What is a Continuum of Care?
A Continuum of Care (CoC) is a federally mandated program tasked with coordinating homeless service activities across a specified geographic area.
It is designed to assist individuals and families experiencing homelessness by providing the housing and/or services needed to obtain and maintain permanent housing. CoCs are tasked with operating a homeless management information system (HMIS), coordinating the implementation of a system-wide plan to reduce and end homelessness within their geographic area, and applying for available federal funds. CoCs may operate within a city, county, balance of state, or statewide.
A brief history of the Continuum of Care Program
The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 (Act) was the first significant federal law to create federal programs to address homelessness.
Those federal programs included the Supportive Housing, Shelter Plus Care, and Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation programs. For several years, Federal Funding was granted to individual organizations and States to operate those programs. However, this strategy lacked coordination, and it proved ineffective in resolving homelessness.
As a result, on May 20, 2009, the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009 was signed into law. The HEARTH Act was enacted to consolidate the McKinney-Vento programs into a single grant program called the Continuum of Care (CoC) program. The creation of the CoC program was a more strategic approach to providing services and allocating funding by requiring communities to submit a single application that supports their local strategy to ending homelessness.
In 2012, HUD published the CoC Program interim rule to establish the requirements for the CoC program, including requirements for applying and administering grant funds and outlining the responsibilities of the CoC. HUD also established federal regulations and policies that outline what is eligible and ineligible for use of CoC funds.
However, in an effort to connect local experts with federal resources and improve the effectiveness of the program, HUD delegates a portion of its Policy, Planning, and Funding authority to individual CoCs. The Rhode Island Statewide Continuum of Care is the CoC with that local authority in Rhode Island.