Texas Homeless Network is the lead agency for the Texas Balance of State Continuum of Care (TX BoS CoC). The TX BoS CoC is a group of stakeholders that collaboratively plan and operate the CoC and a range of housing and services to prevent and end homelessness. The TX BoS CoC covers 215 counties and includes 28 Local Homeless Coalitions (LHCs) that plan, deliver, and evaluate local systems.

As the winter holidays approach, THN staff would like to extend our warmest wishes to you and yours this season and remind you that THN will be closed from 12/21/2020 through 1/5/2021. Stay warm and safe, and we will see you all in the New Year!

The next CoC General Meeting will be held December 9th, from 2:00-3:30 P.M.

Register here. Get the meeting materials on our website beginning December 7th. 

Round 3 of public comment is open for the annual CoC Governance Charter review. Check out the proposed revisions to the charter on the CoC's Public Comment portal, and submit your comments by 12/9/2020. In January the CoC Board will consider approving the proposed changes.

The training will be held on December 30, 2020 from 11:00 AM CST – 12:30 PM CST. Any 501(c)3 agency located in the Texas Balance of State Continuum of Care (TX BoS CoC) that has been in operation for at least two years and is interested in applying for the Barriers Fund Program is encouraged to attend. 

Click here to register today. 

To obtain a DUNS number, or to find out if your organization has a DUNS number, please visit the DUN & Bradsheet (D&B) website. 

To register, update, or renew your status with the System for Award Management, you can visit the official website here. 

For additional assistance with obtaining this information, please feel free to reach out to Anja Taylor at anja@thn.org. 

Congratulations, Abilene! We feel proud to be your partners in this work!

Topic: Ending Veteran Homelessness: Identification, Outreach, and Engagement

Register here

*Closed Meeting

Join THN as we host a panel discussion on assisting immigrant families to access rent relief through local programs during COVID-19, providing tenant advocacy and anti-eviction work, and exploring solutions for assisting unhoused immigrants in status/documentation-limbo in accessing housing. Register here

Register here

*Closed Meeting

For more information on how you or your community can get involved, please email Kyra Henderson, Data Coordinator, at kyra@thn.org

Topic: HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Program

Register here

See more events on THN's Training and Events calendar.

Check out the beta page on THN's website of current available funding options here.

The FY 2022 SSVF NOFA has been published in the Federal Register. The NOFA is open to existing SSVF grantees only, including the opportunity for current shallow subsidy grants to extend to September 30, 2023. As the COVID-19 crisis has significantly impacted grantee operations, and supplemental CARES Act funding is expected to support operations well into FY 2022, the Program Office has sought to ensure service continuity and reduce grantee burden. An online training and the Exhibit I-III template is available here. The due date for submissions is February 5, 2021, at 3:00 P.M. CST.

Texarkana Homeless Coalition Partners Launch Operation Responsible Compassion (Bowie County)

Homeless coalition seeks warm meals, volunteer cooks for local soup kitchen (Victoria County)

Harlingen non-profit assisting influx of homeless people during pandemic (Cameron County)

Community walks for a cause (Nueces County)

Port Arthur twin brothers offer showers, food to displaced community ahead of Thanksgiving (Jefferson County)

Jacksonville sisters donate supplies to Tyler’s less fortunate (Cherokee County)

Abilene becomes 4th community in the country to reach ‘functional zero’ for chronic homelessness (Taylor County)

Killeen family saved from being homeless by kind stranger (Bell County)

Area organizations form Hays County Local Homeless Coalition (Hays County)

These articles were gathered from Google Alerts and emails sent directly to us. If you have articles about your community's efforts to prevent and end homelessness that you want highlighted in our next newsletter, please email the articles to txboscoc@thn.org.

This month's recommendation comes from our Assistant Director of Engagement, Mary Rychlik Stahlke.

The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University recently published "The State of the Nation's Housing 2020." The report's webpage has pertinent infographics related to homelessness, housing cost burden, and financial impacts of COVID-19 on renters and homeowners, as well as fact sheets and data sources. 

Other reports:

Get Involved

THN invites members to participate in the CoC's activities. Learn more on the email list, the website, and social media. CoC General Meeting minutes and recordings are posted on THN's website, in the TX BoS CoC "Get Involved" page at https://www.thn.org/texas-balance-state-continuum-care/get-involved/. Presentations by and conversations between CoC members and staff on relevant topics keep members informed and up-to-date.

Stay informed about CoC happenings by participating in the bi-monthly webinars. Each meeting will feature a topic that is important to preventing and ending homelessness. See the Get Involved page for dates, topics, and registration links.

If you are a representative of an agency that is interested in applying for United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) Program funding, please contact txboscoc@thn.org.