User Guide for Project Plan Template
Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is a critical resource to help individuals and families with
disabilities achieve stable housing, and over time, can help some get to the point where they no
longer need or want intensive services. In most cases, however, the need for financial housing
assistance remains a prohibitive barrier to leaving PSH. Moving On enables individuals and/or
families who are able and want to move on from PSH to do so by providing them with a
sustainable, affordable housing option and the services and resources they need to move on.
Moving On can mean that the individual or family is able to transition in place to more
independence in their current home or it can mean moving to a new home that is more
convenient or closer to family and friends.
The Moving On Project Plan Template was created to help communities navigate the team-
building, design, and planning efforts for a Moving On initiative. Please review all of the
directions below before beginning to complete the Excel template.
Goal of the Project Plan Template. After completing the Project Plan Template, communities
will have a solid action plan with steps and deadlines detailing how the community can create
and implement a local Moving On initiative.
When to use the Project Plan Template
How to Use the Project Plan Template
• There are six tabs in the document: an overview tab - Project Plan - and five tabs each
focused on a different aspect of planning - Leadership Team, Resources Inventory
Preparation, Local Assessment, Action Steps, and Outcomes. Users can navigate
through the list of tabs using the arrows in the bottom left corner of the Excel window.
Local leaders can use the template
as a catalyst for discussion and
community innovation around
opportunities for PSH tenants to
move on. This tool, along with the
Resources Inventory, can help
innovators build their leadership
team, marshal resources, design
an initiative that meets local needs,
and outline concrete action steps
to help move from design to
implementation.
To start planning
A local planning team that has
already begun work to form a
Moving On initiative can also
use the template to document
progress made on planning,
consider additional partners or
resources they may not yet
have engaged, and formalize
the structure for the proposed
initiative.
During planning
Communities that
have Moving On pilots
or programs in place
can use the template
to begin to develop a
plan for a scaled,
sustainable iteration of
their initiative.
For scaling/
sustainiability planning
• Sections in the document that are white are meant to be filled in by the community.
Yellow boxes indicate instructions – these are reminders for each tab, but please refer to
this document for full instructions.
• Suggestions on what communities might include as they plan their Moving On initiatives
are pre-filled into each chart. These are just suggestions, and communities can feel free
to use, modify, or delete any of this suggested text.
• Ideally the document will be shared in an application that allows team members to make
and view each other’s edits in real time (i.e. Google Docs, Dropbox, etc.), and can be
updated electronically during leadership team meetings. In the event that group
members prefer printouts, each chart is sized so that it can be printed horizontally
(landscape mode) on legal size (11½ by 14) paper.
Stakeholder Engagement
Successful Moving On initiatives require buy-in from a variety of stakeholders. Some of the
stakeholders that you should consider partnering with and gathering data from are:
Information Gathering
Some of information-gathering methods include:
• Discussions/interviews with key stakeholders
• Document review – looking through key documents such as current or past PHA
Administrative Plans and Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policies, HUD
Multifamily Assisted Unit Tenant Selection Plans
Continuum of Care (CoC)
Can convene partners and lead initiative design, implementation, and monitoring.
Public Housing Agencies
Can provide access to Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs), Public Housing units,
and/or other housing resources. Teams should engage all PHAs in the geographic
area they serve.
Local government housing/human
services agencies
Can provide access to resources and support design, implementation, and
monitoring of initiative.
Permanent supportive housing
(PSH) providers
Can help identify barriers that clients face and ensure that services and structure
of initiative are responsive to local needs. In implementation, can identify, assess,
and provide services to tenants looking to move on.
PSH tenants and persons with
lived experience
Can provide insight into needs, experiences, and other considerations useful to
developing a program and package of services that adequately addresses the
service and resource needs of PSH tenants.
HUD Multifamily Building Owners
(private, non-profit sponsors)
Can provide access to HUD Multifamily Assisted buildings (Including Supportive
Housing for the elderly and persons with disabilities Section 202 and 811
programs) for Moving On clients.
Affordable housing developers,
owners, and operators
Can provide access to affordable housing units in existing buildings, or develop
set asides for buildings that are leasing up.
Local human service, healthcare,
and mental health providers
Can provide access to services, supports, and resources to Moving On clients
during and after their transition.
Local funders, incl. foundations
and funding collaboratives
Can provide funding and other resources for services and tenant financial
supports.
Local landlords
Can provide access to private market units for vouchers.
• Focus groups, input sessions, or other methods of gathering stakeholders to gather
input to help inform or refine the design of the initiative
• Surveys of key stakeholders – online, over the phone, in-person, or using other
methods, as appropriate based on the target audience and information to be collected.
Tab by Tab Instructions
• Project Plan Template
o This tab provides an overview of key steps in the planning process, responsible
parties, deadlines, notes, and status. Information in this cover tab will auto-
populate into the top rows of the tabs that follow.
o The team that is working on completing the Project Plan Template should
designate a lead person or agency to be responsible for completing each of the
tabs in the workbook. The full group’s input will be needed to complete each of
the tabs, but having a designated leader for each one will help to divide the
responsibility so that it does not all fall on a single person or organization to keep
the team on task. In some communities the lead may be the same
person/organization for many or all of the tabs; this is fine as long as that
person/organization has the capacity and expertise to lead in each of the areas.
