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While President Obama has been silent on housing policy in the waning months of his administration, the fight to end homelessness in the United States—a quest he has made a priority since taking office in 2009—continues with more than a billion and a half dollars in grants awarded by HUD, according to an announcement by HUD on Tuesday.
HUD has announced the awarding of $1.6 billion in grants to distribute to local programs to end homelessness across the United States and its territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.
“A safe, stable home is the foundation for opportunity in all of our lives,” HUD Secretary Julián Castro said. “That’s why we’re continuing to challenge communities to deploy proven strategies to help people experiencing homelessness find a place to call home. Through unprecedented partnership among every level of government and private, non-profit and philanthropic organizations, we know this goal is not just aspirational—it’s achievable.”
About 6,400 local homeless housing and service programs across the United States and its territories will receive the funding. The round of funding announced on Tuesday, which is being awarded in the form of Tier 1 Continuum of Care (CoC) grants, supports the Obama Adminstration's efforts to end homelessness in the United States. HUD announced it will award $300 million in Tier 2 grants this spring to support hundreds more programs.
“More than 20 communities and two entire states have leveraged the leadership of their continuums of care to build systems that have ended homelessness among our nation’s veterans,” said Matthew Doherty, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. “Working together with state and local leaders, CoCs continue to prove that a combination of the right strategies, enough resources, and urgent action can end homelessness in America for everyone.”
“Through unprecedented partnership among every level of government and private, non-profit and philanthropic organizations, we know this goal is not just aspirational—it’s achievable.”
HUD Secretary Julián Castro
The grants are being awarded in the most competitive environment that HUD has experienced yet in the Continuum of Care program, according to HUD. In order to compete for this year's CoC grants, communities had to make challenging decisions, such as transferring funds from existing projects to new projects that will more substantially impact the homeless populations.
In 2010, the Obama Administration and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, comprised of 19 federal agencies, launched the nation's first comprehensive strategy to eliminate homelessness, known as the Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness program.
By 2015, HUD estimated that homelessness had been reduced by about 72,000 people in the previous five years since the program was launched—a decline of about 11 percent, down to an estimated 564,700 persons experiencing homelessness on any given night during 2015. HUD also states that veteran homelessness has dropped by 36 percent during that same period, and chronic homelessness has been reduced by about 22 percent in five years.
HUD estimates that family homelessness has been reduced by about 19 percent in the five-year period, down to approximately 36,000 unaccompanied homeless youth and children. Last month, President Obama requested $11 billion for the Fiscal Year 2017 budget for HUD to put toward ending family homelessness.
To view a complete list of all state and local homeless projects that will be receiving funding, click here.
