The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $2 billion in grants to help homeless people in the country.
HUD’s Continuum of Care grants go to organizations that support more than 7,300 homeless assistance programs across the nation.
“HUD stands with our local partners who are working each and every day to house and serve our most vulnerable neighbors,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said. “We know how to end homelessness and it starts with embracing a housing-first approach that relies upon proven strategies that offer permanent housing solutions to those who may otherwise be living in our shelters and on our streets.”
The Continuum of Care is designed to help those living in homeless shelters or other places not meant for habitation. HUD serves more than a million people through emergency shelter, transitional, and permanent housing programs.
“Continuums of Care are critical leaders in the work to end homelessness nationwide. When communities marshal these–and other local, state, private, and philanthropic resources–behind the strongest housing-first practices, we see important progress in our collective goal to end homelessness in America,” Matthew Doherty, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, said.
In 2017, 553,742 persons experienced homelessness on a single night, an increase of 0.7 percent since last year, according to HUD’s 2017 Annual Homeless Assessment Report.
Further, while homelessness among families with children declined 5.4 percent nationwide since 2016, the number of persons experiencing long-term chronic homelessness increased. There was also a significant increase in the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, particularly in California and other high-cost rental markets.