HUD SECRETARY DONOVAN ANNOUNCES $6.1 MILLION IN HOMELESS AID TO FLORIDA
Funding supports unprecedented federal strategy to prevent and end homelessness

MIAMI - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced $6,122,241 in new grants to assist local homeless assistance programs in Florida. The funding will provide support to 24 local projects that will offer critically needed housing and support services to homeless individuals and families over the extended lifetime of these grants.

Last December, HUD awarded $67.7 million through its Continuum of Care programs to quickly renew funding to 302 existing local programs. The grants announced today build on that investment by funding new projects, awarded by competition and funded through the 2009 Continuum of Care funds. In addition, the funding supports the Obama Administration's far-reaching and ambitious plan to end homelessness. Last month, Donovan and 18 other federal agencies unveiled Opening Doors, an unprecedented federal strategy to end veteran and chronic homelessness by 2015, and to end homelessness among children, families, and youth by 2020.

"This funding is an important part of the Obama Administration's new strategy to end homelessness in all its forms," said Donovan. "We know that these programs are critical in moving people beyond a life on the streets and placing them on a path toward dignity and self sufficiency."

"The vision, energy and innovations of our partners working hand in hand with us are crucial in our efforts to end homelessness," said HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Edward Jennings, Jr. "Today's funding provides the much needed resources that works to insure that we continue to support effective and innovative programs in our mutual battle to defeat homelessness and help those most vulnerable."

HUD's Continuum of Care grants are awarded competitively to local programs to meet the needs of their homeless clients. Continuum of Care grants provide permanent and transitional housing to homeless persons. In addition, Continuum of Care grants fund a wide range of programs including important services such as job training, health
care, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and child care. These grants also fund street outreach and assessment programs to transitional and permanent housing for homeless persons and families.

HUD's homelessness grants are reducing long-term or chronic homelessness in America. Based on the Department's latest Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), chronic homelessness has declined by 30 percent since 2006.
This decline is directly attributed to HUD's homeless grants helping to create significantly more permanent housing
for those who might otherwise be living on the streets. It was also reported in the AHAR that the number of
homeless families increased for the second consecutive year, almost certainly due to the ongoing effects of the recession.

In addition to the funding provided through HUD's Continuum of Care Programs, the Department allocated $1.5 billion through its new Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing (HPRP) Program. Made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, HPRP is intended to prevent persons from falling into homelessness or to rapidly re-house them if they do.

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HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to sustaining homeownership; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development ad enforces the nation's
fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.