Jan 30, 2015 3 min read

Greene County has received $189,089 as part of $92.4 million in U.S. Housing and Urban Development grants to support 568 local homeless housing and service programs in Pennsylvania.

In an ongoing effort to end homelessness, HUD Secretary Julián Castro announced these Continuum of Care grants will ensure these local projects provide critically needed housing and support services to those persons and families experiencing homelessness.

The local programs receiving the grants announced offer a variety of services to those who are experiencing homelessness, including street outreach, client assessment, and direct housing assistance. Nationally, HUD awarded $1.8 billion.

Greene County received $138,109 for its Permanent Supportive Housing Project. This program provides housing (single and family units) within the city limits of Waynesburg for homeless persons with disabilities. Guests are required to pay 30 percent of their gross income as a service fee.

Additionally, the county received $55,980 for its Shelter and Care Project, which provides rental assistance (single and family units) anywhere within the Greene County limits for hard-to-serve homeless persons with disabilities in connection with supportive service funded from sources outside the program.

The leases for these apartments as well as the utilities are in the guest’s name. The guests are required to pay 30 percent of their gross income as a service fee as well as their utilities, however, the guests are given a utility allowance which is deducted from this fee.

“It’s a national shame that anyone would call the streets their home,” said Castro. “Working with our local partners, we’re redoubling our efforts to support permanent housing solutions for our veterans and those experiencing long-term chronic homelessness. We’re also focused on providing targeted assistance to families and young people who are falling between the cracks. As a nation, we can and must end homelessness.”

HUD recently announced its 2014 estimate of the number of homeless persons in America. There were 578,424 persons experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2014. Since 2010, local communities around the country reported an overall 10 percent decline in the total number of persons experiencing homelessness and a remarkable 25 percent drop in the number of those living on the streets. In addition, these state and local planning agencies’ counts reveal a 33 percent drop in homelessness among veterans.

Across Pennsylvania, local homelessness planning agencies called Continuums of Care are organizing volunteers this month to help count the number of persons living unsheltered on the streets, in emergency shelters and in transitional housing. Continuums of Care will report these one-night “point-in-time counts” later in the year, which will form the basis of HUD’s 2015 national homeless estimate.