CHICAGO — U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today awarded $2.8 million in a second round of grants to support 23 local homeless housing and service programs in Michigan. Provided through HUD’s Continuum of Care programs, funding announced today will ensure these HUD-assisted local homeless assistance programs remain operating in the coming year. Last March, HUD awarded additional support to hundreds of other existing local programs and will make a third round of funding to support selected new projects later this year. View a complete list of all the homeless projects awarded funding.
“We know these modest investments in housing and serving our homeless neighbors not only saves money, but saves lives,” said Donovan. “These local programs are on the front lines of the Obama Administrations efforts to prevent and end homelessness as we know it once and for all.”
HUD’s Continuum of Care grants are awarded competitively to local projects to meet the needs of their homeless clients. The grants fund a wide variety of programs from street outreach and assessment programs to transitional and permanent housing for homeless persons and families. HUD funds are a critical part of the Obama Administration’s strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness.
“These programs work and we know these grants can mean the difference between homeless persons and families finding stable housing or living on the streets,” said Antonio R. Riley, HUD’s Midwest regional administrator. “Homeless programs provide meaningful and stable platforms of hope for a better life for the homeless which enhances the entire community.”
While the Fiscal Year 2012 funds awarded today are not impacted by the automatic across-the-board budget cuts under sequestration that began March 1st, Donovan cautioned that future budget cuts may reverse significant reported declines in homelessness: “During this challenging budget climate, we must make certain that we don’t balance our books on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens. When we make even modest investments in these programs, we see a measureable decline in homelessness.”
HUD recently announced its 2012 “point in time” estimate of the number of homeless persons in America. Approximately 3,000 cities and counties reported 633,782 homeless persons on a single night in January of 2012, largely unchanged from the year before. While HUD found significant declines among the long-term homeless and veterans, local communities reported an increase in the number of sheltered and unsheltered families with children. In Michigan, local communities reported a 4.5 percent overall drop in homelessness in 2012.
HUD’s Continuum of Care grants announced today will continue offering 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.
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.
