Feds allocate $3.4 million in local grants to reduce, prevent homelessness

Six local organizations received funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support social services programming.

By Sarah Elms / The Blade
Wed, 22 Jan 2020 20:20:47 GMT

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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday announced more than $3.4 million in grants to Toledo-area organizations working to combat homelessness, a reduction of about $700,000 from last year’s grant cycle.

Joseph Galvan, HUD’s Midwest regional administrator, was in Toledo to announce the awards. He said the homelessness crisis is impacting the entire country, though the agency’s annual assessment found 29 states reported a decrease in homelessness between 2018 and 2019.

In Ohio, homelessness increased by about 1 percent, he said, although Lucas County’s numbers fell by 7.7 percent.

“That means you’re all doing something good,” he told local leaders gathered at One Government Center. “You’re all doing something right.”

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) also was in attendance and said Toledo organizations received $4.56 million in HUD grant funding to reduce or prevent homelessness in 2018, and about $4.1 million in 2019, compared with this year’s $3.4 million.

“We have been trying very hard, between the House and the Senate, to extend additional homelessness assistance to help cold-weather climates like our own, but also on the west coast, for example,” she said.

Mr. Galvan indicated there is another round of funding that could impact Ohio yet this year.

The announcement came hours before volunteers began Toledo’s annual point-in-time count, which tallies how many are homeless in the community on a given day. Communities that receive HUD funding are required to submit their results to the federal government.

Rosalyn Clemens has been Toledo’s housing commissioner since October. She said one of the first things she learned is that homelessness is a “severe challenge” in Toledo. She said the city and the homelessness board are prioritizing funding for permanent supportive housing and youth housing.

“When most of us hear about the homeless, we think about the panhandler on the street or the person lying down, disheveled,” Ms. Clemens said. “But homelessness affects people like you and I.”

She said roughly two-thirds of those experiencing homelessness are in that situation because they have encountered an obstacle — unemployment, domestic violence, illness, substance abuse, mental illness — that could happen to anyone.

“These people can eventually find their way back to stability if we have compassion, if we see their faces, and if we give them a hand up,” Ms. Clemens told the group gathered Wednesday. “This is the work that you providers do so passionately. This is the work that must continue to be funded and supported by HUD.”

Danica Williams doesn’t know where she’d be without St. Paul’s Community Center and Leading Families Home.

The homeless shelter and social services organization, respectively, helped her leave a violent relationship and find new housing. She spent eight months in a shelter before transitioning into a place of her own. She shared her story Wednesday to demonstrate the importance of continued federal funding for shelters and other social service agencies.

Home for Ms. Williams finally feels like a safe, stable place.

“I got the support that I needed to stand up for myself,” she said.

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