The continuum of care (COC) program is designed to promote community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, states, and local…

The Department of Housing and Urban Development's Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development awarded Alliance To End Homelessness $515,063 on October 1, 2025, under the Continuum of Care Program (CFDA 14.267) Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) component.

The award funds a youth coordinated entry system serving unaccompanied individuals ages 24 and under in suburban Cook County, Illinois. Funded activities include street outreach to unsheltered or at-risk youth; community outreach by trained system navigators deployed throughout suburban Cook County to schools, police stations, hospitals, courthouses, libraries, drop-in centers, parks, emergency shelters, and support centers, including locations serving youth fleeing violence and sexual exploitation; system partner engagement with child welfare, education, justice, employment, and domestic violence agencies; and prevention, diversion, and rapid resolution services utilizing coordinated entry assessment tools to explore housing alternatives and connect youth to permanent housing.

The award period runs from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026. Place of performance is Hillside, Illinois.

Alliance To End Homelessness passes funding to four sub-recipients: Beds Plus, Inc. (La Grange, Illinois), Proactive Community Service, Connections For The Homeless (Evanston, Illinois), and Housing Forward (West Suburban Cook County). All four sub-recipients actively participate in the youth coordinated entry system delivering street outreach, community outreach, system partner engagement, and prevention and diversion services to unaccompanied homeless youth.

Activities

These grants may be used to pay for the eligible costs used to establish and operate projects under five program components: 1. Permanent housing, which includes permanent supportive housing for persons with disabilities, and rapid rehousing; 2. Transitional housing; 3. Supportive services only; 4. Homeless management information systems (hmis); and 5. Homelessness prevention (in some cases). Eligible costs within these projects include: 1. Leasing of a structure or structures, or portions thereof, to provide housing or supportive services; 2. Rental assistance, which may be short-term, medium-term, or long-term, as well as tenant-based, project-based, or sponsor-based, for transitional or permanent housing; 3. Supportive services to assist program participants obtain and maintain housing; 4. Operating costs of supportive housing; 5. Costs of implementing and operating hmis; 6. Project administrative costs; 7. Relocation costs; and 8. Indirect costs in accordance with 2 CFR parts 200, as applicable. In addition to using grant funds for the eligible costs described above, recipients and subrecipients in continuums of care designated as high performing communities may also use grant funds to provide housing relocation and stabilization services and short- and/or medium-term rental assistance to youth at risk of homelessness as set forth in 24 CFR 576.103 and 24 CFR 576.104, if necessary to prevent youth from becoming homeless. No assistance provided under program (or any state or local government funds used to supplement this assistance) may be used to replace state or local funds previously used, or designated for use, to assist homeless persons or persons at-risk of homelessness.

Expected outcomes

Decrease in the number of youth experiencing homelessness, more specifically using performance indicators such as the length of time homeless, returns to homelessness over time, and exits to permanent housing. COC performance profile reports can be found at: https://WWW.hudexchange.info/programs/COC/COC-performance-profile-reports/

Intended beneficiaries

Youth defined as households where no person is over the age of 24

Subrecipient activities

The subrecipient activities are unknown at the time of award