CPD-2600-DC-0025).

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 211 (Tuesday, November 3, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 211 (Tuesday, November 3, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69267-69268]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-22417]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-6570-N-02]


30-Day Notice Waiver for Continuum of Care Program (CoC); Notice 
of Waiver

AGENCY: Office of the Deputy Secretary, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of waiver.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces a waiver, granted by the Secretary, 
through the Deputy Secretary, of the minimum 30-day application period 
required under section 102(a) of the HUD Reform Act for the FY2026 
Continuum of Care Program (CoC) notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), 
which was re-opened for application submission on September 18, 2026 
(CPD-2600-DC-0025).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information regarding this notice, 
contact Claudette Fernandez, General Deputy Assistant Secretary for the 
Office of Community Planning and Development, Department of Housing and 
Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20410; telephone 
number (202) 402-6009 (this is not a toll-free number); email 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#04476b474a4b424b444c51402a636b72"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cc8fa38f82838a838c849988e2aba3ba">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. HUD welcomes and is prepared to receive calls from 
individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as individuals 
with speech and communication disabilities. To learn more about how to 
make an accessible telephone call, please visit <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs">https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs</a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 102(a) of the HUD Reform Act (42 
U.S.C.

[[Page 69268]]

3545(a)) sets out the requirements for notice to the public regarding 
assistance available from HUD. Section 102(a)(3) requires publication 
of selection criteria not less than 30 days before the deadline for 
applications or requests for assistance. HUD may waive this requirement 
if ``the Secretary determines that the waiver is required for 
appropriate response to an emergency.'' If HUD makes an emergency 
waiver, then it must publish ``the Secretary's reasons for doing so'' 
in the Federal Register within 30 days. HUD does not believe that it 
must seek an emergency waiver for the FY2026 CoC NOFO, but is doing so 
out of an abundance of caution for the reasons below.
    Due to litigation, the FY2026 CoC NOFO has been published, vacated, 
and restored over recent months.
    On June 1, 2026, HUD published the FY2026 CoC NOFO with an August 
26, 2026, application deadline, which gave applicants 87 days to review 
the NOFO and submit applications. HUD subsequently published a modified 
NOFO on July 24, 2026, which maintained an August 26, 2026, application 
deadline and made no substantive changes apart from adding a mechanism 
for direct-to-HUD funding for areas with no collaborative applicant, as 
spelled out in Appendix III of the NOFO.
    In early July, two groups of plaintiffs sued to challenge the NOFO 
in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. 
On August 7, the district court vacated the FY26 NOFO. ECF 41, State of 
Washington v. HUD, 1:26-cv-439 (D.R.I.); ECF 34, Nat'l All. To End 
Homelessness v. HUD, 1:26-cv-436 (D.R.I.). The NOFO was thus rendered 
null and void less than 20 days before the original deadline. HUD 
appealed the ruling. During the appeal, HUD maintained a copy of the 
NOFO on its website [<a href="https://www.hud.gov/hud-partners/coc-program-competition">https://www.hud.gov/hud-partners/coc-program-competition</a>] and sent a listserv message to applicants notifying them 
of the same.
    And on September 16, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for 
the First Circuit stayed the lower court's judgment while the 
Plaintiffs' challenge to the NOFO proceeds. State of Washington v. HUD, 
__F.4th__, 2026 WL 2730937 (1st Cir. 2026). As a result, the NOFO was 
automatically restored. See NOFO at 111.
    On September 18, 2026, the Department re-opened the FY2026 CoC NOFO 
(CPD-2600-DC-0025), with a funding application deadline of 8:00 p.m. ET 
on September 30, 2026, which created an additional 12-day application 
window to resume the competition that was paused 68 days after 
publication of the June 1 NOFO. The additional period was less than the 
30-day minimum application requirement under section 102(a)(3). But it 
is part of the larger application period of 80 days, so HUD does not 
believe that the NOFO requires an emergency waiver under section 
102(a)(3). Still, the Secretary has determined that it is nevertheless 
prudent to issue a waiver.
    It was necessary for the Department to establish a short 
application reopening period for this NOFO to address certain exigent 
and emergency circumstances. Specifically, HUD is required by Congress 
to make awards under the NOFO by December 1, 2026. HUD also endeavors 
to make timely awards to ensure ongoing funding for successful and 
meritorious projects, and for other projects that the CoCs or Congress 
may lawfully protect from competition.
    HUD established the original August 26 application deadline to 
build in the necessary amount of time it reasonably expected it would 
need to review several thousands of applications and make awards. But 
the District Court ruling, which is now vacated, eliminated part of the 
approximately 90-day application period HUD originally provided. HUD 
must now process all applications and make awards within 62 days, which 
would be the quickest that the program has ever processed applications. 
It has received close to 8,000 individual project applications, 
including 3,500 new project applications, and almost 400 CoC 
applications. Historically, application reviews have required over 90 
days to complete, so it cannot afford to lengthen the general 
application deadline any further.
    Applicants have had nearly four months to review the NOFO and 
prepare applications, so an additional 12-day application period is 
sufficient time for applicants to finalize and submit their 
applications while also reserving for HUD time needed to meet the 
congressionally mandated December 1 deadline. As such, the 
circumstances demonstrated that an emergency existed that justified the 
granting of a waiver of the 30-day application period required under 
section 102(a) of the HUD Reform Act.

Andrew Hughes,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026-22417 Filed 11-2-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P


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