HUD earmarks $2bn for homeless programs

Applicants encouraged to utilize “Housing First” approach

HUD earmarks $2bn for homeless programs
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has made $2 billion available to support thousands of local homeless assistance programs nationwide, the government agency announced on Friday.

The move encourages applicants to make use of “Housing First” approach, which connects homeless individuals to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation requirements.

“Many people experience improvements in quality of life, in the areas of health, mental health,
substance use, and employment, as a result of achieving housing,” HUD said.

The grants are funded through HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Program, which helps finance efforts to re-house homeless individuals and families, and to optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

“We know these grants can make a huge difference in ending homelessness,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson.  “HUD continues to forge deep relationships with our local partners to invest in proven programs that are working to reduce the scale of homelessness in their communities.”

Prospective grantees are required to submit applications electronically at www.grants.gov by September 28 this year. The agency is also encouraging o use their data to strategically target their available resources to end homelessness.

“[T]o help communities reach these goals, there is greater flexibility provided to create a variety of new projects that will allow recipients to serve different populations of individuals and families experiencing homelessness as well as to support increased data collection and analysis,” HUD said.


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