Continuum of Care
The Continuum of Care (CoC) program promotes community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness. The program provides funding for efforts by nonprofit providers and state and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness. The program promotes access to and effects utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families. The program optimizes self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
Goals of Continuum of Care
Promote Planning
Ppromote community-wide planning and strategic use of resources to address homelessness
Improve Coordination
Improve coordination and integration with mainstream resources and other programs targeted to people experiencing homelessness
Data Collection
Improve data collection and performance measurement
Individualize
Allow each community to tailor its programs to the particular strengths and challenges in assisting homeless individuals and families within that community
Rhode Island Continuum of Care (RI-COC)
Rhode Island has a single Continuum of Care that guides the state’s homelessness programs and policies and administers federal and state homeless funds. The continuum includes a broad range of state agencies, community partners, and individuals all working together to build a statewide system to prevent and end homelessness.
The current Collaborative Applicant for the RI-CoC is Rhode Island Housing. The Collaborative Applicant is the eligible applicant designated by the Continuum of Care (CoC) to collect and submit the CoC Registration, CoC Consolidated Application (which includes the CoC Application and CoC Priority Listing), and apply for CoC planning funds on behalf of the CoC during the CoC Program Competition. The CoC may assign additional responsibilities to the Collaborative Applicant so long as these responsibilities are documented in the CoC's governance charter.
RI Housing's role as the RI-CoC Collaborative Applicant is two-fold:
1. Designated Collaborative Applicant agency for RI-CoC and responsible for overseeing its annual funding competition, compliance processes and system planning and policy oversight
2. Recipient of over $3 million in CoC funding that we steward throughout the state through subcontracts with 8-10 sub-recipient agencies.
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You can learn more about RI-CoC policies and procedures on their website here.
