The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced nearly $3.16 billion nationwide in Continuum of Care Program Awards for over 7,000 projects that provide housing assistance and/or supportive services to people experiencing homelessness, as well as costs related to planning and data collection.
Continuum of Care (COC) Programs in New Hampshire received $12,838,362, including NH Balance of State COC ($7,736,287); Manchester COC ($2,831,189); and Nashua/Hillsborough County COC ($2,270,886).
Overall, Massachusetts will receive $124,913,344; Connecticut, $81,888,225; Maine, $20,850,852; Rhode Island, $15,726,763; and Vermont, $6,837,769.
“Now, more than ever, we are doing all we can to get people off the street and into permanent homes with access to services. That is why we are making sure the service providers on the front lines of this crisis have the resources they need,” said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge.
“At HUD, we have served or permanently housed 1.2 million people experiencing homelessness in the last three years alone. The historic awards we are announcing today will help expand community capacity to assist more people obtain the safety and stability of a home, along with the supports they need to achieve their life goals.”
Included in the $3.16 billion of total awards, approximately $136 million was made available for competitive and non-competitive Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) renewal and replacement grants. The 2023 awards also include approximately $57 million for new projects that will support housing and service needs for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.
With this, HUD encourages communities to use proven solutions to address homelessness, like approaches in which people are not required to first complete a treatment program or achieve sobriety as a condition to accessing housing, but instead first connect people to housing, often with supportive services, so that they can achieve better health and recovery.
Additionally, President Biden’s FY2024 Budget calls for Congress to make commonsense investments to lower rental costs and address homelessness, including guaranteed vouchers for low-income veterans and youth aging out of foster care-two groups at higher risk of homelessness.
