HUD ROSS-SC FY2026: $40M for 143 Service Coordinators, Due January 5

The ROSS-SC award ceiling is easiest to understand as a salary calculation. Take $80,000 a year in salary and fringe for one service coordinator, multiply by three years, add $2,500 a year for training and travel, then add 10 percent for administration. The result is $272,250, which is exactly the maximum award for a single coordinator in HUD's new Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency Service Coordinator NOFO.

The ROSS-SC Program – Fiscal Year 2026 (PIH-2600-DC-0005, Assistance Listing 14.870) was posted November 5. It makes about $40,000,000 available for an estimated 143 awards, from $272,250 for one coordinator to $816,750 for three. Applications are due January 5, 2027, at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern. HUD expects to announce awards around April 30, 2027, and performance periods run June 1, 2027, through May 31, 2030.

The program has existed for decades, and this round has the familiar structure. The changes are in the scoring and eligibility rules, and they will decide which public housing authorities, tribes, resident associations, and nonprofits get funded.

The $40 Million Undoes a Two-Year Slide

The NOFO includes its own funding history, which is useful context for any applicant:

Two things stand out. First, the FY2026 round returns to FY2023 levels in both dollars and award count, after FY2025 fell to 115 grants. Second, new applicants are last in line. In FY2024 every competitive dollar went to renewals and resident associations, and new applicants received nothing. FY2025's $5.7 million for new grants equaled about one in six dollars.

The reason is the funding order HUD sets in Section V.D, which is partly statutory:

1. Resident associations (RAs) first. By statute, 25 percent of ROSS funds go to eligible RA applicants, as long as HUD receives enough qualified applications.
2. Renewals second. FY2023 grantees are funded first, then FY2022 and FY2021 grantees.
3. New applicants last. These are funded in score order from whatever is left. Tied scores are broken by lottery.

For a public housing authority without a recent ROSS grant, the realistic outlook depends on how many FY2021–FY2023 grantees reapply and whether they clear the eligibility screens below. Expect the new-applicant pool to be small again, perhaps a few million dollars. In that pool, a score in the high 80s may not be enough.

Who Can Apply, and Who Is Locked Out

Eligible applicants are PHAs, tribes and tribally designated housing entities (TDHEs), Multifamily owners serving RAD PBRA residents, nonprofits, and resident associations. RAs must hold local nonprofit incorporation or 501(c)(3) status by the deadline. Individuals, foreign entities, and sole proprietorships cannot apply.

Several rules cut the field more than the general eligibility list suggests:

• FY2024 and FY2025 grantees are ineligible. If your organization won in either of the last two rounds, do not apply. HUD will reject the application.
• Renewal applicants are FY2021, FY2022, and FY2023 grantees. The NOFO lists this as a change from past rounds.
• Unspent money is disqualifying. Renewal applicants with 60 percent or more of their FY2021–FY2023 ROSS funds unspent at the deadline are ineligible. Grantees from before FY2021 with 40 percent or more unspent are also out. This cannot be fixed after submission.
• Partially spent grants reduce the award. An unexpended balance of 50 to 59.99 percent cuts the FY2026 award by 30 percent and earns zero points. A balance of 40 to 49.99 percent cuts the award by 20 percent and earns 10 points. Only grantees at 39.99 percent or less get full funding and the full 15 points.
• Every project needs at least 50 occupied units, verified against HUD's IMS/PIC system. RAD PBV and RAD PBRA units count only if they are former public housing units that were previously served by a ROSS coordinator.
• Only PHAs and tribes/TDHEs can write letters of support for nonprofit applicants. This is new, and it means a nonprofit cannot rely on a city agency or a property manager for that letter.

For incumbents, the most important task before January 5 is drawdowns. A grantee sitting at 52 percent unspent in mid-November could move into the 40–49.99 percent tier by bringing reimbursement requests current. That would raise the award by 10 percentage points and add 10 points to the score, without writing anything new.

How the Award Size Is Set

Coordinator positions depend on occupied units and applicant type:

PHAs, tribes/TDHEs, Multifamily owners, and non-site-based RAs can request up to three coordinators. Site-based RAs can request one. Nonprofits that are not RAs, PHA affiliates, or owners can submit up to three separate applications, for a maximum of nine coordinators. Each of those applications must be completely distinct: separate needs assessments, separate narratives, and separate match commitments. HUD warns that duplicated language "may be deemed ineligible for funding."

Salary requests must be based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics median for "Social Worker: Other" in your ZIP code, or on submitted salary comparability data. Two budget rules are stricter than in many HUD programs. Indirect costs cannot be charged at all, because HUD reads the FY2026 appropriations law (P.L. 119-75) as limiting this NOFO to direct costs. ROSS funds also cannot pay a Family Self-Sufficiency coordinator, a contract administrator, or any central office cost center.

