HUD CoC Funding Local Applications

NOFO Summary

The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is a national competition between geographic areas designed to:

• promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness;

• provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, States, Indian Tribes or Tribally Designated Housing Entities [as defined in section 4 of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103) (TDHEs)], and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families, persons experiencing trauma or a lack of safety related to, or fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and homeless youth while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused by homelessness;

• promote access to, and effective utilization of, mainstream programs and programs funded with State or local resources; and

• optimize self-sufficiency among homeless individuals and families.

Self-sufficiency, consistent with the purposes of the McKinney-Vento Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11381(4), means the ability to meet basic needs, including a place to live, without public or private assistance. This is consistent with dictionary definitions of the term. The Oxford English Dictionary defines self-sufficiency as the "state or condition of not needing or relying on external assistance, support, or aid." Similarly, Merriam-Webster defines self-sufficient as "able to maintain oneself or itself without outside aid: capable of providing for one's own needs."

The goal of the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) is to support the development and implementation of a coordinated community approach to preventing and ending youth homelessness and sharing that experience with and mobilizing communities around the country toward the same end. The population to be served by the demonstration program is homeless youth ages 24 and younger, including unaccompanied and pregnant or parenting youth.