July 16, 2012

WASHINGTON – The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 (HEARTH Act), enacted into law on May 20, 2009, consolidates the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s competitive homelessness assistance grant programs into one new “Continuum of Care (CoC) Program.” HUD has posted an interim rule that focuses on regulatory implementation of the new CoC Program, including the CoC planning process.

HUD expects the regulation to be published in the Federal Register in the coming week. The interim regulation will be effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. CoC Program recipients and subrecipients are reminded that the final “homeless” definition is in effect for administration of the CoC Program interim rule.

To assist CoCs, stakeholders, recipients and subrecipients in the successful implementation of the new consolidation program, HUD has released a hyperlinked version of the CoC Program interim rule and an Introductory Guide to the CoC Program.

CoC Program Interim Rule

CoC Program Interim Rule (hyperlinked version)

Introductory Guide to the CoC Program

For more information, visit HUD’s Homelessness Resource Exchange here.