Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Program

Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Program

The Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Program is a competitive HUD funding program for coordinated local responses to homelessness. It pays for projects and systems that help people move from homelessness to stable housing, while also supporting the planning, data, and service coordination needed to make those projects work together.

This is not a national rent-assistance form for an individual household. HUD awards money to eligible organizations and public entities. A local Continuum of Care, usually working through a designated Collaborative Applicant, identifies priorities, reviews project proposals, ranks them, and submits a consolidated application. People who need help reach the locally funded programs through shelters, street outreach, coordinated entry, domestic-violence providers, housing agencies, and other community access points.

The FY 2026 competition is open. HUD lists an application deadline of 2026-08-26 at 8:00 PM Eastern Time. Applications must be submitted through e-snaps. The local CoC may set an earlier internal deadline for project applicants so it has time to review, rank, and include projects in the consolidated application.

At a glance

The amount is a national competition total, not a promise that every applicant will receive a particular sum. A project budget depends on its eligible activities, project type, renewal or new-project status, the geographic area, the CoC allocation, local ranking, and HUD review. The FY 2026 materials also identify an estimated 7,000 awards from available funding. That estimate is not a guaranteed award count for any one community.

What the FY 2026 competition funds

The underlying CoC program can support several connected parts of a homeless-response system. Eligible activities can include permanent housing, transitional housing, supportive services only, Homeless Management Information Systems, CoC planning, Unified Funding Agency costs, leasing, rental assistance, supportive services, operating costs, acquisition, rehabilitation, new construction, relocation, indirect costs, and project administration, subject to the NOFO and the CoC Program Rule.

The current competition places unusual emphasis on new projects. HUD’s FY 2026 factsheet describes a $1.3 billion set-aside for new projects, with priority for transitional housing and Supportive Services Only projects. The examples named by HUD include behavioral health care, job training, education, case management, childcare, and related services. That does not mean every new proposal is eligible for every activity. The proposed project still has to fit an eligible project type, meet the statutory and regulatory rules, and pass the threshold and merit review described in the NOFO.

The competition also includes funding for new projects serving people affected by domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. HUD describes approximately $104 million for new domestic-violence bonus projects through the current materials. A survivor-serving organization should read the specific domestic-violence bonus provisions rather than assume that a general housing proposal will be treated as a bonus project.

For renewal projects, the local Grant Inventory Worksheet records grants that are eligible for renewal and calculates each project’s Annual Renewal Amount. The worksheet and the local CoC process therefore matter to an existing grantee even when the organization is not asking for a brand-new project. A renewal applicant should check its project information, budget lines, performance record, and local ranking instructions before completing the application.

Who can apply for a grant

The current NOFO says that an individual cannot apply. It lists eligible entity types that include State governments; county governments; city or township governments; special district governments; public and State controlled institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; and 501(c)(3) nonprofits other than institutions of higher education.

For-profit entities are not eligible to apply for these grants or to serve as grant subrecipients. A faith-based organization may apply on the same basis as another eligible organization, subject to the program’s civil-rights, religious-activity, and other applicable requirements. Eligibility also requires compliance with the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and 24 CFR part 578. An eligible entity can still lose funding if the proposal fails a threshold requirement, contains an unresolved disqualifying issue, or proposes activities that the program does not allow.

Eligibility is only the first question. A local CoC must operate a collaborative process for developing its response to the NOFO. In the FY 2026 competition, Collaborative Applicants must rank project applications, with exceptions for CoC Planning and, when applicable, Unified Funding Agency Costs projects. A nonprofit that is eligible in isolation may therefore need to follow the local CoC notice, local application, ranking, and appeal rules before HUD can consider its project as part of the consolidated application.

The NOFO includes a narrow route for certain project applicants to apply directly to HUD when their project is located in a geographic area where HUD has found that the CoC does not meet the requirements of the federal Act or its implementing regulations. That exception does not turn CoC into an open individual application program. It is a special process with its own application and scoring instructions in Appendix III of the NOFO.

Who receives the help

CoC-funded programs serve people and families experiencing homelessness, including people who need permanent housing, transitional housing, rental assistance, supportive services, or a combination of those supports. The FY 2026 NOFO also describes people experiencing trauma or a lack of safety related to fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, as well as homeless youth.

The service population is not the same as the grant applicant population. A person does not become a grant applicant by needing a shelter bed or housing referral. Local providers determine which programs they operate, what documentation they must collect, what eligibility definitions apply, and how referrals are prioritized. Some services may be available to people at imminent risk or in an unsafe housing situation, while a particular housing project may require the household to meet a narrower federal or local definition of homelessness.

The combined FY 2026 NOFO also includes the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program. YHDP projects serve youth age 24 or younger, including unaccompanied and pregnant or parenting youth, under the eligibility rules in the NOFO. Do not assume that every CoC-funded project serves every age group or offers the same service. Ask the local provider which project and access pathway match the household’s situation.

How an organization should apply

The application process has a federal layer and a local layer. Both matter.

1. Identify the local CoC and the applicant role. Find the CoC covering the project location and ask for its FY 2026 competition instructions. Confirm whether the organization is the project applicant, a subrecipient, a Collaborative Applicant, or a partner. Ask for the local project submission deadline, which may be earlier than HUD’s deadline.

