This appeals policy only applies to certain housing projects that are traditionally set up to be long-term projects, called Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) projects.

• These PSH projects must be funded by federal funding called Continuum of Care (CoC) funding.

• The list of projects this appeals process applies to is available here.

• It’s OK if you don’t know what funding source your project uses, its name, or if it is PSH. Use the contact information listed above to ask!

• A one-page summary of the full process is available here.

This appeals process can only be used if your housing project is one of these CoC-funded PSH projects, and you have received either:

• A Notice of Termination from your housing project

• A Notice of Eviction from your housing project

• At least three threats of termination or eviction from your housing project (sometimes called a “3 day notice to quit”) within a 6-month period

The above housing projects are required to have an appeals or grievance process when they are terminating participants! You need to go through the housing project’s appeals or grievance process before this CoC appeals process can be used. Email leinfo@fresnomaderacoc.org if you need help getting this policy from your housing project.

• CoC staff will review your appeal to see if it meets the criteria to call an appeals panel. If it does not, they will let you know why.

• If the appeal does meet the criteria to call an appeals panel, CoC staff will contact the housing provider to let them know there has been an appeal and request that they pause the termination process while the appeal is heard.

• If an appeals panel is called, it will meet within 10 business days of receiving your complete appeal and give you a decision within a day of its meeting.

• If a panel is called, it will be a non-conflicted panel (the housing project will not have a person on the panel). The panel will include someone with lived experience of homelessness.

• You will have a chance to speak at the appeals panel, if you want to.

• The housing provider has a funding contract with the federal government, so even if your appeal is successful, the CoC and its appeals panel can’t force them to keep you in their housing project.

• If your appeal is successful, CoC staff will try to work with the housing project to keep you in the project. This might involve the creation of a Housing Plan you all agree to follow.

• Another possible outcome is that CoC staff works with the Coordinated Entry System to find you a new spot in a different PSH project.

• Staff will work with you and the housing provider to come up with a solution or timeline and we hope that we can figure out a resolution together, but it may not always be possible, even with a successful appeal.

Starting in 2026, HUD has cut funding to CoC Permanent Housing projects and Housing Authority voucher programs and as a result, it is much harder to find new project openings.

• If you are in housing that is not covered by this policy (i.e., it’s not CoC-funded PSH);

• If the housing project is closing (due to being defunded because of HUD’s cuts to funding or otherwise);

• If the housing providers need to terminate a participant’s subsidy due to:

  • Health and safety issues, or

  • There are issues happening that will make the project lose their federal funding due to noncompliance.

The federal government requires housing projects to require their participants to do certain things. If these things aren’t done, the housing project has to terminate the participant’s subsidy or they will be out of compliance with the federal government and they will take all their funding away for the whole project.

Some examples of when a housing project needs to terminate a subsidy and no appeals panel will be called are:

• Project is closing: sometimes projects are defunded and have to close. The project should work to find you a transfer to a new project or another housing option, but this isn’t always guaranteed. As of 2025 the Federal Government is shifting its resources to temporary housing, so it is harder to find permanent housing options.

• Health and Safety reasons (violence, credible threats of violence, weapons, arson, manufacturing controlled substances, etc.);

• Eligibility reasons: projects can only serve participants that the federal government decides are eligible for the project;

• Income recertifications: the federal government requires projects to check each participant’s income at least once a year. If the participant won’t allow this or doesn’t give income verification information to the housing project, they can’t be in the project. A project should not terminate you for having no income or low income, but this annual income assessment still has to happen each year (even if you have no income!).

• Absences: if the participant or eligible family member has been gone from the unit for more than 90 days, then the federal government says the project can’t keep paying the housing subsidy for the unit and the project has to terminate the participant.

• Housing Quality Standard/NSPIRE Standards: all housing units have to be inspected at least annually and meet certain federal standards for the project to pay rent on the unit. If the unit does not meet these standards, the housing project can’t keep paying a rental subsidy for this unit and has to terminate the participant.

If federal standards are not met, repairs must be made to bring the unit to federal standards within 30 days for the project to keep paying rent for the unit. If the participant will not allow the housing project to make these repairs so that the project can comply with federal requirements, then the participant cannot remain in the project.

• Non-payment of rent: the project should try to work with participants on a payment plan if they can’t pay their portion of rent or utilities and they should help participants with budgeting or offer a payee service as needed. However, if the participant is still not paying their portion of rent, the housing project may need to terminate the participant from the project. Projects usually do not have enough funding in their annual budget from the federal government to pay the participant’s portion of the rent and if they do not pay the full portion of the rent, then the project can’t have access to the unit.

The full policy is available here.