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Free FY2026 CoC NOFO Prep Package

Gaither Dynamic

Free FY2026 CoC NOFO Prep Package: a laptop showing NOFO 2026 beside an August 2026 calendar with August 26 circled as the deadline

Hey everyone. I’ve been experimenting with Claude lately (Anthropic’s new Fable 5 model) and used it to put together an FY2026 CoC NOFO prep package. Figured it might save somebody time this season, so I’m sharing it here as-is. It’s a jumping-off point, not a finished product. Use it, adapt it, or ignore it. Everything is free to download: no sign-up, no email gate.

Why this year is different

HUD published the FY2026 CoC NOFO on June 1: about $4.04 billion, applications due August 26. It is the biggest rewrite of the competition in over a decade. Tier 1 dropped from 90 percent of annual renewal demand to 60 percent, which puts roughly four times as much renewal money up for competition on score. Housing First alignment is no longer scored. New scored criteria cover treatment and recovery services, employment income, encampment reduction, and exits to unsubsidized housing. If your CoC has run the same NOFO playbook for years, this is the year that playbook stops working.

Update, July 29: The court fight did not stop. On June 29 a federal judge ruled HUD’s FY2025 version of these rules unlawful and vacated them; on July 2 the National Alliance to End Homelessness and co-plaintiffs filed a new lawsuit aimed at the FY2026 NOFO itself, asking for briefing by July 31 and a decision by about August 10. On July 16 HUD posted notice that it intends to modify the NOFO to add a direct-to-HUD application process where it finds a CoC non-compliant (so far one CoC: CA-600). On July 21, seven weeks after the NOFO published, project applications, the Priority Listing, and their detailed instructions finally went live in e-snaps; the CoC Application itself was still pending when this update was written. The deadline-time question also settled: HUD’s webpage and the NOFO cover now both say August 26, 8:00 PM ET (p. 96 still prints 11:59:59 PM), so treat 8:00 PM ET as final and submit early. The August 26 deadline stands for now, and our 2025 numbers feature is tracking the litigation. The package below is v1.5, updated today with all of this.

What’s in it

The Guide: “Navigating the HUD CoC NOFO” (Word + PDF, 21 pages)

  • A one-page survival guide for anyone new to the competition: the whole process in 8 plain-language steps
  • History of the competition from FY2010 through FY2026, including the FY2025 court fight
  • Full FY2026 breakdown with NOFO page citations: scoring, tiers, deadlines, and what’s new
  • Which points are already locked by your data vs. the 156 of 220 you can still win before August 26
  • Top 20 ways CoCs lose points, pulled from HUD’s own FY2024 debrief data
  • An evidence library: what letters, MOUs, and screenshots to gather for each criterion

The Workbook: scoring calculator and planner (Excel, 12 tabs)

  • A scoring calculator covering all 52 scored criteria (200 base + 20 bonus points), each with HUD’s criteria and page number
  • A Tier 2 project score model using HUD’s published formula
  • A backwards-planned timeline from the August 26 deadline, with owners and dependencies
  • A Point Recovery Plan that auto-shows where your biggest winnable gaps are
  • An evidence tracker, pre-flight checklist, beginner’s guide, and glossary

Fair warning

This is AI-assisted and unofficial. It is not HUD guidance. If anything in here conflicts with the actual NOFO, go with the NOFO. Every point value cites its NOFO page so you can verify it yourself, and a couple of genuine NOFO ambiguities (like whether bonus points count toward Tier 2 scoring) are flagged in the tools rather than guessed at. The NOFO itself and HUD’s FAQs are on HUD’s CoC Program Competition page.

Download the tools

Version 1.5, July 29, 2026: deadline time updated to 8:00 PM ET, the July lawsuit and HUD’s notice of intent to modify the NOFO added, and the e-snaps materials status added. v1.4 (July 1) was a line-by-line accuracy audit against the NOFO PDF. Earlier versions stay where they were, so old links keep working.

Spot an error? Flag it

This package gets better when CoCs report what is wrong or missing. If a point value looks off, an instruction is unclear, or the tools should cover something they don’t, use the flag button:

Flags go straight to our fix queue; no account or sign-up required. Prefer email? Write to gaither.stephens@gaitherdyn.com. Fixes ship as new versions on this page, and old links keep working.

Free tools that help with the NOFO work itself

Three more free tools from our network, useful while you assemble the application:

  • LSA Data Quality: upload a hashed HMIS CSV export and get the full LSA analysis (measure values, every data-quality report, score and grade) right in your browser, then it is discarded. A timely, usable LSA is one of the scored data criteria, and clean data helps everywhere else.
  • System Performance Validation: the same engine pointed at your System Performance Measures. First-time homelessness, length of time homeless, exits, returns, and income criteria all read from SPM data, so validate yours before HUD does.
  • HEAT: Housing Emergency Access Tool: deterministic, transparent decision support for coordinated entry: assessment, chronicity documentation, and case-conferencing support where every determination explains itself.

Beyond NOFO season

The NOFO is a twelve-week sprint. The data work is the other forty weeks. If you want your community’s numbers to tell a clearer story year-round, that is what we build:

Book a meeting to see what fits your CoC, or get the monthly newsletter for more on NOFO, HMIS, and measurement.

PS: If you work in the CoC or HMIS world, you might want to check out the free CoC Alliance Slack group, where CoC and HMIS leaders help each other every day with things like the NOFO, HMIS, and more.

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