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An Introduction to Federal Work Addressing Homelessness

Continuum of Care

What is the Continuum of Care (CoC)?

A federal grant program led by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that supports local communities’ work to reduce homelessness, by funding local services to help people move into permanent, stable housing.

Investments intend to:

  • Support coordinated planning and resource use to address homelessness
  • Improve resource coordination for people experiencing homelessness
  • Improve data collection and performance measurement
  • Allow communities to tailor its programs to fit their strengths and challenges

Membership

Board members serve 2 to 3-year term and work to ensure that there is no full turnover of Committee members at any given time. The Board is composed of 17 members, who represent one or more of the following:

  • Benefit Advocacy, Business, Culturally-specific Providers
  • Criminal Justice, Domestic/Sexual Violence
  • Employment/Workforce, Family system, Housing Developers
  • Human services, Legal/advocacy, LGBTQIA2S+
  • Lived experience, Medical/healthcare, Public Housing Agencies
  • Permanent Supportive Housing, Rapid Rehousing
  • Research/Higher Education, Shelter/outreach, Survivors
  • School and/or youth education entities/early childhood
  • Veteran system, Youth system

2023 CoC Board Members

Adriana Rangel-Ponce, Brandi Tuck, Casady Monroe

Christina McGovney, Hannah Studer, Helmi Hisserich

Ian Slingerland, JJ, Jamar Summerfield, Jessica Harper

Kat Salas, Laura Golino de Lovato, Lizzie Cisneros

Mark Morford, Patrick Reynolds, Steven Gilbert

Tonya Jones, Trevor Nissen, Xenia Gonzalez

Board Meetings

Upcoming Meetings

Continuum of Care Board meetings occur on the third Thursday of every month from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Members of the public are welcome and can join the webinar meetings at this Zoom link.

Past Meetings

2023 Meetings

2022 Meetings

Board Documents

Continuum of Care 101

Continuum of Care resulted from the federal Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 (HEARTH Act), which amended the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Among other changes, the HEARTH Act consolidated three separate homeless assistance programs created by McKinney-Vento (Supportive Housing Program, Shelter Plus Care Program, and Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Program) into a single grant program known as the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program.

CoC Board

Multnomah County’s CoC Board is made up of community members, homeless service providers, and government agencies to ensure alignment with Multnomah County’s CoC Guidelines. The Committee represents CoC stakeholders and community members focused on ending homelessness in our region.

Committee meetings are public. If you’d like to attend, see our news section for upcoming dates.

Learn More
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CoC Charter

Read the CoC charter, including policies/procedures in compliance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations. Download the Continuum of Care Charter PDF (available in large print here).

Funding Opportunities

The HSD posts Notices of Funding Availability (NOFA) on our funding opportunities page. Information and resources for organizations applying for Continuum of Care funding is available on our Competition Resources page.

Current Funding Opportunities
Competition Resources

Continuum of Care Training Opportunities

The Homeless Services Department as the community’s Continuum of Care Lead Agency provide these trainings based on mandatory requirements from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and in the spirit of sharing useful information towards best practices.

View all CoC Training Opportunities