Mayor Lee Announces $18.9 Million in U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Grants to Help the Homeless in San Francisco
San Francisco, CA – December 21, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) –Mayor Edwin M. Lee today announced that the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded San Francisco $18.9 million in HUD’s Continuum of Care grants to fund a wide variety of programs from street outreach programs and support services programs to transitional and permanent housing for individuals, youth, and families experiencing homelessness. The HUD Continuum of Care grants are awarded competitively to local programs to meet the needs of their homeless clients. This year, 51 San Francisco-based organizations and programs received grant awards.
In January 2011, San Francisco’s Point in Time Homeless Count revealed a 47 percent reduction in chronic homelessness over the past two year period.
“These HUD grants help us serve the most vulnerable of our City and will allow us to continue to make a progress in ending homelessness in San Francisco,” said Mayor Lee. “These funds also support crucial outreach, employment, and housing services to homeless San Francisco families.”
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan awarded $1.47 billion to renew funding to more than 7,100 local homeless programs operating across the United States. The funding ensures housing and homeless service programs remain operating in 2012 and are a critical part of the Obama Administration’s strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness.
“The grants we’re awarding today will literally keep the doors of our shelters open and will help those on the front lines of ending homelessness do what they do best,” said Secretary Donovan. “It’s incredible that as we work to recover from the greatest economic decline since the Great Depression, the total number of homeless Americans is declining, in large part because of these funds.”
HUD notes that last year, 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. The USICH Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness puts the country on a path to end homeless among veterans and chronic homelessness by 2015 and to ending homelessness among children, family, and youth by 2020. These funds are crucial to implementing the goals and strategies set forth in that plan.
For a full list of all the award amounts please visit: http://www.hudhre.info/index.cfm?do=viewWhatIsNew&whatsnewid=164
