HUD Announces $2.6B in Grants for Homeless Services
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Monday that it was awarding more than $2.6 billion in grants for 7,000 local homeless housing and service programs across the country — including Dallas.
In Texas, 224 housing and service programs will receive $125,961,996. The awards, announced by Secretary Marcia L. Fudge in Houston, Texas, will provide funding to communities to help individuals and families experiencing homelessness move into permanent housing with access to supportive services, with the overarching goal of long-term stability.
Dallas programs include those from the Stewpot, Promise House, Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation, and Veteran’s Housing Partnership. All told, 25 programs in Dallas County were awarded money.
“Access to stable housing is a basic necessity – the safety of a home is essential, especially as we continue to fight the COVID-19 virus,” said Fudge. “These Continuum of Care program grants, coupled with the historic resources in the American Rescue Plan, will deliver communities the resources needed to ensure that every person in a respective community has the equitable opportunity to a safe and stable home.”
The CoC program is designed to promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness. The program is the largest source of federal grant funding for homeless services and housing programs servicing people experiencing homelessness. The 2021 awards include approximately $102 million for new domestic violence support projects. The awards also fund new projects that focus on adding permanent housing to communities including new permanent supportive housing, new rapid rehousing, and projects that provide transitional housing to households and then shift them to rapid rehousing.
On August 18, 2021, HUD issued the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the FY 2021 CoC competition awards. Additionally, for the first time, the NOFO invited Indian Tribes and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHE) to apply for grants through the CoC program. Specifically, HUD sought projects that:
- End homelessness for all persons experiencing homelessness;
- Use a Housing First approach;
- Reduce unsheltered homelessness and reduce the criminalization of homelessness;
- Improve system performance;
- Partner with housing and health agencies, including to leverage and coordinate American Rescue Plan resources;
- Advance racial equity and addressing racial disparities in homelessness; and
- Engage people with lived experience of homelessness in decision-making.
