Homeless

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Medium

The federal ESG program and state NDHG program are designed to provide financial assistance to facilities and programs within North Dakota to identify sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons, as well as those at risk of homelessness, and provide the services necessary to help those persons quickly regain stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis and/or homelessness.

Grant funds are awarded directly to emergency/homeless shelters and agencies throughout the state to provide for activities such as operational expenses (utilities, insurance, furnishings/appliances, etc.) and essential services (case management, medical, laundry, transportation, etc.), homeless prevention, rapid re-housing and Homeless Management Information System (HMIS).

ESG

2025 Draft ESG Allocation Plan
2025 Awards List
SFN 52890 ESG Application
 

Past Allocation Plans and Awards

2024 Draft ESG Allocation Plan
2024 Awards List
2023 ESG Allocation Plan
2023 Awards List

NDHG

2025 ND Homeless Grant Allocation Plan
2025 Awards List
SFN 60089 NDHG Application
 

Past Allocation Plans and Awards

2024 NDHG Allocation Plan
2024 Awards List
2023 NDHG Allocation Plan
2023 Awards List

Procedures

Administrative Manual
Reimbursement Request Tips
ESG Required Supporting Documentation
Section 504 Guidance and Plan
Written Standards for ESG and CoC Programs

Reporting Forms

SFN 52677 Mid-Term Progress Report
SFN 52679 Request for Amendment 
SFN 52681 Request for Funds
SFN 60470 Monitoring Report and Guidelines
SFN 62161 Final Progress Report
SFN 62211 Timesheet Report
SFN 62333 Reimbursement Summary Report
SFN 62340 Section 504 Self-Evaluation (ESG)
SFN 62636 Admin Reimbursement Summary Report
 

Program Forms

Environmental Review for Activity/Project Part 58 Exempt CENST (HUD)
Lead-Based Paint Disclosure (HUD)
Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home (EPA)
SFN 59246 Verification of Income
SFN 59247 Homeless Definition and Certification
SFN 59248 At Risk of Homelessness Certification
SFN 59249 Self-Declaration of Income
SFN 59386 Rent Reasonableness Checklist and Certification
SFN 60319 Self-Certification
SFN 60465 Transportation Activity (NDHG)
SFN 61266 Housing Habitability Standards Unit Inspection
SFN 61896 Environmental Review Questionnaire
SFN 62097 Rental Assistance Agreement
SFN 62377 Minimum Habitability Standards for Emergency Shelters
SFN 62378 Lead Screening Worksheet (ESG)
SFN 62379 Lead-Based Paint Visual Assessment
SFN 62381 Staff Certification of Homelessness
SFN 62383 Staff Evaluation of Eligibility
SFN 62393 Income Eligibility Worksheet
Zero Income (provided by NCSHA)

Training

Reimbursement Training (Video)
Reimbursement Training Slides
ESG/NDHG Recipient Training (Video)
ESG/NDHG Recipient Training Slides
Participant File Requirements Training Slides
Policies and Procedures Training Slides

Additional Resources

Fair Market Rent
At Risk of Homelessness Definition 
Consolidated Plan/Action Plan
ESG Laws, Regulations and Notices
Homelessness Definition and Recordkeeping Requirements
HUD Exchange - Emergency Solutions Grants Program
Income Limits
Operational Manual Checklist
Participant File Requirements Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Checklist
Participant File Requirements Street Outreach and Emergency Shelter Checklist
ESG SNAPS-Shots
Violence Against Women Act

The North Dakota-500 Statewide Continuum of Care is the unincorporated organization created to fulfill the responsibilities of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act. The CoC is composed of representatives of public and private organizations that come together to plan for and provide a homeless response system that is dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness in the State of North Dakota. The CoC’s organization structure is multi-tiered to ensure the opportunity for broad input throughout the state and across stakeholders, while designating staff and leadership to carry out the specific goals and responsibilities of the CoC. (Adapted from the HUD Continuum of Care 101)

North Dakota has one Continuum of Care and the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency acts as the Collaborative Applicant for the ND Statewide CoC. The CoC geographic area encompasses all 53 counties, its cities, towns, and unincorporated areas, as well as the 5 federally recognized tribes.

ESG and NDHG FAQs

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ESG and NDHG FAQs

The administrative manual states that you do. If, however, you have an accounting systems that tracks expenditures for each program using GLs, that is allowable and separate checking accounts are not required. 

It depends on the grant. NDHG recipients may request reimbursement for eligible expenditures to July 1. ESG recipients must have an environmental review completed prior to being reimbursed. We are working with grantees to get through those reviews. 

HUD Guidance: The environmental review must be completed before any ESG program funds are expended (including costs incurred that will be reimbursed with ESG funding). Further, the environmental review must be completed before the commitment of funds results in a choice limiting action.

This is a requirement that was left over from ND Dept. of Commerce's administrative manual. We will use reimbursement requests and reports out of HMIS rather than monthly reporting at this time. We will work closely with ESG recipients to determine if additional reporting is required. All recipients are required to submit a mid-term report and a final report. See pages 84 and 85 of the administrative manual.

Yes.

Yes. You must be able to request and report the amount of funds expended by each grant component and activity. 

These are the separate categories you must be able to report expenditures under and tie the expenditures to a program participant.

  • Homeless Prevention - Rental Assistance
  • Homeless Prevention - Financial Assistance
  • Homeless Prevention - Services
  • Rapid Re-housing - Rental Assistance
  • Rapid Re-housing - Financial Assistance
  • Rapid Re-housing - Services
  • Emergency Shelter - Operations
  • Emergency Shelter - Essential Services
  • Street Outreach
  • HMIS

ESG funds many be used to pay for primary documents, such as driver licenses or birth records, only when the primary documents are necessary for a program participant to obtain and/or maintain housing. The costs associated with obtaining primary documents for this purpose may be charged under the follow activities:

  • Emergency Shelter essential services, case management
  • Rapid Re-housing housing stability case management
  • Homeless Prevention housing stability case management. 

However, please note that recipients and sub-recipients should use funds other than ESG program funds whenver possible to cover the cost of obtaining primary documents. 

The only difference between rapid re-housing and homeless prevention  services is who can be served. Homeless Prevention is for participants who meet the definition  of at risk of homeless. Rapid Rehousing is for participants who meet the definition of homeless.  Refer to SNAP-shots for quick guides on Eligible Activities https://bit.ly/3P7oY0p or Eligible Participants: https://bit.ly/3YHYLIU.       

Staff time associated with intake and case management time associated with entering participants information into HMIS are eligible expenses under the component that you are servicing the client such as homeless prevention or rapid re-housing. HMIS components can be used for eligible costs under 24 CFR 576.107 to include HMIS license fees, staff training, etc. 

Yes. As long as your program policy and procedure manuals have an electronic signature policy. NDHFA will be updating the ESG/NDHG administrative manual to reflect this allowance.