HUD PROVIDES ALMOST $3.7 MILLION TO SUPPORT 36 NEW PROJECTS SERVING THE HOMELESS IN ALASKA, IDAHO, OREGON & WASHINGTON
Today's awards are in addition to $89 million HUD allocated earlier this year to renew support for 406 existing homeless projects in the Northwest

SEATTLE - U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced the award of $3,678,866 9 to support 36 new homeless housing and service projects of Continuums of Care in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington state.

Alaska was awarded $166,038 to support five new projects, Idaho was awarded $57,446 to support three projects, Oregon was awarded $1,146,692 to support 12 projects and Washington state was awarded $2,308,690 to support 16 projects. More details can be found on HUD's website.

Today's HUD Continuum of Care awards are in addition to the $89.1 million that HUD allocated earlier this year to renew support for 406 existing homeless projects in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington state and were part of some $52 million awarded today to some 200 new projects across the country as well as nearly 200 grants to assist with local strategic planning activities. This year, HUD challenged local communities to reexamine their response to homelessness and give greater weight to proven strategies, from providing 'rapid re-housing' for homeless families to permanent supportive housing for those experiencing chronic homelessness. The new projects were largely the result of local strategic decisions that resulted in the reallocation of funds from existing renewal projects that were deemed by a local Continuum of Care no longer critically needed in favor of creating new programs to help the community achieve the goal of ending homelessness.

"Today's grantees will join the thousands of local programs that are on the front lines ending homelessness across the nation," said Donovan. "As we continue to see a decline in homelessness, investing in programs that are moving homeless families and individuals to permanent housing is as critical as ever because it's not only the right thing to do, but it's smart government and fiscally prudent."

The $52 million in grants announced today support a wide range of new programs, including projects to create and implement systems to make the use of homeless services more efficient and more than 1,600 new permanent supportive housing beds for chronically homeless persons. The new projects were largely the result of local strategic decisions that resulted in the reallocation of funds from existing renewal projects that were no longer critically needed in favor of creating new programs to help the community achieve the goal of ending homelessness. Earlier this year, HUD awarded more than $1.5 billion in the first two rounds of grant funding to renew support for more than 7,500 local programs. View a complete list of all the state and local homeless projects awarded funding on HUD's website.

Continuums of Care grants are awarded competitively to local projects to meet the needs of their homeless clients. The grants fund a wide variety of programs from street outreach and assessment to transitional and permanent housing for homeless persons and families. HUD funds are a critical part of the Obama Administration's strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. Additionally, new grants awarded in FY2012 included-for the first time ever-$11 million in funds for planning activities that will assist Continuums of Care fulfill their responsibilities under the Continuum of Care Program interim rule.

According to the 2012 "point in time" estimate of the number of homeless persons in America, there were 633,782 homeless persons on a single night in January of 2012, largely unchanged from the year before. While HUD found significant declines among the long-term homeless and veterans, local communities reported an increase in the number of sheltered and unsheltered families with children.

HUD's Continuum of Care grants announced today will offer new permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing to homeless persons as well as link them to services including job training, health care, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and child care.

In 2010, President Obama and 19 federal agencies and offices that form the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) launched the nation's first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness. Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness puts the country on a path to end veterans and chronic homelessness by 2015 and to ending homelessness among children, family, and youth by 2020.

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov. You can also follow HUD on Twitter at @HUDnews or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HUD, or sign up for news alerts on HUD's News Listserv.