• Leadership Team
o This tab is designed to help communities interested in pursuing Moving On work
identify a multi-sector leadership team comprised of stakeholders that can help to
design and implement a robust and successful Moving On initiative.
o Suggestions on the sectors/types of organizations that may be involved in your
Moving On initiative and the roles they may play are pre-filled in this chart. These
are just suggestions and the list is not exhaustive. Communities should use,
modify, or delete any of the pre-filled items to reflect the community’s leadership
team.
o Some communities may have multiple PHAs within the geographic area they
cover; these communities should add an additional line for representatives of
each PHA that they have or hope to engage (communities should attempt to
engage all PHAs in their jurisdiction). To sort the list so that groups from the
same sector (e.g. all PHAs) are grouped together, template users should click on
the ‘Data’ tab in Excel and hit the ‘Sort A to Z’ Icon.
o Communities should note that there may be multiple representatives from a given
sector or agency on the leadership team, or there may be partners that should be
engaged, but do not have the capacity or ability to play a role on the leadership
Click to
sort by
sector
team. Such partners can be tapped at different parts of the planning and
implementation processes for input and support.
o The leadership team may consider designating a CoC representative familiar
with the community to project manage the team and the process throughout.
• Resources Inventory Preparation
o This tab is designed to help you prepare to complete the Resources Inventory,
a separate tool, which allows a community to compile a list of the resources that
can be used for Moving On and identify gaps that need to be filled.
o This tab includes pre-filled questions that the leadership team may ask itself and
relevant stakeholders in order to identify what resources are needed for the
initiative, what is already available, and which stakeholders should be engaged in
order to further discussions about resources. All of the prefilled items in the chart
are suggestions, and communities can feel free to use, modify, or delete any of
the items that are not relevant to the community’s Moving On initiative.
o A note about the first two questions – the inquiries about site-based/single-site
and scattered-site PSH units are meant to help the leadership team understand
the landscape. This provides a general sense of the universe of potential clients
(all clients in supportive housing). The question about scattered-site units is
meant to help the leadership team understand what level of demand there may
be for ‘transition in place’ moving on, in which scattered-site tenants who are
ready and want to move on from services are given the option of continuing to
live in their current unit with a different housing subsidy. In all cases, tenants in
scattered-site housing should still have the option to move to a new location, if
that is what they prefer. If a community’s PSH stock is largely scattered-site,
leaders should factor that into consideration when making determinations about
the amount of moving-related resources (e.g. housing navigation, application
fees, movers, etc.) needed for the initiative.
o The leadership team may consider designating the local PHA, or in cases where
there are multiple PHAs or affordable housing providers with a large inventory in
an area, the government agency that oversees housing, as the lead for
completing this tab, because answering most of the questions will require access
to and information from the PHA(s).
• Local Assessment
o This tab provides space to track questions that communities want to answer as
they design the services packages that will be offered to Moving On tenants, as
well as the design of efforts to train and support PSH staff that will be working
with tenants.
o There are several questions for consideration built into the template, based on
the experience of other communities implementing Moving On. These are
suggestions, and communities can choose to use and/or edit any or all of these
questions and associated information, and to insert additional questions/methods
of collecting information as appropriately locally.
o The leadership team may consider designating a PSH provider or other
leadership team member with expertise in services and program design and
access to PSH providers and tenants as the lead for completing work on this tab.
• Action Steps
o This tab is designed to help communities identify the key action steps they need
to undertake in order to design and operationalize a Moving On initiative.
o Several suggested action steps are built into the work plan in the order that they
should happen, based on what has happened in other communities implementing
Moving On. These are suggestions, and communities can choose to use and/or
edit any or all of these steps, and insert additional steps.
o The leadership team may consider gathering additional community stakeholders
and feedback as part of the process of developing the action steps, which will
guide the design for the actual implementation of the initiative.
• Outcomes
o This tab is designed to help communities identify outcomes that they want to
track in their Moving On initiative.
o There are two pre-filled outcomes that all communities should track; communities
may also choose to add additional outcomes they are interested in capturing.
o The leadership team may consider designating a CoC representative familiar
with the community’s outcomes/tracking process as the lead for completing work
on this tab. The team may also consider engaging academics or consultants
around the possibility of developing an evaluation for the initiative.
o For more suggestions on outcome measures that Moving On initiatives can track,
please refer to the Program Evaluation and Performance Tracking section in
Chapter 9: Oversight, Governance, and Evaluation, in CSH’s Moving On Toolkit
(https://www.csh.org/resources/csh-moving-on-toolkit/).
Resources
Communities may consider consulting the following resources as they complete the project plan
template:
• Moving On Toolkit. CSH. Available at: https://www.csh.org/resources/csh-moving-on-
toolkit/
• Opening Doors Through Multifamily Housing: Toolkit for Implementing a Homeless
Preference. HUD. https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/4810/opening-doors-through-
multifamily-housing-toolkit-for-implementing-a-homeless-preference/
• CoC and PHA Collaboration: Strategies for CoCs to Start the Partnership Collaboration.
HUD. Available at: https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/CoC-and-PHA-
Collaboration-Strategies-for-CoCs-to-Start-the-Partnership-Conversation.pdf
