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Continuum of Care presents strategic action plan as funding and county coordination increase
Summary
The Continuum of Care and lead agency Task Force for Ending Homelessness described a newly revised strategic action plan, reporting improved data quality, expanded membership across outlying counties, and increased funding in 2024–25; commissioners asked about outreach, reentry and coordination with landlords and service providers.
The Continuum of Care’s lead agency, the Task Force for Ending Homelessness, presented a strategic action plan update and progress report to the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners on April 22, describing expanded funding, improved data quality and new outreach and landlord-engagement strategies.
The presentation, led by Jacob Torner, vice president of programs at the Task Force for Ending Homelessness, summarized work since a National Alliance to End Homelessness review and outlined nine strategic objectives that range from implementing housing-first best practices to expanding shared housing, diversion, prevention and coordination with hospitals, jails and schools.
Why it matters: County and regional partners said they have increased the continuum’s capacity to move people out of encampments and into housing, and commissioners emphasized coordination with county-funded reentry programs and the upcoming infrastructure surtax for workforce housing. Torner told the commission the COC has broadened membership to include representatives from all neighboring counties and that HUD and state notices indicate increased federal and state funding for the coming fiscal year.
The Task Force reported a near-tripling of the COC operating budget since last year (from just over $1 million to nearly $3 million) and said data quality for HMIS (the federally required Homeless Management Information System) has moved most subcontractors into the “A” range (90%+), which officials said improves performance-based funding prospects. Torner said several National Alliance recommendations are implemented (community education, training, governance changes) and that the remaining items — scaling housing programs alongside crisis intervention and a centralized landlord engagement campaign — are in progress.
Commissioner Mary Prizia and others pressed for more reentry-specific housing options and asked how the COC is coordinating with the county’s new reentry contractor; Torner said the reentry provider has joined the COC and will participate in jail discharge coordination. Commissioners also asked about the capacity and programmatic orientation of emergency shelters and about using county surtax funds and nonprofit partners to create more permanent supportive and transitional units near service hubs.
The COC described several operational steps already under way: a landlord recruitment campaign (starting with veterans), expansion of diversion and prevention resources, written standards for service delivery across providers, outreach strategy revisions that include community safety planning for outreach teams, and exploration of shared-housing/roommate-matching tools to increase effective housing capacity.
What commissioners said: Commissioners urged continuing work with school social workers, hospitals and the sheriff’s reentry staff to reduce discharges into homelessness and to prioritize veterans for a functional zero goal by 2026. Several commissioners and members of the public also suggested matching infrastructure surtax dollars to COC priorities and landlord outreach to expand units quickly.
The presentation did not require a vote. Torner and county staff said they would return with further coordination plans, and commissioners encouraged continued outreach to funders, landlords and developers to leverage the expanding pool of state and federal grant dollars.
