HUD Awards $155 Million to Aid Homelessness

By: Evelyn Silva Rosales

On March 15, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development renewed its annual funding and provided additional money to the Los Angeles Continuum of Care (LA CoC). The monetary award was announced by Secretary Maria L. Fudge in Houston Texas, who hoped it would “provide funding to individuals and families experiencing homelessness move into permanent housing with access to supportive services, with the overarching goal of long-term stability.”

HUD’s announcement also commented on their goals to allow access to stable housing especially now with the ongoing fight against the COVID-19 virus. The award will be allocated to existing projects and new funding for the LA CoC. The CoC program was created to “promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness." Some of their projects include new rapid rehousing, and projects that provide transitional housing to households and then shift them to rapid rehousing. The Executive Director of the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority expressed her gratitude and their aim to “increase the speed and volume of exits from interim to permanent housing” in their system. 

In addition to this monetary award, the HUD also issued the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) which reflects the efforts of the Biden-Harris Administration to address homelessness. They are currently seeking projects to reduce the criminalization of homelessness, improve system performance, and efforts are being made to partner with housing and health agencies. The combination of their goals are aimed to diminish unsheltered homelessness and provide resources to put to action the decisions that have been made. 

Source:
https://www.lahsa.org/news?article=875-hud-awards-155-million-to-address-homelessness-in-los-angeles​

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