County approves homeless funding
Notice: Undefined variable: article_ad_placement3 in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/single.php on line 128
The Washington County commissioners last week acknowledged the receipt of $249,647 in federal tax dollars to provide assistance to the homeless through three local agencies.
Connect Inc. will receive $57,835 for family shelter and $48,847 for transitional housing. Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern Pennsylvania will receive $12,131 for transitional housing and $36,604 for emergency shelter. Community Action Southwest will receive $94,230 to help prevent homelessness and rapid rehousing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, through the Emergency Solutions Grant program, has targeted the money for Washington County through June 30, 2016.
The commissioners also added $163 to the $6,000 provided to Community Action Southwest for providing hotel rooms for two weeks for those who became homeless due to the rain-soaked roof collapse at the former Clark School, which had been repurposed as apartments, on Jefferson Avenue.
Community Action Southwest also will be receiving an additional $2,002 for homelessness prevention efforts, bringing its total to $133,299. Connect Inc., in addition to the HUD entitlement funding, also received a renewal of its $96,455 contract through April 30, for permanent supportive housing services for homeless veterans and those who have mental health disabilities.
“For all of our housing programs, there are waiting lists,” said Jennifer Johnson, who coordinates services for the homeless provided through Washington County.
In late August, HUD and the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a 33 percent drop in veterans’ homelessness since 2010.
Data collected during the annual point-in-time count conducted in January shows there were 49,933 homeless veterans in America, a decline of 33 percent (or 24,837 people) since 2010. This includes a nearly 40 percent drop in the number of veterans sleeping on the street. The Washington County point-in-time survey in January did not reveal any unsheltered homeless veterans, Johnson said, but in both 2013 and 2014, 15 veterans staying in shelters were part of the count. In 2012, the point-in-time survey revealed 11 veterans living in shelters.
“We have an obligation to ensure that every veteran has a place to call home,” said U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro in a news release.