Coordinators must be full-time positions, although two part-time staff can share one full-time slot.

The 25 Percent Match Is a Hard Threshold

You need committed matching contributions equal to at least 25 percent of the amount requested, so $68,063 for a single-coordinator request. This is a "non-curable threshold requirement." If the match is short, the application is out and cannot be fixed later.

The rules on what counts as match have caught applicants before:

• ROSS funds, public housing operating or capital funds, and Housing Assistance Payment contract funds cannot be used.
• Resident volunteers do not count.
• Volunteer time from other sources is valued at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, and the letter must show the calculation, for example "$7.25 × 2 volunteers × 50 hours × 3 years = $2,175."
• In-kind space must be valued with the same detail: monthly rent multiplied by 36 months.
• Every match letter must be signed, must say whether the contribution is cash or in-kind, must name the source, and must tie the contribution to a need identified in your community needs assessment.

HUD's guidance asks applicants to match partners to needs. If the assessment identifies employment barriers, a commitment from an American Job Center counts for more than a general letter from a food bank. Since the merit panel reads the match as evidence of a working service network, choose partners who will actually serve residents.

Scoring: 50, 45, and a 5-Point Policy Bonus

Applications are scored out of 100, with a 60-point minimum:

• Rating Factor 1, Past Performance & Capacity (50 points). Renewals are scored largely on data: up to 15 points for expenditure rate and up to 15 for their Data Availability Score in the ROSS Data Dashboard, which shows how complete their FY2021–FY2023 annual reports are. New applicants are scored on comparable experience in a five-page narrative.
• Rating Factor 2, Soundness of Approach (45 points). All applicants are scored on the same criteria: how the coordinator will assess needs, build partnerships, and track key performance indicators in employment, education, health, financial literacy, reentry, and services for elderly residents and residents with disabilities.
• Rating Factor 3, Bonus (5 points). Applicants earn these by submitting verification of membership in HUD's Work and Dignity Coalition.

The bonus points are the policy signal in this round. HUD describes the coalition as recognizing that "it takes both accountability policies and supportive services" to move families toward self-sufficiency. It describes members as those "utilizing work requirements, time limits, or other rent-structure incentives to promote and reward work." The NOFO's purpose statement says ROSS "aligns with the Administration's focus on work and dignity."

In a program where ties go to a lottery and new applicants compete for a small remainder, 5 points can decide the outcome. Each PHA has to decide whether to join, and that is a policy choice with implications for its residents, not just for the application. HUD's broader direction is clear: the Moving to Work operations notice revision this fall proposed a 40-hour work requirement framework. Applicants that skip the coalition should plan to earn their points elsewhere and assume they start 5 points behind competitors who join.

Two other policy provisions matter. Funds cannot support activities that "subsidize or facilitate illegal racial preferences." The substance use section limits coordinators to prevention and treatment referrals that do not "facilitate illegal drug use," and it excludes harm reduction or safe consumption work that conflicts with executive orders. Write your substance-use service plan with that language in mind.

The Second Door: ROSS Rapid Response

HUD posted a separate ROSS Rapid Response Program (PIH-ROSS-26-001) with an expected 20 awards of $112,500 to $250,000, due January 25, 2027. If the ROSS-SC rules exclude you, for example because you hold an FY2024 or FY2025 grant, read the Rapid Response notice carefully. It may be the only HUD self-sufficiency money you can compete for this winter.

A Seven-Week Plan

Christmas and New Year's fall in the middle of this window, so most applicants really have about five working weeks:

• This week: Confirm your SAM.gov and Grants.gov registrations. Pull your occupied-unit counts from IMS/PIC, and check that every project has at least 50 units.
• By Thanksgiving: Incumbents should calculate their exact unexpended percentage and submit every pending drawdown. Finish the community needs assessment, since HUD posted a sample with the NOFO.
• Early December: Get signed match letters with the required calculations. Nonprofits should get a support letter from a PHA or tribe/TDHE now, because that letter is the bottleneck.
• Mid-December: Finish the Rating Factor 2 narrative and decide on the Work and Dignity Coalition.
• December 29–January 2: Submit. Do not plan to file on January 5.

ROSS-SC will not change a housing authority's budget, but a funded coordinator can stay in place for three years, and the program rewards organizations that spend and report on time. If you're building a first application, Granted can help you turn your needs assessment, partner list, and KPI plan into a narrative that holds up against HUD's 100-point rubric.