HUD Issues $5.2 Million in Grants to Fight Homelessness in New Hampshire
HOMELESS
New Hampshire Union Leader
Greg Hellman
Boston University Washington News Service
2/21/07
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21– The U.S. government issued $5.2 million in grants last month to state and local government organizations in New Hampshire to combat homelessness as part of a $1.33 billion nationwide funding initiative.
The $5.2 million in grants are down from a high of nearly $5.7 million in 2004, according to Kristine Foye, a spokeswoman at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and comes as HUD has steadily increased its grant money nationwide by $130 million in the past four years.
Grants totaling $4.67 million fund homeless programs at more than two dozen social service agencies and organizations throughout the state. Groups in the Manchester area received $710,253. Emergency shelter grants for the state total $571,000.
Individual relief groups determine how to spend the money, HUD New England Regional Director Taylor Caswell said.
“We don’t like to be the ones saying this is what you have to be spending,” he said.
Caswell said the department took a two-pronged approach, choosing to fund both temporary housing and relief programs as well as permanent low-income housing units to reduce the number of chronically homeless living on the streets.
“We’re trying to move people into a stable setting and to provide services,” Caswell said.
According to Keith Kuenning, executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness, between 4,000 and 5,000 individuals remain homeless throughout the state on any given night.
Many relief organizations working in New Hampshire, like the Community Services Council of New Hampshire based in Pembroke, depend on the grants to allow them to continue operating. The Community Services Council updates and maintains a database of homeless individuals allowing state agencies to provide relief services.
“It’s essential,” Sheila King, executive director of the Community Services Council, said. “Without that information it’s impossible to develop those services and make sure resources are used where they need to be used.”
While homeless groups lauded the newest grants, many said they still fall well short of what is needed.
“We’re happy for what we’re getting but it’s not enough,” Jessica Schuler, policy analyst for the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless, said. “Many of the HUD programs were designed for emergency response but we need more permanent housing.”
To receive funding, Caswell said, the department asks community groups and agencies to form an umbrella organization and establish a relief plan.
“This is a cooperative, locally-driven project,” he said. “You have to get a group of people together that includes business leader and officials, sit down and come up with a plan that incorporates all those interests. Every time you can get a program that removes the power from Washington, that’s great.”
Department officials look for effectiveness in providing services when determining which groups receive money, Foye said. Approximately 40 percent of groups are turned down, she said.
“The biggest piece of the process is showing some level of success over a number of years,” she said.
In addition, the umbrella group is required to issue annual spending reports. The department conducts random on-site reviews of the funded programs throughout the year, Foye said.
“Basically if they show they want to move people from the streets to self-sufficiency that scores big,” she said.
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