History

The Continuum of Care (CoC) model was instituted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the 1990’s, as HUD recognized the need for a more coordinated, collaborative, and community-driven approach to awarding funds to organizations providing services to people who are experiencing homelessness. One of the responsibilities of the CoC is to collaboratively plan and apply for HUD McKinney-Vento funds.

Since 1996, HAND has served as the lead entity for the Continuum of Care for the cities of Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park, Michigan. We work with a wide range of organizations including service providers; community development organizations; and local, state, and federal government entities to find and implement solutions to homelessness in our community and to move forward our 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness.

HAND manages annual funding applications to the State and Federal government, resulting in over $25 million in homelessness programming coming to our community on an annual basis. HAND is also a core resource for all things data related on homelessness. We oversee and manage our community’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), ensuring we have accurate information on who is homeless in our community, what their needs are, and what is working to address those needs.

HAND is a resource in Detroit working for solutions to the problem of homelessness and advocating on behalf of those who are homeless. Through bi-monthly membership meetings, HAND serves as an on-going forum for sharing information, planning, and networking among all agencies.