Each year the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development makes available competitive federal resources for homeless programming to communities around the country through its Continuum of Care (CoC) Program and the annual CoC Competition.

The goal of the CoC Competition is to award funding to projects that effectively meet community needs and maximize resources to effectively end homelessness for veterans, chronically homeless, families, and youth. Approximately $2.1 billion was available nationally in the FY 2018 CoC Competition, which includes: evaluation of renewal CoC projects, submission of new project applications, and completion of consolidated CoC applications.

In the Ohio Balance of State CoC, which covers the 80 non-urban counties, the Ohio Development Services Agency and COHHIO facilitate this process and submit the consolidated application.

HUD recently announced a $2.2 million award for two new projects in the Ohio BoSCoC. These include $482,316 for a Region 9 Rapid Re-housing project, and $1.76 million for a domestic violence RRH project designed to work with victim services providers located in 14 of the CoC’s 17 planning regions. This project will be administered by the Battered Women’s Shelter. Since the initial grant request was for a one-year term, the full $1.7 million should be available to provide RRH assistance and services to DV survivors on an annual basis going forward. This is great news!

In addition, HUD announced more than $16.4 million in FY 2018 renewal funding for 93 ongoing projects in the Ohio BoSCoC, an increase from the $15.8 million renewal project funding and $950,000 for new projects the CoC was awarded for FY 2017.

Some of the highest ranked projects in the 2018 CoC Competition awarded include: Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services Board of Tuscarawas and Carroll Counties’ Recovery Begins at Home, Community Action Commission of Fayette County’s Stable Futures, and Integrated Community Enterprises’ Charles Place.

A list of all Ohio BoSCoC new and renewal CoC projects are available on COHHIO’s website: https://cohhio.org/member-services-2/boscoc/boscoc-competition/

Any organization located within the 80 rural counties of the Ohio BoSCoC that wishes to access new or renewal CoC Program funds can participate in local homeless planning efforts and the annual BoSCoC CoC Competition.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our BoSCoC staff at ohioboscoc@cohhio.org.