What is a Continuum of Care (CoC)?
HUD developed the concept of the Continuum of Care in 1995 through its annual competition for homelessness assistance grants. The CoC was envisioned as a local network that plans and coordinates funding for services and housing to assist homeless individuals and families.
ARCH is the CoC for eight parishes of Louisiana: Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, and Vermilion.
What is a Point In Time Census?
CoCs are tasked by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to track data on the homeless community in their area. These annual Point in Time counts provide an overview of the state of homelessness in a CoC, and offer the information necessary to redirect services, funding, and resources as necessary.
ARCH completes its Annual Point in Time count of people experiencing homelessness during the last week of January. The information that is collected locally is compiled with other national PIT counts and is reported to Congress.
What is Coordinated Entry?
A coordinated entry system is defined as a centralized or coordinated process designed to coordinate program participant intake, assessment, and provision of referrals.
ARCH adopted Coordinated Entry policies and procedures to govern the operation of this process in the Acadiana region. The ARCH coordinated entry system covers all eight parishes of the Homeless CoC, is easily accessed by individuals and families seeking housing or services, is well advertised, and includes comprehensive and standardized assessment tools.
Why Coordinated Entry?
ARCH’s primary goals for the coordinated entry process is that assistance be allocated as effectively as possible and that it be easily accessible no matter where or how people present. Currently, Acadiana lacks the resources needed to meet all of the needs of people experiencing homelessness. This, combined with the lack of well-developed coordinated entry processes, can result in severe hardships for people experiencing homelessness. They often face long waiting times to receive assistance or are screened out of needed assistance. The ARCH coordinated entry process helps Acadiana prioritize assistance based on vulnerability and severity of service needs to ensure that people who need assistance the most can receive it in a timely manner. In addition, the coordinated entry process provides information about service needs and gaps to help ARCH plan future assistance and identify needed resources.
What is Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)?
Since December 2000, ARCH has utilized a homeless management information system (HMIS) to connect all of the homeless providers in the region so client information and referrals can be exchanged electronically.
ARCH belongs to the statewide Louisiana State Network Data Consortium, LSNDC. As part of this statewide network, ARCH follows the polices and directions set by the LSNDC. For more information about this statewide network, visit their website at http://www.lsndc.org.
ARCH's current HMIS Administrator is Catholic Charities of Acadiana. The HMIS team is tasked with administering and monitoring the ServicePoint implementation, training users and maintaining both data quality and adherence to Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) data standards.
PUBLIC NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICE (Agency: ARCH)
Louisiana Services Network Data Consortium’s Homeless Management Information System
We collect personal information directly from you for reasons that are discussed in our privacy statement. We may be required to collect some personal information by law or by organizations that give us money to operate this program. Your personal information that we collect is important to run our programs, to improve services for individuals that are homeless, and to better understand the needs of individuals that are homeless. We only collect information that we consider to be appropriate. The collection and use of all personal information is guided by strict standards of confidentiality. A copy of our Privacy Notice describing our privacy practice is available to all clients upon request.
Public Notice (Federal Register/Vol. 69, No. 146)/Effective August 30, 2004, LSNDC HMIS Public Notice of Privacy Policy (Revised 2/2010)
COC NOFO UPDATE (12/9/25):
The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has officially withdrawn the FY 2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) offering grants under the HUD Continuum of Care Grant Program to provide homeless services. That means the funds offered under that 2025 NOFO are no longer available for application.
As there is no national competition, ARCH, on behalf of LA-500, cannot continue a local competition to collect local applications for that NOFO. However, we have strongly encouraged the applicants to continue working on the available narrative applications, and to please save all of their work, files, notes, etc., that they have developed while preparing applications in response to the 2025 NOFO. As the HUD announcement indicates, it is possible that a revised 2025 NOFO will be issued at some future date, and we do not know when or how much time we will be given before the collaborative application is due. The work they have invested in the process so far could be resumed to save time in future applications.
Please check back here for updates or reach out to Nicole Phillips (nicole@archacadiana.org) with any questions or concerns.
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Continuum of Care Program (CoC) Notice of Funding Opportunity
On November 13, 2025, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Program. The Acadiana Regional Coalition on Homelessness and Housing (ARCH), serving as the Collaborative Applicant for the LA-500, is now requesting project applications for the CoC Homeless Assistance Program.
ARCH invites new and renewal proposals, including proposals from entities that have not previously received funding.
Applicants interested in applying must submit a Letter of Intent no later than December 3, by 5:00 pm (CST) to Nicole Phillips at nicole@archacadiana.org.
If you are interested in applying, please reach out to Nicole Phillips at nicole@archacadiana.org, with any further questions. Project applications are due December 15 by 5:00 pm (CST).
Resources
2025 Timeline and Critical Dates
2025 CoC Notice of Funding Opportunity
2025 Project Applicant Assurances & Threshold Requirements
LA-500 2025 CoC New Project Supplemental Application (short link: bit.ly/2025newprojectnarratives)
LA-500 2025 CoC Renewal Project Supplemental Application (short link: bit.ly/2025renewalnarratives)