TITLE
Title
APPROVE MOU WITH GUILFORD COUNTY CONTINUUM OF CARE FOR GUILFORD COUNTY GOVERNMENT TO SERVE AS NC-504 HMIS LEAD AGENCY
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SPONSOR
Sponsor
Natalie Craver, Assistant County Manager for Successful People / HHS Director
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BACKGROUND
Background
Guilford County Government (the County) has, and continues to, serve as the Collaborative Applicant and Lead Agency for the Greensboro, High Point/Guilford County NC 504 Continuum of Care (CoC) since 2022. During this time, Partners Ending Homelessness (PEH) has served as Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Lead Agency with responsibility for local management, operation, and support of the NC-504 HMIS system. Earlier this year, PEH notified the CoC that they planned to step down from the HMIS Lead Agency role effective October 1, 2025. The CoC conducted a RFP process to select a replacement organization to serve as HMIS Lead agency. On September 8, 2025, the CoC Board voted to recommend selection of the County for the role and on September 11, 2025, the CoC membership voted to formally approve the selection of the County.
CoC and County staff have worked together to assemble an MOU to designate the County as the HMIS Lead Agency. As HMIS Lead Agency, under the direction of the CoC, the County will be responsible for regular monitoring of the system, Technical Assistance to CoC agencies, and trainings for CoC agencies per HUD regulations and the contractual agreements with the CoC and Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness (MCAH), the CoC's HMIS software provider. This MOU will be for a period of 5 years. Both parties anticipate the agreement being reviewed on an annual basis or as needed. The County will also continue in its current CoC Lead / Collaborative Applicant role alongside this new HMIS Lead Agency role. At this time, the County is the only remaining party that needs to approve the MOU.
To accomplish the work of the HMIS Lead Agency, County staff plan to initially shift two existing CoC Program positions to focus on HMIS work as the roles of (a.) Local Systems Administrator (LSA) and (b.) Data Analyst. For continuity of operations, the data analyst will serve as the backup for the LSA and both positions will be responsible for ensuring the County fulfills its responsibilities in the MOU. Once the initial transition is complete, County staff plan to do a more comprehensive review of this work and identify additional or modified capacity needed to complete and excel in this work to the standards needed by the CoC along with the CA / CoC Lead Agency work.
County staff have estimated the cost of this work to be approximately $267,500. Funding will come from a combination of Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and CoC Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) grants and existing County funds already budgeted for the CoC Program. Current awards from these grants total $129,491 ($55,963 ESG and $73,528 NOFO). Local funds will provide the required local match of least $18,382 or 25% of the NOFO funds plus the balance of funding for the program.
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BUDGET IMPACT
Budget Impact
Budget Ordinance Amendment
General Fund
$129,491 Increase in Federal/State Funds
$129,491 Increase in Appropriation to County Administration
NO ADDITIONAL COUNTY FUNDS REQUIRED
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REQUESTED ACTION
Requested Action
Approve the proposed Memorandum of Understanding with Guilford County NC 504 Continuum of Care (CoC) for the County to serve as the NC-504 HMIS Lead Agency for a term of five (5) years starting January 1, 2026 and ending December 31, 2031; authorize staff to sign ESG and NOFO grant agreements for HMIS grants; and amend the FY 2025-26 budget ordinance to increase Federal/State Funds by $129,491 and increase the appropriation to County Administration by the same amount to reflect the ESG and NOFO grant awards.
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