Obama Administration awards nearly $1.6 billion in homeless grants to thousands of local housing and service programs nationwideMortgagePress.comBarack Obama, homeless, HUD, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Continuum of Care
Hundreds of thousands of homeless individuals and families will
find a stable home and be offered critically needed services as a
result of nearly $1.6 billion in homeless assistance announced
today by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary
Shaun Donovan. This week, President Obama also signed the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law, which will provide
an additional $1.5 billion in funding for homeless prevention.
The grants announced today are being awarded through HUD's
Continuum of Care programs and will assist approximately 6,300
local homeless assistance projects throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For a local summary of the grant
funding announced today, visit HUD's Web site.
"With the foreclosure and unemployment crisis looming, millions
of families--both homeowners and renters--are in danger of losing
their homes so we must focus substantial resources to help those
families find stable housing," said Donovan. "The grants being
awarded today, along with the recovery plan's additional $1.5
billion, will offer a critical lifeline to those persons and
families who, after a foreclosure or job loss, might otherwise be
faced with homelessness. Today we are announcing an unprecedented
commitment to fund programs that have a proven track record of
providing real housing solutions for our most vulnerable
neighbors."
HUD is awarding $24 million to create new pilot programs in 23
local communities to rapidly rehouse homeless families with
children, which will be critical during these difficult economic
times. These local pilot programs (see attached chart) will become
the basis of a significantly expanded $1.5 billion federal effort,
through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to
offer quick housing assistance to homeless families and to prevent
homelessness among those facing a sudden economic crisis.
The additional funding provided in the recovery plan is a
dramatic increase in funding to support local programs to keep
persons and families from becoming homeless, including the large
number of low-income renters who are at high-risk of becoming
homeless because their landlords' properties are foreclosed upon.
This funding will have an immediate impact by offering these
families short-term rental assistance, housing relocation, or
security and utility deposits.
HUD's homelessness grants have made a measureable difference in
reducing long-term or chronic homelessness in America. Based on the
Department's latest homeless assessment, chronic homelessness has
declined an average of 15 percent annually from 2005 to 2007. This
decline is directly attributed to HUD's homeless grants helping to
create significantly more permanent housing for those who might
otherwise be living on the streets.
HUD's funding is provided in two ways:
Continuum of Care Grants provide permanent and transitional
housing to homeless persons. In addition, Continuum grants fund
important services including job training, health care, mental
health counseling, substance abuse treatment and child care. More
than $1.5 billion in Continuum of Care grants are awarded
competitively to local programs to meet the needs of their homeless
clients. Continuum grants fund a wide variety of programs from
street outreach and assessment programs to transitional and
permanent housing for homeless persons and families. Half of all
Continuum funding awarded today, more than $783 million, will
support new and existing programs that help to pay rent and provide
permanent housing for disabled homeless individuals and their
families (see attached summary of the funding awarded today).
Emergency Shelter Grants provide funds for the operation of
local shelters and fund related social service and homeless
prevention programs. HUD is awarding $160 million in Emergency
Shelter Grants that are allocated based on a formula to state and
local governments to create, improve and operate emergency shelters
for homeless persons. These funds may also support essential
services including job training, health care, drug/alcohol
treatment, childcare and homelessness prevention activities. By
helping to support emergency shelter, transitional housing and
needed support services, Emergency Shelter Grants are designed to
move homeless persons away from a life on the street toward
permanent housing.
This year, HUD is transitioning away from a paper-based
application process to a new electronic grant submission process
called e-snaps. This new electronic system allows applicants to
store their submissions as they work on them and significantly
reduces the time it takes HUD staff to review these applications.
It also saves considerable effort by avoiding burdensome and
time-consuming data entry. In the end, e-snaps will streamline and
accelerate the process of awarding HUD grant to local homeless
programs across the country.
For more information, visit www.hud.gov.
