Recently, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the second set of communities to receive grants and housing vouchers to address homelessness among people in unsheltered settings and in rural communities.
This announcement includes $171.2 million in grants for 115 new projects in 29 Continuum of Care (CoC) communities, and adds to the first set of grant awards announced in February.
This will bring the total value of grants to $486 million to 62 CoC communities. In addition, HUD is inviting 139 Public Housing Authorities who partnered with grantee communities to accept approximately 3,300 Stability Vouchers.
“Housing with supportive services is what solves homelessness, but people in unsheltered settings and in rural areas have not had access to those solutions,” said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “The combination of these grants and vouchers will help and give the communities tools they need to help people who are living on the streets, in encampments, under bridges, or in rural areas obtain permanent housing.”
In response to the competitive special Notice of Funding Opportunity, Continuum of Care (CoC) collaborative applicants were asked to formally partner with public housing authorities to leverage access to housing resources. Public housing authorities that are partnering with awarded CoC grantees will receive priority for approximately 3,300 Stability Vouchers (a special allocation of Housing Choice Vouchers) that allow people experiencing homelessness to obtain and afford housing.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provided historic levels of homeless assistance – including nearly 70,000 Emergency Housing Vouchers – which assist individuals and families who are homeless, at-risk of homelessness, fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking, or were recently homeless or have a high risk of housing instability –and $5 billion in HOME Investment Partnership homelessness grants – which are designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income households.
HUD and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) launched House America, a national initiative in which HUD and USICH partnered with 105 communities led by mayors, county leaders, governors, and tribal nation leaders to place over 100,000 households from homelessness into permanent housing and add over 40,000 units of affordable housing into the development pipeline. In late December, USICH released All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, which set forth President Biden’s ambitious goal to reduce all homelessness by 25 percent by 2025.
The resources announced recently build upon the momentum and renewed political will at all levels of government to solve homelessness through the provision of housing with supportive services. They respond directly to the calls from state and local leaders, advocates, and people with lived experience for more federal assistance to address unsheltered and rural homelessness specifically. Additionally, they provide communities with the resources and tools to respond to homeless encampments humanely and effectively while avoiding approaches that criminalize homelessness.
