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Health and Human Services Agency recommending the Board receive and file a presentation on the roles and responsibilities of the Continuum of Care, and the roles and responsibilities of the Administrative Entity / Collaborative Applicant and provide direction to staff if necessary.
FUNDING: N/A
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program, which is facilitated through the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is designed to promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness. Through being responsible for receiving Federal and State funding and holding annual funding competitions in the community, CoCs provide grant funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, as well as State and local governments, to rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals and families. CoCs also promote access to and effect utilization of mainstream programs, with a goal of optimizing self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
In 1995, HUD established the competitive CoC funding application process to provide resources to communities to implement community-wide, coordinated efforts for assessing and addressing the housing and service needs of individuals and families that were homeless or at risk of homelessness. The CoC is the group that takes on coordination of homeless services and homelessness prevention activities across a specified geographic area. Through the established CoC application process, communities were able to submit to HUD a consolidated application to fund homelessness assistance programs. Since the CoC application’s inception, CoCs have operated under guidance published each year in HUD’s annual Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). The CoC Program interim rule provides formal regulations to guide the establishment and operation of CoCs. To date, as CoC programs have continually improved th...
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