Continuum of Care
CoC Program
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) set up the CoC program to distribute housing funds to communities across the U.S. Service providers in Austin and Travis County received about $14 million in CoC funds for FY 2024. This is one of several sources of funding providers use to help end homelessness in our community.
FY 2026 CoC Competition
IMPORTANT UPDATE: On June 1, 2026, HUD announced the publication of the FY 2026 Continuum of Care Competition and YHDP Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO): CPD-2600-DC-0025
Read the full NOFO on grants.gov
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Webinars
Webinar information, materials, and recordings will be posted here as they become available.
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Local Competition Materials
Local competition materials will be posted here as they become available.
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About the FY26 CoC NOFO
We are currently reviewing the NOFO and developing the local competition process, timeline, and application materials. Additional guidance, training opportunities, and competition documents will be released in the coming weeks.
While a comprehensive review is still underway, we want to highlight several notable changes and themes included in the FY2026 NOFO:
- No cap on Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)
- Permanent housing program renewals can utilize a year transition grant to move to a different program type
- Increased emphasis on competition and project performance
- Tier 1 funding is limited to 60% of the CoC’s Annual Renewal Demand (ARD), resulting in a larger portion of funding being evaluated through the national competition process than previous years.
- Continued availability of CoC Bonus and DV Bonus funding opportunities.
- Increased emphasis on self-sufficiency, employment income growth, and long-term housing stability outcomes.
- Increased emphasis on behavioral health, substance use treatment, recovery, and community partnerships.
- Stronger focus on Transitional Housing (TH), Supportive Service Only (SSO), and Street Outreach.
- Continued importance of data quality, HMIS participation, coordinated entry participation, and measurable project outcomes.
All renewal and prospective applicants are encouraged to begin reviewing project performance, utilization, expenditure rates, housing outcomes, and community partnerships in preparation for the local competition.
We anticipate releasing:
- Local competition policies and procedure
- Community priorities
- Reallocation and Deobligation policy and process
- Local competition timeline
- Application materials and technical assistance opportunities
Over the coming weeks, we encourage all providers to carefully review the FY2026 NOFO and begin considering how proposed projects align with both HUD priorities and identified community needs.
Get updates in your inbox
Sign up to receive the CoC News newsletter to receive updates on the FY26 NOFO process
Find previous years’ NOFO application materials here.
CoC Program
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Overview
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About our CoC
Our local CoC (designated TX-503 by HUD) encompasses Austin and Travis County. CoC partners agree to share data and follow common strategies, best practices, policies, procedures, and standards. This ensures agencies are working from the same blueprint in building a sustainable rehousing system. In addition, many agencies that are not directly funded through the CoC program also participate in the community’s data-sharing network (HMIS) and follow the same standards.
Information on our community’s most recent CoC grant awardees can be found on the HUD Exchange website.
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ECHO’s Role
ECHO does not operate housing programs or provide direct services. Our role is to help coordinate the organizations who do.
ECHO is the Lead Agency and Collaborative Applicant of Austin/Travis County CoC. HUD requires that communities pick a single agency to apply for federal grant funds through the program. The agency is responsible for collecting and evaluating project applications from partner organizations (like those listed on our partners page) and submitting a single collaborative grant application on behalf of the community. The CoC Lead Agency is also responsible for conducting the biennial Point in Time (PIT) Count of people experiencing homelessness.
ECHO is also the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Lead for the Austin/Travis County CoC. HMIS is a centralized, person-level database that providers across our community use to connect people with the services and resources they need to end their homelessness. Most providers in our community use this database. Our HMIS and Research & Evaluation Teams examine this data regularly to inform our system’s work.
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Oversight
Each CoC across the country is required to have a governing board. Our local board, Leadership Council, is comprised of people who’ve experienced homelessness, service providers, government leaders, community equity advocates, funders, and others invested in the work to end homelessness. Leadership Council receives staff support from ECHO but operates independently.
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CoC Program Scorecards
Policies, Procedures, & Written Standards
Documents & Forms