General. Subject to applicable requirements described in §§ 574.310, 574.320, 574.330, and 574.340, HOPWA funds may be used to assist all forms of housing designed to prevent homelessness including emergency housing, shared housing arrangements, apartments, single room occupancy (SRO) dwellings, and community residences. Appropriate supportive services, as required by § 574.310(a), must be provided as part of any HOPWA assisted housing, but HOPWA funds may also be used to provide services independently of any housing activity.

Activities. The following activities may be carried out with HOPWA funds:

Housing information services including, but not limited to, counseling, information, and referral services to assist an eligible person to locate, acquire, finance, and maintain housing. This may also include fair housing guidance for eligible persons who may encounter discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, familial status, or handicap. Housing counseling, as defined in § 5.100, that is funded with or provided in connection with HOPWA funds must be carried out in accordance with § 5.111. When grantees provide housing services to eligible persons (including persons undergoing relocation) that are incidental to a larger set of holistic case management services, these services do not meet the definition of Housing counseling, as defined in § 5.100, and therefore are not required to be carried out in accordance with the certification requirements of § 5.111;

Resource identification to establish, coordinate and develop housing assistance resources for eligible persons (including conducting preliminary research and making expenditures necessary to determine the feasibility of specific housing-related initiatives);

Acquisition, rehabilitation, conversion, lease, and repair of facilities to provide housing and services;

New construction (for single room occupancy (SRO) dwellings and community residences only).

Project- or tenant-based rental assistance, including assistance for shared housing arrangements;

Short-term rent, mortgage, and utility payments to prevent the homelessness of the tenant or mortgagor of a dwelling;

Supportive services including, but not limited to, health, mental health, assessment, permanent housing placement, drug and alcohol abuse treatment and counseling, day care, personal assistance, nutritional services, intensive care when required, and assistance in gaining access to local, State, and Federal government benefits and services, except that health services may only be provided to individuals with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or related diseases and not to family members of these individuals;

Operating costs for housing including maintenance, security, operation, insurance, utilities, furnishings, equipment, supplies, and other incidental costs;

Technical assistance in establishing and operating a community residence, including planning and other pre-development or pre-construction expenses and including, but not limited to, costs relating to community outreach and educational activities regarding AIDS or related diseases for persons residing in proximity to the community residence;

Administrative expenses:

Each grantee may use not more than 3 percent of the grant amount for its own administrative costs relating to administering grant amounts and allocating such amounts to project sponsors; and

Each project sponsor receiving amounts from grants made under this program may use not more than 7 percent of the amounts received for administrative costs.

For competitive grants only, any other activity proposed by the applicant and approved by HUD.

Equal participation of faith-based organizations. The HUD program requirements in § 5.109 of this title apply to the HOPWA program, including the requirements regarding disposition and change in use of real property by a faith-based organization.