The Continuum of Care (CoC), a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homeless services program, is designed to provide a communitywide approach to assist families and individuals who are experiencing or at risk of becoming homeless. Lincoln’s CoC brings together nonprofit providers and State and local stakeholders to develop a homeless system that provides a “continuum” of programming, from street outreach, emergency shelter, and homeless prevention to transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing.
The Homeless Coalition, made up of the same agencies and stakeholders as the CoC, is centered around monthly meetings that focus on networking and sharing best practices. The Homeless Coalition is responsible for organizing Project Homeless Connect and an annual recognition event. The CoC is a HUD mandated administrative organization made up of representatives from the same stakeholders as the Homeless Coalition, with a focus on the annual HUD CoC grant application, and managing the community wide homeless service system. This includes conducting yearly point-in-time homeless population counts, identifying emerging needs in the community, maintaining a homeless housing inventory, and tracking system performance.
Nonprofits in Lincoln receive over five million dollars in annual grant funding through HUD’s CoC program to address homelessness in the community. While the City of Lincoln and the Urban Development Department serve as the collaborative applicant for the annual CoC application, CoC funding flows directly from HUD to homeless service providers. Most of the funds provide housing subsidies that allow individuals with chronic medical or behavioral health conditions to remain housed while receiving treatment, building independent living skills, and connecting with other community resources. The CoC promotes a human-centered approach to ending homelessness, focusing on evidence-based strategies to ensure the safety and human dignity of everyone.
In April of 2022, Lincoln’s CoC identified three critical needs for the community homeless service system. The primary need is the addition of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) beds. The PSH project currently being constructed at 8th & J streets will provide 24 units of housing for the chronically homeless, and will be targeted to those chronically homeless individuals at the top of the Coordinated Entry list. The PSH project will not house all of the chronically homeless in the community, but it will be a welcome addition to the supply of the PSH bed inventory. Additional needs identified by the CoC include the development of a low-barrier shelter and a low-barrier day center or drop-in center. Currently, Lincoln’s homeless service system lacks these resources. The primary tool is via street outreach staff, who work to develop a rapport with the unsheltered and connect them with food, health care, and mental health supports that are available.
Lincoln’s CoC follows these basic prevention strategies related to street outreach:
- Operate a “coordinated entry” in-take and assessment process that allows street outreach providers from multiple agencies to work within the same system. Coordinated entry links homeless individuals to a community wide waitlist and allows them to be referred to the most appropriate housing and support services.
- Continue the development of real-time Housing Inventory availability across the CoC.
- Develop formal links between the Coordinated Entry system and the application/eligibility determination for mainstream assistance programs such as SNAP, TANF, and Medicaid.
- Ensure evidence based standards for street outreach are used consistently across agencies.
- Develop a full range of homeless prevention and assistance interventions (including low barrier emergency shelter, rapid re-housing, housing stabilization, and permanent supportive housing) with safe and efficient access for the chronically homeless or those at-risk of homelessness.
Want to get involved? The CoC and Homeless Coalition meet monthly. The Continuum meets by Zoom the second Friday of every month from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. The Coalition meets the fourth Friday of every month at Cedars Northbridge at 9 am.
- Join the Lincoln Homeless Coalition by emailing Leslie Biteniek at lbitenieks@familyservicelincoln.org
- Join the CoC by filling out a contact form at https://go.unl.edu/32nd
The City of Lincoln and the CoC are working towards reducing rates of homelessness, with a focus on chronically homeless individuals. As previously mentioned, one way to achieve this goal is through building permanent supportive housing. The City broke ground on their first 24 bed permanent supportive housing project at 8th and J Streets in October 2024. Using Federal dollars, the City of Lincoln, in collaboration with CenterPointe, will staff the apartment building 24/7 and include wraparound supportive services for residents to help them transition from chronic homelessness to a stable living environment. Other similar projects are being operated by non-profits in Lincoln such as CenterPointe and Family Service Lincoln.
Another key project is the Alternative Response Program, a partnership between CenterPointe and Lincoln Police Department, which shifts responses for certain calls regarding residents who are unhoused to the nonprofit's Street Outreach Team, rather than police officers. The Street Outreach Team has helped more than 25 people become housed since the program launched. In addition, the Co-Responder Program partnership with CenterPointe allows law enforcement and mental health professionals to jointly respond to calls for service involving people experiencing a mental health crisis. Co-response teams are expected to begin service in early 2025.
Additional programs include:
- American Job Center: The American Job Center, administered by the City of Lincoln in partnership with the State Department of Labor, partners with local employers and non-profit organizations to connect job seekers with skills, training, and meaningful employment opportunities. A job that provides financial security is one of the best ways to prevent homelessness.
- Human Services Funding and Other Financial Assistance: The City of Lincoln and Lancaster County jointly distribute tax dollars to non-profits that support unsheltered residents. The City also works in conjunction with private partners to provide housing and utility assistance to those individuals at risk of becoming homeless.
- Low Barrier Shelter: The City supports a Lancaster County effort to explore the development of a 60 bed low barrier emergency shelter in Lincoln. A low barrier shelter minimizes obstacles to entry by removing strict sobriety checks, income verification, or other policies that will allow individuals with a wide range of needs to access shelter services. Currently, many of the chronically homeless are unable or unwilling to access existing shelter options.
In May of 2020, the City of Lincoln, in partnership with the Lincoln Community Foundation, the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, and the Coordinated Entry System managed by UNL-Center on Children, Families, and the Law established the Lincoln Prevention Assistance Common Fund, (LPAC).
LPAC is a coordinated, citywide response that provides rent, mortgage, utility, and other needed financial assistance to households in need to prevent homelessness and increase housing stability. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recommends that all prevention assistance resources be included with the community coordinated entry system.
Financial assistance from multiple funding streams is pooled at the common fundholder (LCF). Applications for assistance are received across the community and channeled through the All Doors Lead Home Coordinated Entry System (UNL-CCFL) to determine eligibility and identify the most appropriate funding to meet the need. Financial assistance is then made available to meet the household need by the common fundholder.
- LPAC improves the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of all financial assistance resources available in the community.
- LPAC identifies the eligible and most appropriate assistance from multiple available resources.
- LPAC reduces the administrative costs associated with multiple separate funding pools across numerous locations.
- LPAC creates a one-stop prevention system where households in need present their need one time at one location, and the resources to meet our brought to bear.
- LPAC improves the equitable distribution of financial assistance.
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FY2024/FY2025 CoC Competition
The City of Lincoln CoC opens Local FY2024/FY2025 CoC Program Funding Competition August 12, 2024.The City of Lincoln CoC seeks organizations interested in applying for new and/or renewal projects for consideration in the HUD FY2024/FY2025 CoC Program Competition.
- The Deadline for Renewal Project Applications is September 13, 2024
- The Deadline for New Project Applications is September 20, 2024
Consolidated Application FY 2024 CoC Program
The City of Lincoln CoC approved Consolidated Application for FY 2024 CoC Program Competition. Review the approved Consolidated Application and approved Priority Listings for Reallocation forms and all New and Renewal Project listings at FY 2024 NOFO Consolidated Application and Priority Listing(PDF, 5MB). For comments or questions about the Approved Application, email jschalk3@unl.edu
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