Continuum of Care (CoC) Program

How It Works

A Continuum of Care is a local or regional planning body, typically covering a city, a county, or a group of them. Its members include local government agencies, service providers, community members and people who have experienced homelessness. The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is the HUD grant that funds the housing and services these bodies coordinate.

Each year HUD publishes a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Every Continuum gathers applications from local projects, ranks them, and a designated “collaborative applicant” submits one combined application. HUD scores that application and uses the community’s ranking in deciding which projects to fund. Historically, most of the money has gone to renewing existing projects.

Under HUD’s regulations, grants can fund five components:

Eligible costs include construction, acquisition and rehabilitation, leasing, rental assistance, operating costs and services. Recipients must match all grant funds except leasing with at least 25% in cash or in-kind contributions.

Who It Serves

CoC projects serve people who meet the federal definition of homelessness set by the McKinney-Vento Act, as expanded by the HEARTH Act to cover some families and youth living in unstable situations. Permanent supportive housing is generally reserved for people with disabilities, often those who have been homeless for long periods. Continuums of Care are also responsible for planning and conducting the point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness, which HUD’s rule requires at least every two years.

How to Access It

Individuals and families do not apply to HUD. They are assessed and prioritized through their community’s coordinated entry system, which may be reached through a shelter, an outreach worker, a 211 helpline, or a local homeless services agency. Organizations that want funding should contact their local Continuum’s lead agency well before HUD’s annual competition.

History

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, first enacted in 1987, created several separate HUD homelessness grant programs. In the mid-1990s, HUD began asking each community to submit one coordinated “continuum of care” application for those grants. The HEARTH Act, signed May 20, 2009, merged the Supportive Housing Program, Shelter Plus Care, and the Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation single room occupancy program into one CoC Program and made the planning process law. HUD put it into effect with an interim rule in July 2012.

The FY 2026 appropriations law, enacted February 3, 2026, provided $4.01 billion for the program, according to NLIHC. It also required HUD to renew for 12 months, without competition, grants expiring in the first quarter of 2026, and to issue the FY 2026 NOFO by June 1, 2026.

Limitations and Current Debate

The program has been at the center of a policy dispute since late 2025. HUD’s FY 2025 NOFO, issued in November 2025, would have capped permanent housing at 30% of program spending, down from roughly 87%, according to the National Association of Counties (NACo). HUD withdrew it in December 2025 after lawsuits from a coalition of states and from local governments and nonprofits, and a court order required HUD to process renewals under the prior year’s competition.

HUD’s FY 2026 NOFO, released June 1, 2026, set aside $1.3 billion for new transitional housing and supportive services projects. On August 7, 2026, a federal district court ruled that HUD had acted unlawfully by skipping the public notice-and-comment process and ordered the notice vacated. On September 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit allowed HUD to proceed while it considers the appeal. HUD reopened the competition two days later with a September 30 application deadline, and the litigation was still pending as of late September 2026.

According to NACo, the FY 2026 notice placed renewed emphasis on short-term transitional housing paired with supportive services and added review criteria such as “self-sufficiency.” The plaintiffs, who include national homelessness and housing organizations and several local governments, argued that the set-aside would leave many existing projects ineligible for renewal. The dispute is part of a wider debate over Housing First. For background, see Homelessness, Housing First, and Supportive Housing.