2. Confirm eligibility and registration. The organization needs an active SAM.gov registration and a UEI at the time of application and throughout the award. It also needs an active e-snaps account. HUD warns that SAM.gov registration can take several weeks, so a new applicant should not wait until the final day.

3. Read the official package. Search Grants.gov for opportunity number CPD-2600-DC-0025 and review the official NOFO, instructions, forms, and any current modification. HUD posts the solicitation on Grants.gov, but the application is registered and submitted in e-snaps. The current HUD competition page is the best place to find the current NOFO and competition resources together.

4. Build the project application. The NOFO groups the required content into standard forms, assurances and certifications, a budget, narratives, and other attachments. Project applicants should be ready to explain the proposed activity, participants, housing or service model, operating plan, schedule, costs, outcomes, and organizational capacity. The application should use consistent figures and complete attachments in the formats that e-snaps requests.

5. Document match and compliance. CoC recipients generally must match grant funds, except leasing funds, with at least 25 percent in funds or in-kind contributions from other sources. Confirm the exact treatment for the project type and keep written evidence of the match. Also review civil-rights requirements, housing quality and habitability requirements, environmental requirements, financial controls, and any subrecipient eligibility documentation that applies.

6. Complete the local review. The Collaborative Applicant reviews project applications, ranks them as required, and assembles the CoC Application, CoC Priority Listing, and project applications into the consolidated application. Ask how the local CoC handles rejection, reduction, ranking, notification, and appeal. A technically complete project can still fail to reach HUD if it misses the local process.

7. Submit and verify in e-snaps. The applicant must complete and submit the required application electronically through e-snaps by 8:00 PM Eastern Time on 2026-08-26. Late applications are not eligible for funding under the NOFO. Do not rely on an upload that is still in draft status. Confirm that the submission was accepted, that all required components are included, and that the Collaborative Applicant has submitted the consolidated materials.

The HUD competition page currently says that the FY 2026 CoC registration process has ended. It also says that e-snaps is open for project applications and the CoC Priority Listing, while the CoC Applications that Collaborative Applicants submit were not yet available on that page at the time of this check. This status can change, so applicants should monitor the HUD page and local CoC notices for the release of the remaining e-snaps component and for any official modification.

What a project applicant should prepare

An organization should prepare more than a polished narrative. Start with the project design and work outward:

• proof of the organization’s eligible legal status and current registrations;
• a clear description of the population to be served and the applicable CoC project component;
• a realistic unit, bed, service, staffing, and operating plan;
• a budget that ties each requested cost to an eligible activity;
• match commitments and documentation, with leasing treated according to the specific rule;
• information about the proposed subrecipient, if there is one;
• performance and outcome data for renewal projects;
• evidence of housing quality, habitability, environmental, and site readiness where relevant;
• standard forms, assurances, certifications, narratives, and attachments requested in e-snaps; and
• a plan for HMIS participation, reporting, financial controls, and participant protection.

The NOFO requires the application information and proposed activities to be consistent. A budget that describes one service model while the narrative describes another creates a review problem. The local CoC may also request materials that are not part of HUD’s national checklist, such as a local project summary, board authorization, match letter, or evidence of community need. Treat the local checklist as an additional requirement, not a replacement for the federal NOFO.

How an individual or family gets help

Someone facing homelessness should not search for a personal HUD CoC grant application. The practical entry point is local. Call 211 where available, contact a shelter or street-outreach team, ask a domestic-violence provider about a confidential housing pathway, or contact the local homeless-services lead and ask for coordinated entry. A housing authority, community action agency, hospital social worker, school liaison, or veteran-serving provider may also know the local access route.

When speaking with an intake worker, explain the current housing situation, household members, safety concerns, disability or health barriers, veteran status where relevant, and any immediate danger. If fleeing violence, ask how the provider protects confidential information before sharing details. Bring identification and other records if available, but do not assume that missing documents make it pointless to call. Ask what alternatives the local program accepts and what steps can be completed later.

Coordinated entry does not guarantee an immediate unit. Local systems may have more demand than available housing, and different projects have different eligibility rules and vacancies. A referral can lead to emergency shelter, outreach, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, mainstream benefits, or another local service. Keep contact information current, ask what happens next, and report changes in safety or housing status promptly.

Common mistakes

The most common error is treating a community competition as a consumer benefit portal. Other errors include waiting for HUD’s national deadline while ignoring the local CoC deadline, applying without an active SAM.gov or e-snaps account, using an old NOFO, failing to document match, submitting an incomplete attachment set, and assuming that an eligible organization can bypass local ranking in an ordinary case.

A person seeking housing can also lose time by contacting the federal grant office instead of a local access point. The federal program creates local capacity; it does not replace local intake. A nonprofit can lose time by writing a generic homelessness proposal without checking its CoC’s ranking priorities, project inventory, geographic coverage, or local submission rules.

Official links

• HUD CoC Program Competition page
• FY 2026 CoC Competition and YHDP Grants NOFO
• e-snaps submission portal
• HUD Funding Opportunities

Use the HUD competition page and the official NOFO as the source of truth for any later amendment, portal notice, or deadline change. Use the local CoC and its designated Collaborative Applicant for the local deadline, ranking process, participant referrals, and service availability.