SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Feb. 8, 2019) The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has renewed more than $20 million in funding to nine homeless service providers in Sacramento’s Continuum of Care (CoC) and awarded nearly $900,000 to two new programs. The awards, announced Jan. 26 and Feb. 6, represent a 3.64% increase over last year’s funding.
“Federal HUD funding is critical to Sacramento’s response to the homeless crisis,” said Lisa Bates, CEO of the CoC’s administrative entity Sacramento Steps Forward. “Without these renewals, thousands of highly vulnerable people who have been successfully housed would return to the streets immediately.”
The Sacramento Continuum of Care submits to HUD a competitive grant application each year and competes for funding with communities across the country. Since Sacramento Steps Forward took over as the Continuum of Care’s administrator in 2011, funding has increased by 38% or more than $5.7 million.
The majority of the funded programs provide Permanent Supportive Housing for people who are chronically homeless and are most likely to die on the street the soonest. Renewal funding retains housing for these individuals, most of whom were housed in previous years.
New housing opportunities are created when these units turn-over or from new programs, like those created by Sacramento Self-Help Housing and Hope Cooperative (formerly TLCS, Inc.) this year.
Other funded programs include a Rapid ReHousing program for adults and Transitional Housing/Rapid ReHousing hybrid program for Transitional Age Youth, defined as people who are 18-24 years old.
The Sacramento Continuum of Care is governed by a 25 member board made up of local community stakeholders including people of lived experience, homeless service providers, faith community, advocates, business leaders, law enforcement, local government, healthcare leaders, and more.
The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is designed to promote community wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, and State and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness; promote access to and effect utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families; and optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
The full list of funded programs can be found here. The Sacramento Continuum of Care program funding starts on page 17 under CA-503 Sacramento City and County CoC.
About Sacramento Steps Forward
Sacramento Steps Forward is a nonprofit organization committed to ending homelessness in our region through collaboration, innovation, and connecting people to services. Walking side-by-side with our partners, we seek to provide people experiencing homelessness with the support and services they need to find stability and long-term housing. Since 2012, Sacramento Steps Forward has been the lead agency for Sacramento’s Homeless Continuum of Care.
###