Continuum of Care

An introduction to federal work addressing homelessness

What is Continuum of Care?

Continuum of Care (CoC) refers to a federal grant program led by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that supports local communities’ work to reduce homelessness. The CoC Program funds local services that help people move into permanent, stable housing.

CoC investments intend to:

Promote community wide planning and strategic use of resources to address homelessness
Improve coordination and integration of resources for people experiencing homelessness
Improve data collection and performance measurement
Allow each community to tailor its programs to fit the specific strengths and challenges of that community

Membership

The Board is composed of 17 members, who represent one or more of the following:

Lived Experience
Public Health
Criminal Justice
Human Services
Culturally Specific Providers
Survivors
Housing Developers
Public Housing Agencies
Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault
Youth system
Family system
Veteran system
Permanent Supportive Housing
Rapid Rehousing
LGBTQIA2S+
Benefit Advocacy
Employment/Workforce
Medical/Healthcare
Business
Legal/Advocacy
Research/higher education
Shelter/outreach
School and/or youth education entities/early childhood

Board members serve terms of 2 to 3 years and work to ensure that there is not a full turnover of Committee members at any given time.

Members of the CoC Board 2023

Brandi Tuck (she/her) – Path Home

Cammisha Manley (she/her) – Community Member

Christina McGovney (she/her) – Volunteers of America

Drew Grabham (he/him) – Central City Concern

Elise Cordle Kennedy (she/her) – Oregon Housing and Community Services

Hannah Studer (she/her) – Bridges to Change

Ian Slingerland (he/him) – Home Forward

Jamar Summerfiled (he/him) – Community Member

Jessica Harper (she/her) – City of Gresham

Katie Cox (they/she) – The Equi Institute

Laura Golino de Lovato (she/her) – NW Pilot Project

Lizzie Cisneros (she/her) – Vancouver Housing Authority

Mark Morford (he/him) – Community Member

Patrick Reynolds (he/him) – Community Member

Sherrelle Jackson (she/her) – Oregon Department of Human Services

Skyler Brocker-Knapp (she/her) – City of Portland

Dr. Stuart Zeltzer (he/him) – Physician, Kaiser Permanente

Xenia Gonzalez (she/her) – Community Member

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 Continuum of Care (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

Continuum of Care Charter

Read the Continuum of Care 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 JOHS 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 Joint Office of Homeless Services 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.

Training Opportunities

View all Continuum of Care training opportunities.

Learn More