The Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition is the lead agency for PA-510 and is responsible for the oversight of all Lancaster County Continuum of Care (CoC) policies, procedures, and CoC project funding decisions. LCHC is the collaborative applicant for the CoC Program Competition, the Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS) lead, and the Coordinated Entry lead agency for PA-510.
The Continuum of Care works to coordinate community-based processes relating to the experience of homelessness and works to build a system of housing and services to address the needs of those at-risk of/currently experiencing homelessness. The CoC works to establish local priorities for system planning and evaluations of system-wide performance with the goal of making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.
The office for the Coalition has the primary focus of bringing together the network of partners to deliver a consistent level of quality services to clients in Lancaster County.
A continuum of care is a regional or local planning body that coordinates housing and services funding for homeless families and individuals. Composed of representatives of organizations including nonprofit homeless providers, victim service providers, faith-based organizations, governments, businesses, advocates, public housing agencies, school districts, social service providers, hospitals, affordable housing developers, law enforcement, organizations that serve homeless and formerly homeless veterans, and homeless formerly homeless persons to the extent these groups are represented within the geographic area and are available to participate.
Local social service providers originally formed the Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition circa 1984 as the Interagency Council on Homelessness, a grassroots effort. In 2009 the Council was incorporated into the County’s Behavioral Health and Developmental Services division and functioned as a department within the county government system to align with a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) mandate to formalize a community homeless system planning process. At this point the named was changed to and the coalition was referred as the Lancaster County Coalition to End Homelessness. In 2015, both the coalition and its support staff team, the Office for the Coalition (O4C), moved from the county government system to Lancaster General Health and became a division of the hospital system that enabled it to also become part of a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The name once again changed after strategic planning concluded in 2018 and is now known as the Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition. In early 2022, the Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition transitioned to the Lancaster County Housing and Redevelopment Authorities (LCHRA), which assumed the Office for the Coalition and it was integrated into LCHRA’s Human Services Department. With the move, the Lancaster County Homeless Coalition is supported by LCHRA’s non-profit, the Lancaster Redevelopment Fund, Inc. and is closely aligned with the planning and management of housing vouchers and HUD Entitlement Funding.
The Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition is a network of health and human service providers, business leaders, private sector individuals and multiple faith-based organizations working to eradicate homelessness in Lancaster City and County through service coordination, advocacy, public education, and community organizing. The Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition is transforming the homeless system into a housing-first approach of prevention, diversion, and various housing assistance programs to provide permanent homes for all residents.
or about to become homeless call 211 or text your zip code to 898-211, to find options near you!
If you can’t call 211, dial 1-855-567-5341 to be connected to the service to find options near you!
Visit PA 211 to be connected with resources