The CoC garners community-wide commitment to ending and preventing homelessness by engaging stakeholders in all parts of the Region. In addition to the entities identified in the HEARTH Act as required to participate in the CoC, the Full Membership includes a variety of community partners to the extent they are invested in ending homelessness and reside in the region.
Examples of additional stakeholders include private foundations, philanthropists, fraternal organizations, employment development, organized labor, and private health service organizations. It is the responsibility of the CoC Full Membership (FM) to:
Promote, support, and implement strategic initiatives and activities that align with the Regional Community Action Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness in San Diego;
Establish a Board to act on behalf of the CoC. The Board must be representative of the
relevant organizations and projects serving homeless sub-populations, and include at least two individuals currently experiencing homelessness or who have experienced homelessness;
Adopt and follow a written process for the selection of Board Members and review this process at least once every five years;
Elect Homeless Service Provider seats and ratify a full slate of Board members annually;
Participate in Standing and Ad-Hoc Board Committees;
Follow and annually ratify a Governance Charter;
Attend meetings of the FM, with published agendas, at least twice per year, and an annual meeting;
Facilitate the sharing of provider expertise and intervention strategies through Learning Collaboratives, as needed; and
Inform and support the development of regional plans and strategies.
Apply for CoC Membership
Membership is open to organizations and individuals who support the CoC mission. See the applications below for more details on membership fees and types of membership. Please note that membership is not official until payment for membership fees have been received. Annual fee waivers are available to homeless or formerly homeless Individual Members or other conditions as approved by the Governance Board.
In October 2023, RTFH launched its new CoC Membership portal to assist with the management of memberships. If you are a current CoC Member, your membership can be managed via our CoC Membership portal. Members who applied for membership with voting rights can pay their annual dues via the membership portal. Please ensure you have completed the user account setup process required to access the portal.
If you have questions regarding your membership status, membership support, or need to update your current CoC representatives, please email us at cocsandiego@rtfhsd.org.
Membership Types & Fees
A CoC member can be an individual, agency and/or department within a political subdivision who is concerned with and/or providing services to the various homeless subpopulations furthering the direction of the CoC. An agency and/or department with more than one individual representing that organization will be recognized as one member.
Individual Members – CoC full individual membership is designed for those interested in and committed to ending homelessness, including consumers, students, educators, San Diego residents, and others. Individuals who care about the quality of services provided to persons experiencing homelessness, who want to ensure they are meeting their needs to the greatest extent possible are individual CoC members.
Organization Members – CoC Organizational Membership is open to public, private, non-profit and for-profit organizations, corporations and agencies interested in supporting the CoC’s commitment to ending homelessness. Each Organizational Member may annually designate up to three (3) individuals to serve as its representative to the corporation, however there is only one vote per agency on voting matters.