Homelessness officials share draft impact report and contingency planning as HUD NOFO uncertainty continues

Allison Lisonbee, who led a community convening drafting a contingency plan, presented a draft impact report and a summary of recent developments tied to federal homelessness funding. Lisonbee said the Metro team had submitted intents to HUD to renew current Continuum of Care (CoC) projects and that a preliminary injunction struck down recent NOFO changes, giving the city a path to renew contracts for another year.

"The preliminary injunction was granted striking down the changes that were made in the most recent NOFOs," Lisonbee said, and she told the council that OHS had informed HUD by the Monday deadline that it intends to renew projects as they are. Lisonbee described the impact report as a draft that will be refined with client stories and updated program funding numbers before being presented to Metro Council in March.

Council members and service providers asked for clearer contingency planning details. India Poongarcher urged the council to include financial triggers and concrete dollar figures showing what would happen if CoC dollars were interrupted. "Is there also, like, a related packet talking about, okay, financially, like, what are the components of a contingency plan?" Poongarcher asked.

Lisonbee said the draft already contains counts of households and staff affected and that the team can "punch up" visual elements to make the stakes clearer for council members and the public. At one point she cited a staff-impact figure the draft includes: 37 employees whose jobs are covered by CoC grants would be affected if funding were interrupted.

Councilman John Rutherford stressed the limits of Metro's budget authority and urged coordination with the mayor's office and finance staff. "When it comes to Metro's budget, as everyone knows, that starts with the mayor's office," Rutherford said, noting that council members can "tweak around the edges" but not replace large federal allocations.

During discussion, members estimated the scale of potential displacement under recent NOFO language. One participant said last year's changes suggested a worst-case displacement in permanent housing of roughly $5 million to $6 million, while others recalled the community had received nearly $11–12 million in Metro funds historically. Members and OHS agreed that the goal of the presentation is to give Metro Council a clear, evidence-based narrative to support any local supplementation or philanthropic outreach.

Lisonbee and OHS staff invited council members to submit suggestions for which figures and client examples to highlight. The draft impact report will be revised before the March presentation; OHS said it will continue contingency planning with community partners and the Performance Evaluation Committee to identify fundraising, public-private partnership and program-adjustment options.

The committee recessed for other agenda items and will return to finalize feedback during upcoming meetings.