HUD AWARDS OVER $13.9 MILLION TO KANSAS CITY HOMELESS PROVIDERS
Funding to support over 30 local homeless housing and service programs across the Kansas City region

Kansas City, KS - Today, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Regional Administrator Jason Mohr joined Mayor Quinton Lucas and Mayor David Alvey to announce $13,905,816 million in grants to support homeless projects included in the Kansas City (MO&KS), Independence, Lee's Summit/Jackson, Wyandotte Counties Continuum of Care (CoC). HUD's Continuum of Care grants provide critically needed support to local programs on the front lines, serving individuals and families experiencing homelessness. This is the first of two announcements of Continuum of Care awards. View a complete list of MO-604 Kansas City CoC local homeless projects (https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2019-missouri-coc-grants.pdf).

"HUD supports our local partners who are working each and every day to house and serve our most vulnerable neighbors," said Regional Administrator Jason Mohr. "The funding announced today is critical to providing more resources to individuals and families to avoid homelessness."

"I am not willing to give up on any member of our community," said Kansas City, MO Mayor Quinton Lucas. "Our homeless brothers and sisters, perhaps the most vulnerable among us, need and deserve a government that works for them, and I am encouraged that Kansas City continues to be a leader in creative housing policy - but our work is far from done. I appreciate the Department of Housing and Urban Development's commitment to assisting our local agencies in this important work and I'll continue to engage all levels of government to ensure that all Kansas Citians have a fair shot at a safe, clean and affordable home."

"We are grateful for the care our KCK agencies provide to our homeless citizens," said Kansas City, KS Mayor David Alvey. "This grant will enable them to reach out to even more persons, and we will continue to make progress in meeting the needs of our homeless children, veterans, and families."

The Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness (GKCCEH) is the lead agency of the Jackson County, MO and Wyandotte County, KS Continuum of Care. In 2017, GKCCEH was instrumental in effectively ending Veteran homelessness in the Greater Kansas City region.

HUD Continuum of Care grant funding supports a broad array of interventions designed to assist individuals and families experiencing homelessness, particularly those living in places not meant for habitation, located in sheltering programs, or at imminent risk of becoming homeless. Each year, HUD serves more than a million people through emergency shelter, transitional, and permanent housing programs.

HUD continues to challenge state and local planning organizations called "Continuums of Care" to support their highest performing local programs that have proven most effective in meeting the needs of persons experiencing homelessness in their communities.

In 2019, most of the country experienced a combined decrease in homelessness but significant increases in unsheltered and chronic homelessness on the West Coast, particularly California and Oregon, offset those nationwide decreases, causing an overall increase in homelessness of 2.7 percent. HUD's 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (www.hudexchange.info/resource/5948/2019-ahar-part-1-pit-estimates-of-homelessness-in-the-us/) found that 567,715 persons experienced homelessness on a single night in 2019, an increase of 2.7 percent since 2018 but nearly 11 percent decline since 2010. The number of families with children experiencing homelessness declined 5 percent from 2018 and more than 32 percent since 2010. Local communities also reported a continuing trend in reducing veteran homelessness across the country-the number of veterans experiencing homelessness fell 2.1 percent since January 2018 and by 50 percent since 2010.

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