The federal government just awarded a record $2 billion to homeless assistance programs across the country, and Philly received $33 million of it that will go toward nearly 100 local programs, some old and some new.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provided funding for all of the 99 homeless assistance programs that the city requested for HUD to renew. Pennsylvania received $102,583,484 from HUD.
Philadelphia’s Homeless Services Director Liz Hersh said in a statement, “We are thrilled because this substantial allocation of funding enables us to not only continue what’s working but to expand on it.”
The $33 million awarded to Philly will go toward existing programs that as a whole provide 2,700 transitional and permanent housing units and services for the homeless. It’ll also continue to help certain groups in need, including those struggling with an addiction or mental illness and families with children whose head of households are living with HIV/AIDS.
But some of the new funding will also allow the city to launch this year six new homeless intervention programs targeted toward particular populations that OHS has recently identified being vulnerable and in need of extra support, such as young, homeless adults: A recent study found that 569 youth and young adults were homeless and unaccompanied during one night in Philadelphia.
The six new programs will focus on the following:
- Households fleeing domestic violence
- Young adults ages 18-24
- Households with children
- Households without children
- Homeless people brought into the system through mobile assessors
- Chronically homeless households where the head of household has a disability