Alameda County Health Committee Meeting: COC 2026 NOFO Update - July 13, 2026
Alameda County Health Committee Meeting - July 13, 2026
The Health Committee, chaired by Supervisor Miley and including Supervisor Tam, met to receive an update from Jonathan Russell, Director of Alameda County Health's Housing and Homelessness Services, on the Continuum of Care (COC) 2026 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The presentation detailed significant federal policy changes that will reduce the amount of guaranteed funding for existing projects and create a large set-aside for new transitional housing and supportive services, potentially requiring Alameda County to identify alternative funding for at least $26 million in current services.
Consent Calendar
- No consent calendar items were discussed.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public speakers were present for the agenda item or for non-agendized items.
Discussion Items
- Presentation by Jonathan Russell: He explained the COC funding process, noting that the annual NOFO distributes $4.3 billion nationally. Alameda County currently receives approximately $64.5 million in COC funding across 47 grants, supporting over 2,100 housing units and 3,200 beds. Key changes for 2026 include: (1) only 60% of existing projects can be placed in the protected Tier 1 (down from ~90% in prior years), (2) a $1.3 billion set-aside (roughly one-third of total funding) exclusively for new transitional housing and supportive services projects in Tier 2, and (3) renewal projects cannot be placed in Tier 2, meaning any project not ranked in the top 60% must be funded with other sources or closed. HUD also retains broad discretionary authority to reject applications or grantees.
- Supervisor Tam's questions: She asked about the number of beds at risk and the impact on coordinated entry and HMIS. Russell replied that most permanent supportive housing rental assistance would be protected, but several hundred beds in transitional and youth rapid rehousing could be lost, along with system infrastructure. He emphasized that coordinated entry and HMIS are being deprioritized to preserve rental assistance. Supervisor Tam also asked about communication with providers; Russell noted they have met with all 47 grantees and are actively recruiting new projects.
- Supervisor Miley's comments: He expressed concern about the worst-case scenario (zero funding) and asked about preparation. Russell outlined four scenarios and said the county has budgeted roughly $20 million per year from Measure W for federal backfill, but a total loss would require a threefold expansion of that plan. Russell also noted administrative challenges: absorbing 19 new non-county grants and staffing impacts. Supervisor Miley requested a roadmap for different possibilities and commended staff for their work. He also discussed the nature of the litigation—a lawsuit filed July 2, 2026, challenging the NOFO under the Administrative Procedures Act, similar to a successful 2025 lawsuit. Supervisor Miley criticized the national funding level of $4.3 billion as “disgraceful” and emphasized that local Measure W is essential but insufficient without federal support.
Key Outcomes
- The presentation was informational; no votes were taken.
- The local application process closes on July 17, 2026, at 5 p.m.
- The COC Leadership Board will meet on August 11, 2026, to approve the final project priority list.
- The consolidated application to HUD is due by August 26, 2026, though the federal portal is not yet open.
- Staff will identify the $26 million in projects that cannot be renewed and bring a proposal to the Board for alternative funding, likely using Measure W reserves.
- The committee acknowledged the need to prepare for the worst-case scenario of total funding loss, which would require immediate emergency funding for all 47 grants.
- The new lawsuit (filed July 2, 2026) may affect the process, but staff cannot rely on it and must proceed as if the NOFO will be implemented.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, so good morning. I call the health committee order for Monday, July 13th. Supervisor TAM. Present. Supervisor Miley. We have a quorum. Okay. Any instructions you need to provide? For in-person participation, the meeting site is open to the public. If you'd like to speak on an item, please fill out the speaker's card in the front of the room for remote participation. Follow the teleconferencing guidelines. Post it at www.acgov.org and use the raise your hand function. Okay. So we have one item this morning. Continuum of care 2026 notice of funding opportunity update. All righty. Good morning, Supervisors. Jonathan Russell, director for Alabama County Health's Housing and Homelessness Services. Thank you for having me here this morning to provide a timely update on the majority funding source we have for federal funding for homelessness. This year we are currently in the process of completing the notice of funding opportunity local ranking review process. So excited to give you an update on all the relevant factors and changes and potential implications. And I believe the PowerPoint should be coming. Thank you. Oops, looks like it has the me versus a presentation. So in terms of overview, as I said, we'll briefly run through uh the COC funding process. Uh give you some detail on the implications for the 2026 NOFO, and then talk a little bit about our current state local rank and review process and end with some uh timelines for next steps. Next slide. So beginning with the funding process, uh just starting with as always in our field, uh just refreshing on some frequently used acronyms here. When we say COC, we mean the Continuum of Care, which is that federally designated body that receives the funding in our county. Uh the local Alameda County continuum of care is contiguous with our county borders. Uh HUD, of course, is the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development who funds uh the Continuum of Care program. And then the NOFO, as we say for short, is the notice of funding opportunity. It's a term used for a lot of different programs, but for today, we mean specifically that notice for the continuum of care funding that happens each year. Next slide. So what is the NOFO? As I said, it's an annual competitive grant process from the federal department of housing and urban development. Distributes uh billions of dollars in federal funding. I believe this year the federal, the annual total is 4.3 billion dollars to local organizations and governments to address homelessness. We apply through the regional continuum of care, as I said in our case, contiguous with Alameda County. And then the COC then evaluates and ranks and submits a consolidated application for the entire region. In our continuum of care, the leadership board of the COC appoints people for a specific committee, the NOFO committee that does that evaluation and ranking process. So essentially, there's two stages to the process. There's a local process to rank and review applications, and then of course there's a federal uh process where we submit it and then uh the feds review it. Next slide. So the local COC competition process, this is required. We have to we have to distribute the funds annually. So in that sense, funds can't be banked. They need to be accrued and spent within the year. So each COC has to run a local process, as I said, to decide how to allocate its funding between either renewal projects or new grants to fund new services. HUD establishes each year the overarching rules for each continuum of care and what they must follow in designing that local application process.
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