61.33—Payment of per diem.
(a)
A capital grant recipient meeting the application requirements as outlined in § 61.31(a) of this part is eligible for per diem subject to a site inspection establishing that the applicant continues to meet the requirements for a capital grant as outlined in the following sections, §§ 61.62, 61.64, 61.65, 61.66, 61.80, 61.81, and 61.82.
(b)
For non-capital grant recipients who apply for per diem under this part, funds will be allocated to the highest-ranked applicants in descending order until funds are expended. Payments will be contingent upon verification of application information based on an initial site inspection and other inspections pursuant to § 61.66 of this part and will be made for 3 years or as otherwise specified in the Notice of Fund Availability. Non-capital grant recipients may apply again thereafter only in response to a Notice of Fund Availability.
(c)
For those applicants selected to receive per diem, VA will execute an agreement in accordance with § 61.61of this part and make payments to the grant recipient or non-grant recipient for those homeless veterans—
(d)
(1)
The rate of per diem payments for each veteran in supportive housing shall be the lesser of—
(i)
The daily cost of care estimated by the per diem recipient minus other sources of payments to the per diem recipient for furnishing services to homeless veterans that the per diem recipient certifies to be correct (other sources include payments and grants from other departments and agencies of the United States, from departments of State and local governments, from private entities or organizations, and from program participants), or
(2)
The per diem amount for service centers shall be 1/8 of the lesser of the amounts in paragraphs (d)(1)(i) and (d)(1)(ii) of this section per hour, not to exceed 8 hours in any day.
(e)
Per diem payments may be paid retroactively for services provided not more than 3 days before VA approval is given or, where through no fault of the recipient, per diem payments should have been made but were not made. VA will not pay per diem for any additional days of absence when a veteran has already been absent for more than 72 hours consecutively (scheduled or unscheduled). In addition, VA will not pay per diem payments for supportive housing for any homeless veteran who has had three or more episodes (admission and discharge for each episode) of supportive housing services paid for under this part. VA may waive the episode requirement if the services offered are different from those previously provided and may lead to a successful outcome.
(f)
Payment of per diem is subject to availability of funds. When necessary due to funding limitations, VA will reduce the rate of per diem as necessary.
(g)
Capital grant recipients and non-capital grant recipients may continue to receive per diem assistance only so long as they continue to meet the minimum eligibility requirements for obtaining a grant. For grant recipients this is the minimum 600 points as provided for in § 61.13(a) of this part. For non-grant recipients this is the minimum 500 points provided for in § 61.32(a) of this part.
(h)
Per diem payments will not be paid for both supportive housing and supportive services provided to the same veteran by the same per diem recipient.
(i)
For non-capital grant recipients, only those portions of the service center or supportive housing described in the application will be considered for per diem assistance.
(j)
At the time of receipt, a per diem recipient must report to VA all other sources of income for the project for which per diem was awarded. The information in this paragraph provides a basis for adjustments to the per diem payment.