King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) is preparing for the U.S. Department of Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for Fiscal Year 2026. This is the national competitive process by which CoC funding is allocated to communities such as King County. In King County, KCRHA is the designated collaborative applicant.
The full HUD FY26 NOFO will likely not be posted until later in May, but KCRHA is beginning the process now to invite interested local service providers to prepare to apply and provide information that can support partnerships and planning. KCRHA will also use information that is provided to inform the consolidated application.
While the HUD FY26 NOFO and Request for Proposals (RFP) have not been released yet, KCRHA released a Request for Information (RFI) this week that will help us—as a community—prepare for the upcoming NOFO.
In this RFI, we are looking for responses from agencies that are providing homelessness services while collaborating across systems such as medical or behavioral health care, substance use disorder treatment, workforce reentry and development, rehabilitation services, and more. If this is your agency or organization, we would love to hear from you.
In the dropdown below, you’ll find all relevant and current documentation to prepare for and participate in the HUD FY26 NOFO process, including the current RFI, which closes on May 29.
Each year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides funding for homeless assistance programs authorized under the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended by the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act. These funds are awarded through a national competitive process outlined in the HUD FY 2026 Continuum of Care (CoC) Competition and Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) Grants Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).
The NOFO establishes requirements for Continuums of Care (CoCs) and for individual project applicants included in each CoC’s submission. In preparation for HUD’s FY 2026 NOFO, KCRHA—as the designated Collaborative Applicant for the Seattle-King County CoC—conducts an annual local competition and evaluation process.
Please direct your questions via email to coc.questions@kchra.org.
KCRHA will update all notices once the HUD competition is released, and updates may include expected funding available, updated requirement or preferences. Please note that timelines, preferences, and requirements are subject to change.
2026 Seattle-King County Continuum of Care (CoC) Program Local Competition Overview – Updated 5/6/26
2026 King County-City of Seattle Continuum of Care System Collaborations and Partnerships Request for Information (Collab & Partnerships RFI) – Updated 5/6/26
2026 Seattle-King County Continuum of Care New Project & Bonus Funding NOFA (Bonus)
Anticipated Eligible Program Areas
As we seek to renew and bring new federal funding into our community, we need to align our request with federal expectations. KCRHA has reviewed and aggregated previous community engagement and stakeholder input and is shaping our consolidated application around what is required by HUD and what has been identified by our community as high-need areas.
This process has allowed us to identify some system gaps, where we have an opportunity to strengthen the homelessness response system at large in King County, that we will prioritize through the HUD FY26 NOFO process.
These priorities center on reducing barriers to accessing services, strengthening crisis response, and improving housing stability. Examples of projects meeting these gaps may include: housing navigation, behavioral health services in transitional housing or standalone programs, medical respite transitional housing, outreach services, and recovery-oriented housing. In addition, proposals should respond to workforce shortages—particularly among specialized providers, behavioral health clinicians, and peers—and strengthen housing‑ and employment‑focused case management to improve overall system performance.
The below programs are anticipated to be prioritized as new projects in the HUD FY 2026 NOFO:
- Transitional Housing proposals should demonstrate strong supportive services, clear exits to permanent housing, employment and income pathways, appropriate service intensity, cost effectiveness, and local need.
- Supportive Services Only proposals should prioritize outreach and engagement with unsheltered and high‑need populations, strong partnerships, cost effectiveness, and demonstrated experience delivering proposed services.
- Coordinated Entry proposals should strengthen access, navigation, standardization, outreach, and referral effectiveness across the CoC.
- Rapid Re-Housing proposals should demonstrate strong supportive services, clear exits to permanent housing, employment and income pathways, appropriate service intensity, cost effectiveness, and local need.
Anticipated Timeline Overview
Note: This information may be subject to change. Please keep an eye on this blog for major updates.
| New Projects – CoC General Bonus and Domestic Violence (DV) Bonus |
|---|
| Notice Posting: May 5, 2026 |
| Request for Proposal Release: June 10, 2026 |
| Application Due Date: July 3, 2026 |
| FY26 CoC Local Competition Results Shared: By August 10, 2026 |
| HUD FY 2026 NOFO Due to HUD: August 26, 2026 |
| Renewing or Transition/Replacement Projects – CoC & Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) |
|---|
| Notice Posting: May 5, 2026 |
| Application Release: June 10, 2026 |
| Application Due Date: July 3, 2026 |
| FY26 CoC Local Competition Results Shared: By August 10, 2026 |
| HUD FY 2026 NOFO Due to HUD: August 26, 2026 |
As your organization prepares for this process, please direct any questions to coc.questions@kcrha.org.
