More than one million dollars in federal HUD money is up for grabs in Central New York to provide subsidized housing for vulnerable populations. About $460,000 is available for short term and permanent housing with case management and other services.
Another $600,000 is aimed at serving survivors of domestic violence. The application deadline is August 9th. Megan Stuart is director of the Housing and Homeless Coalition of Central New York.
“HUD is doing some more focused dollars to serve specialized populations who are experiencing homelessness,” said Stuart. “Though they are HUD priorities, we are doing our due diligence in making sure that it makes sense locally.”
For example, Stuart says they’re waiting to hear back on an application submitted this spring to address youth homelessness. It’s a competitive process, so it’s not guaranteed they’ll get the money. There is a line of funding that is guaranteed. $9.2 million in HUD renewal funds to support their existing efforts.
“All of these projects are taking people straight out of emergency shelters, so people who are literally homeless at the time of entry,” said Stuart. “So while $9.2 million sounds like a lot, it’s not enough to address everyone who is experiencing homelessness and needs that housing intervention. So we’re always trying to add capacity in our community.”
Stuart says they’d like to add what’s called rapid rehousing, a shorter-term intervention aimed at getting people out of shelters quickly and stabilized with employment and other services within two years. A week ago, Stuart was one of many invited to a roundtable discussion with HUD Secretary Ben Carson. She says it was a good opportunity to show him the region’s strong leadership, collaboration, and innovation on housing, lead paint, and other issues.
“We write an application saying ‘Hey we do all these great things,’” said Stuart. “But having him come to town and see that that’s true I think is really impactful.”
At the meeting, Secretary Carson did compliment the region on its cooperative spirit on addressing the stubborn lead paint problem, saying it will work to the region’s advantage in securing funding.
