State housing agency sets monitoring, spending and application deadlines for weatherization programs

The Department of Housing and Community Development told attendees at its January 2025 weatherization network meeting that a new monitoring template is live in CAMS and must be completed by Feb. 21, and that the grant management plan application for the 2025 cycle is due in CAMS by 5 p.m. Feb. 13.

Jennifer, a program staff member with the Department of Housing and Community Development, said the new monitoring template covers financial, programmatic and technical items and urged agencies not to wait until the deadline. “Please don't wait till the last minute,” she said. She also said the network monitoring months are July and September 2024 and that the monitoring guide and network email identify required materials.

The monitoring deadline is one of several near-term dates department staff emphasized. Jennifer said final invoices for the current grant cycle must be received by June 6 and that readiness jobs generally should be completed by May so they can be invoiced before the grant closes. She said the agency is behind on spending for some grant years and is prioritizing the annual formula and readiness funds to avoid returning money to the federal grantor.

Why it matters: the agency is in the third year of a three-year grant cycle that ends this summer, and unspent funds could be at risk of clawback if projects are not completed and invoiced on time.

Staff also said a revised vehicles-and-equipment information notice will be released this month to reflect updates to the federal Uniform Guidance and a change in the procurement threshold from $5,000 to $10,000. The notice will identify Nicole Branch as the new contact for vehicle and equipment purchases and disposals and include forms, a lease-versus-purchase template and DOE links.

Jennifer said the Department will publish a program notice, WPN 25-4, that expanded client eligibility in December 2024 to include certain USDA means-tested programs at the same 80% threshold used in prior notices (WPN 22-5). She said the program notice includes a list of eligible buildings and that subgrantees should consult the project officer if they believe a building is missing from the list.

The Department also asked subgrantees to return a measures cost list distributed by David to the two key personnel identified in each grant management plan. One response per agency is requested and the return deadline is Friday, Feb. 7. The spreadsheet contains 14 tabs; subgrantees should complete only the yellow columns and put zeros for measures they do not use.

On data systems, Jennifer and other staff said the network is migrating to a Hancock cloud acceptance site (the Hancock Gen3 migration) and provided login guidance: users who already have access to Gen3 should use their current username and a generic password the Department will share in the PowerPoint and chat. The agency also asked subgrantees to clean up initial-setup fields in CAMS to improve reporting.

The Department requested “success stories” for conferences; Jennifer asked agencies to submit new success stories by Wednesday, Jan. 29 and offered a PowerPoint template.

Spending and production figures: staff presented network-level metrics for multiple funding streams. - Health and safety percentages at the network level were reported as: program year 2022, 10.62%; 2023, 13.5%; 2024 rolling, about 3%. The cap across funding sources is 15%, though staff said there is flexibility in some cases. - Readiness funds (PY22) were reported near 51–52% spent; PY23 annual formula funds were closer to being wrapped up but still had remaining balances; PY23 readiness was reported at 6.72%; DOE PY24 readiness was reported at 20.2%. - For a funding line labeled “WDR” staff reported about $1.8 million currently in review, which would increase the percent spent to roughly 29% if approved. For a line labeled “Bill,” staff said roughly $833,000 was in submitted status, which would push that line to roughly 57–58% spent if approved.

Grant management plan application details: staff said the grant management plan application was posted in CAMS and applicants must use the front page “Apply” link and search for “weatherization 25 2025.” Applications and all requested documents must be uploaded by 5 p.m. Feb. 13; the plan is scored on 100 points, and Jennifer warned that late submissions incur a five‑point deduction per day and that scores under 70 are technically ineligible for awards. She noted three new budget categories—client intake, energy audit and QCI—and advised applicants to use last year’s budget numbers as a placeholder because the state allocation is not available yet.

Administrative notes and next steps: the Department plans to send updated monitoring templates, the vehicles and equipment information notice and Hancock migration links in the meeting PowerPoint. The next monthly weatherization network meeting was announced for Wednesday, Feb. 19, at 9 a.m. (meeting invite sent in December). Staff encouraged agencies to coordinate internally and to reach out by email with questions. “My goal is to get everybody get a 100 points,” Jennifer said.

Ending: The Department emphasized near-term deadlines for monitoring, applications and invoicing and said it will follow up with materials and recordings. Agencies with questions were advised to email the Department and to consult their network peers for implementation tips.