Preferred Sustainability Status

In the General Section to HUD's FY2011 NOFAs for Discretionary Programs, HUD debuted the Preferred Sustainability Status (PSS) program. HUD created PSS to incentivize coordinated planning and development actions within regions where measurable progress has taken shape under the Sustainable Communities Initiative. The primary benefit for the region or city is the availability of certification of consistency with the Sustainable Communities Initiative, which provides two (2) preference points on select HUD discretionary grant program applications for entities within the project geography if the PSS Community deems they meet the criteria. PSS Communities may also write letters of support for other government agency discretionary grant programs (primarily at EPA, DOT, USDA, and EDA) to strengthen their applications.

On December 6, 2013, former HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan extended PSS eligibility for Sustainable Communities Regional Planning grantees and Community Challenge Planning grantees for three years following their period of performance. As a result, FY2010 grantees had PSS through the end of FY2016-funded grant competitions. FY2011 grantees have PSS through the end of FY2017 (or whenever the last of FY2017 grant competitions take place). These 56 entities (FY2011 SCI grantees) are the only remaining eligible entities for PSS.

Applicants seeking PSS preference points are advised to carefully review the program NOFA for which they intend to apply to determine the availability of Preferred Sustainability Status preference points. Applicants should note that HUD program offices only award PSS preference points on an application after an applicant has met a minimum threshold score on their application (i.e., the PSS preference points do not assist the applicant to meet the minimum threshold score).

PSS Policy Guidance, PSS points of contact list, a map of PSS communities, and the HUD-2995 certification form are included below.