{"id":999,"date":"2011-01-20T07:12:09","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T14:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swproperties.com\/new-mexico-news\/?p=999"},"modified":"2011-01-20T07:12:09","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T14:12:09","slug":"hud-awards-1-4-billion-to-nearly-7000-local-homeless-programs-part-of-administration-plan-to-prevent-end-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swproperties.com\/new-mexico-news\/uncategorized\/hud-awards-1-4-billion-to-nearly-7000-local-homeless-programs-part-of-administration-plan-to-prevent-end-homelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"HUD AWARDS $1.4 BILLION TO NEARLY 7,000 LOCAL HOMELESS PROGRAMS \u2013 PART OF ADMINISTRATION PLAN TO PREVENT & END HOMELESSNESS"},"content":{"rendered":"

HUD AWARDS $1.4 BILLION TO NEARLY 7,000 LOCAL HOMELESS PROGRAMS \u2013<\/strong>
\nPART OF ADMINISTRATION PLAN TO PREVENT & END HOMELESSNESS<\/strong>
\nFunding comes one week before national one-night count of homeless persons and families<\/em><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan today awarded $1.41 billion in funding to keep nearly 7,000 local homeless assistance programs operating in the coming year (see attached chart).\u00a0 The grants announced today form a critical foundation for the Obama Administration\u2019s Opening Doors <\/em>strategy, the nation\u2019s first comprehensive plan to prevent and end homelessness.\u00a0 For a local summary of the grants announced today, visit HUD\u2019s website<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s announcement also comes just a week before thousands of volunteers in nearly every city and county conduct a national one-night count of homeless persons and families. HUD\u2019s Let\u2019s Make Everybody Count!<\/em><\/a><\/strong> campaign is intended to document trends in homelessness that are crucial to local planners\u2019 efforts to prevent and end homelessness in their areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a tremendous need on our streets and in our shelters among those experiencing both long-term homelessness as well as families confronting a sudden economic crisis,\u201d said Donovan. \u201cThese grants are the life blood for thousands of local housing and service programs that are doing the heavy lifting to meet President Obama\u2019s goal of ending homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barbara Poppe, Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director, added, \u201cAcross federal agencies, we are aligning mainstream programs towards a goal to prevent and end homelessness. While we continue to strengthen public-private partnerships in Washington and across the country to meet this goal, today’s grants provide essential support to continue the progress and meet critical needs of those who experience the crisis of homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June, 19 federal agencies and offices that form the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) submitted to the President and Congress the nation\u2019s first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness. The full report is titled Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness<\/em><\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0The plan 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.<\/p>\n

Last September, HUD announced that it would renew funding through HUD\u2019s Continuum of Care programs to existing local programs as quickly as possible to prevent any interruption in federal assistance.\u00a0 HUD will award funds to new projects later in the year.<\/p>\n

HUD\u2019s Continuum of Care<\/em> 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<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

HUD\u2019s homeless assistance grants are reducing long-term or chronic homelessness in America. Based on the Department\u2019s latest homeless assessment, chronic homelessness has declined since 2005 due to significant investments to produce thousands of units of permanent supportive housing for those who had been living on the streets. \u00a0While the total number of homeless persons in America dropped slightly between 2008 and 2009, the number of homeless families increased for the second consecutive year, almost certainly due to the ongoing effects of the recession.\u00a0 In the last 10 days of January, volunteers from across the country will attempt to count the number of homeless persons living in shelters and on the streets as part of a national point-in-time count.\u00a0 For more information about HUD\u2019s \u201cLet\u2019s Make Everybody Count!\u201d campaign, visit www.hud.gov\/homelesscount<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Based on HUD\u2019s 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR)<\/a><\/strong>, volunteers throughout the nation counted 643,000 homeless people during a given night in January 2009.\u00a0 In addition, HUD found that during 2009, 1.54 million people used emergency or transitional housing programs in 2009.\u00a0 A typical sheltered homeless person is a single, middle-aged man and a member of a minority group. Of all those who sought emergency shelter or transitional housing during 2009, the following characteristics were observed:<\/p>\n