HUD gives money for homeless efforts in the area

Escarosa Coalition on the Homeless, Inc. is getting $31,342 for HMIS Expansion2 and the South Santa Rosa Interfaith Ministries, Inc. $146,632 for Santa Rosa Permanent Housing from U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD). There are part of $6.78 million in grants awarded today by Secretary Shaun Donovan to support 32 new local homeless programs in Florida.

HUD recently awarded $71.9 million to renew funding to 331 existing local homeless programs operating in Florida. That funding ensured housing and service programs remained operating in 2012. The grants announced today support new local programs never before funded by HUD (see attached chart).

“Today’s grantees will join the tens of thousands of local programs that are on the front lines of helping those who might otherwise be living on our streets,” said Donovan. “It’s incredible that as we work to recover from the greatest economic decline since the Great Depression, the total number of homeless Americans is declining, in large part because of these funds.”

HUD is awarding $201 million nationwide to support 731 programs, including 103 projects located in rural communities. Funding to these never-before-funded programs in less populated areas continues HUD’s efforts to confront rural homelessness. HUD is delivering record funding to meet the unique challenges homeless individuals and families living in rural areas face.

HUD’s Continuum of Care grants provide permanent and transitional housing to homeless persons as well as services including job training, health care, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and child care. Continuum of Care grants are awarded competitively to local programs to meet the needs of their homeless clients. These grants fund a wide variety of programs from street outreach and assessment programs to transitional and permanent housing for homeless persons and families. Continuum of Care programs include:

· Supportive Housing Program (SHP) offers housing and supportive services to allow homeless persons to live as independently as possible.
· Shelter Plus Care (S+C) provides housing and supportive services on a long-term basis for homeless persons with disabilities, (primarily those with serious mental illness, chronic problems with alcohol and/or drugs, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or related diseases) and their families who were living in places not intended for human habitation (e.g., streets) or in emergency shelters.
· Single-Room Occupancy Program (SRO) provides rental assistance for homeless persons in one-person housing units that contain small kitchens, bathrooms, or both.

In 2010, President Obama and 19 federal agencies and offices that form the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) launched the nation’s first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness. Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness puts the country on a path to end veterans and chronic homelessness by 2015 and to ending homelessness among children, family, and youth by 2020.

In addition to HUD’s annual grant awards, HUD continues to manage the $1.5 billion Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing (HPRP) Program. Made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, this three-year grant program is intended to prevent persons from falling into homelessness or to rapidly re-house them if they do. To date, more than 1.2 million persons have been assisted through HPRP.