Our History

Since 1994, the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development has been encouraging communities to address the problems of housing and homelessness in a coordinated, comprehensive, and strategic fashion. This concept is designed to help communities develop the capacity to envision, organize, and plan comprehensive and long-term solutions to addressing the problem of homelessness in their community. 

The Continuum of Care is a formal community plan with performance reviews submitted to HUD on an annual basis. The planned goals and action steps are created to organize and deliver housing and supportive services to meet the specific needs of people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless as they move to stable housing and maximum self-sufficiency. The community plan also includes action steps to end homelessness and prevent a return to homelessness. 

The Continuum of Care planning process and committee tasks are on-going, yearly processes which culminate in a funding application being submitted to HUD requesting financial support for locally determined projects addressing the causes and needs of the homeless. Community participation and measurement of service provider collaboration and goal achievement are key factors for determining the levels of funding our Continuum of Care receives annually from HUD.

The Summit County Continuum of Care (CoC) is required to establish a board of directors to act on its behalf. The CoC Board acts on behalf of and in the best interest of the CoC. All Board members must be representative of relevant organizations and projects serving subpopulations of people experiencing homelessness within the CoC service area and must include at least one person with lived experience of homelessness. The Board establishes and designates responsibilities for the CoC Lead Agency, HMIS Lead, and Collaborative Applicant.