Alaska Balance of State Continuum of Care Grant Program

About

  • The CoC Grant Program is a HUD-funded initiative that provides grants to direct service providers to assist individuals (including unaccompanied youth) and families experiencing homelessness move into transitional and permanent housing, with the goal of long-term stability.

    The role of the CoC Lead Agency is to

    • administer the CoC Grant Program,

    • promote region-wide planning and strategic use of resources to address homelessness,

    • coordinate and integrate with mainstream resources and other programs targeted to people experiencing homelessness,

    • improve data collection and system performance measurements, and

    • allow each community to tailor its programs to the strengths and challenges in assisting individuals and families within that community.

    The Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness (AKCH2) is the CoC Lead Agency for the Alaska Balance of State CoC region, which encompasses all communities in Alaska outside of the Municipality of Anchorage.

  • Each year, HUD releases a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that details the amount of funding available for the upcoming year’s CoC Grant Program.

    Organizations may submit applications to renew their existing CoC grants or apply for new projects (based on funding availability).

    Applying for the CoC Grant Program is a multi-stage process:

  • If you have questions or would like to learn more about the Alaska Balance of State CoC Grant Program, email Helen Renfrew, Program & Grants Manager at helen@alaskahousing-homeless.org.

CoC Grant Prep

The Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness (AKCH2) carries out the day-to-day management of the Alaska Balance of State Continuum of Care (CoC). The Balance of State CoC geographic area covers all of Alaska, outside of the Municipality of Anchorage, and is the largest geographic CoC region in the United States. Please note: to participate in the Anchorage CoC Program, visit the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness website. The amount of funding available for Federal Fiscal Year 2025 (FFY25) is limited and will be determined by HUD. The process is very competitive, locally and nationally.

AKCH2 is inviting applications for new projects and will be providing technical assistance for both renewal and new applicants. We strongly encourage you to review the full NOFO once it becomes available.

NOFO prep sessions will be scheduled and will include valuable information for both renewal and new project applicants, such as:

  • specifics of the upcoming year’s HUD NOFO cycle

  • what steps your organization should take right now, if you haven't already

  • changes you can expect to see in this year's local applications

  • a draft timeline for the NOFO cycle, based on the information we currently have

  • a schedule of AKCH2 "office hours" where we'll be providing TA for anyone who would like to join

There are some things that everyone should do NOW to get ready to submit a new or renewal project application:

  • Register or confirm your existing registration with the System for Award Management (SAM.gov)

  • Receive or confirm your organization’s Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), which will be required for submission

  • Establish or verify registration in and access to e-snaps, HUD’s online grant application submission portal

In addition, renewal project applicants should:

  • Clean up your data! Need help? Have questions? The AKHMIS Knowledge Base may have the answer, or email the AKHMIS Help Desk at akhmis@icalliances.org

  • Draw down funds in eLOCCS. Regular drawdowns and expenditures are a threshold requirement.

  • Review the application you submitted last year. Have you done the things you said you would?

Youth Homelessness Demonstration Projects (YHDP):

  • Project renewals will be competitive this year, which means that all YHDP projects will be ranked with all other applications

  • Project replacements are available - if interested reach out to AKCH2 staff for a discussion

  • Projects must still meet threshold requirements

For Renewal Project Applicants, the following steps should be completed annually prior to HUD’s NOFO release:

  • Review the Grant Inventory Worksheet

  • Double check all of the information listed for your grant(s). If anything is NOT accurate, reach out to AKCH2 staff immediately.

  • Clean up your data! Numerous questions in the applications will be answered using numbers from AKHMIS. If your project has missing or incomplete data, it will impact application scores and could, therefore, impact our system funding. System funding directly correlates to available project funding. Need help? Have questions? The AKHMIS Knowledge Base may have the answer, or email the AKHMIS Help Desk at akhmis@icalliances.org

For New Project Applicants, the following steps should be taken in preparation for the NOFO release:

  • Review the FFY25 HUD CoC NOFO to understand what type of information HUD is looking for and the types of projects that are funded through this program

  • Determine your project’s scope, subpopulation, budget (including identifying the required 25% match), and other details in preparation for putting together your application

You can also reach out to the AKCH2 Program & Grants manager, Helen Renfrew via email helen@alaskahousing-homeless.org to discuss your project and the needs of the statewide homeless system.

CoC Grant Local Competition

12:00 pm, 12/8/25 — On 12/8/25 HUD pulled the FFY25 CoC NOFO as it had been released on 11/13/25. The message indicates that the department intends to release a revised Notice of Funding Opportunity. AKCH2 intends to continue with the current schedule for the local competition, in order to guard against the uncertainty of this action. We will continue to keep grantees and applicants updated as the situation continues. Please check back often.

The Alaska Balance of State CoC Grant Program Local Competition for FFY25 has officially launched.

Click on the links below

Link for Local Competition TA Sessions HERE - Wednesdays from 2pm to 3pm: December 3 and 10

Link for e-snaps TA Sessions HERE - Tuesdays from 2pm to 3pm: December 23 and 30, and January 6

CoC Grant Resources

Click HERE to access the recording of AKCH2’s initial esnaps TA session (when it becomes available)

11/26/25 FFY25 AK Balance of State Funding Competition Launch Webinar - Slides - Video

Sample template MOU for Healthcare partnerships

Service Participation Requirement Agreement Example

AKCH2 Code of Conduct (to use as our example)

HUD CoC Code of Conduct page on HUD Exchange

Links to HUD resources regarding expenses, project types, and transitional grants (not to be confused with Transitional Housing projects).

HUD CoC Program Type eligible expenses

HUD CoC Program Component Overview

HUD CoC Program Eligibility and Components

HUD SSO-Standalone Flowchart

HUD CoC transitional grant requirements

Helpful Resources will be available (as soon as they are released by HUD) by clicking on the links below (links will be active when they are available):

  • Renewal Project Application esnaps detailed instructions

  • Renewal Project Application esnaps Navigational Guide

  • New Project Application esnaps detailed instructions

  • New Project Application esnaps Navigational Guide

  • YHDP renewal application esnaps detailed instructions

  • There is no YHDP renewal application Navigation Guide available from HUD

  • HUD’s FFY25 Published Frequently Asked Questions

CoC Grant Funding Recommendations

Check back for results of the FFY25 Competition as the process proceeds.

CoC Grant Collaborative Application

CoC Grant Funding Awards