HUD Grants Homeless Programs $201 Million

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is awarding $201 million to 731 new programs to help the homeless, part of a record amount aimed at keeping the homeless out of jails and emergency rooms, the department said on Tuesday.

The new grants include $15.7 million to support 103 new housing and service programs in rural areas, HUD said in a statement.

The $201 million is in addition to $1.47 billion awarded to existing programs in December to provide homeless people housing along with such services as job training, healthcare and treatment for alcohol and drugs.

The fiscal 2011 total of $1.67 billion is a record and is up from $1.63 billion last year.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan told a conference call the programs were vital to keep people off the streets and cheaper than having the homeless dealt with by jails and emergency rooms.

He said the $201 million was a record for new grants under the program.

U.S. homelessness fell by 2.1 percent from 2010 to 2011 despite a slow recovery from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

By state, the biggest amount of funding will go to California, which will get $37.9 million to fund 87 programs.

Comments

[DrMMcLaughlin]

03:10 PM on 03/14/2012

I encourage attorneys to focus intensely on any possible conflicts between agencies accepting federal HUD funds and any possible violations of federal laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act. A very significant route to the resolution of homelessness issues may lie within our court system.

[thebearclaw007]

02:05 PM on 03/14/2012

Bravo HUD, hope it will be employed effectively.

[Alux]

09:11 AM on 03/14/2012

The Reuters article fails to say where the money is going before it reaches the homeless, just that $201 million goes into 731 programs, with California (the most populous state) getting the most.

I am guessing it all goes to "get out the vote" programs of local Democratic Party/Acorn Spawn offices to use one day next November to keep the homeless out of jails and hospitals that day, round them up, pay them a "bonus" to go into as many polling stations as possible and vote for . . . guess who?

Why am I so pessimistic? Do the math: $201 million divided by 731 = less than $275,000 per program.

No government program can get out of bed for more than one day on that amount of money. So what day do you think that might be?

Heck, the Obama administration cannot create or save two shovel-ready jobs for $201 million.

[Jay Lewis]

08:12 PM on 03/14/2012

What's the current going price for jaded?

I agree, though, one drop and Obama claims rain.

He is as out of touch as Romney, though he can dance across the rocks to portray himself as being in touch, while Romney keeps climbing out of the water.

A lot of people are hurting and no job is going to get them fed, clothed, roofed. People are going to have the choice of either hiding deeper in the trees and staying hid, or shuffled off to prison, where they can get a mandatory job working for one of the corporations that have set up workshop in our new, numberous, privatized prisons. Their only crime? Having had been fleeced.

[Alux]

04:10 AM on 03/15/2012

Just so you remember - the biggest supporters of insane mandatory sentencing and the biggest opponents of de-criminalizing drugs are . . . the unions!

Just so you remember.

[Bushman68]

09:02 AM on 03/14/2012

First thing I noticed in this story was...731 new programs! Wow, that's...just what we needed.

[shankapotomus]

08:54 AM on 03/14/2012

Isn't HUD giving out trillions for people with bad credit to buy homes what got us in this mess?

[Saundra Romero]

08:50 AM on 03/14/2012

I'd like to know where you get your numbers. From the evidence, it appears that homelessness has increased significantly over the past 4 years and continues to grow. Too much of this type of funding goes to programs that are poorly managed, providing some low-paying jobs, but not much very littler of the money reaches those who truly need the assistance. In many towns, homelessness is at epidemic proportions. How can you say with any honesty that the numbers are down?

[Edward Ellis]

11:44 AM on 03/14/2012

Saundra, As a former homeless person, I couldn't agree more. I really don't have a lot of faith in "Statistics". Far too easy to get creative. No ? Also, my experience has seen upticks in funding in "programs for the homeless" go to pay increases for Staff , air conditioning, and other improvements and cars for Staff, and other "infrastructure". For Staff. Trust me on this one. Oh, forgot one. Catered "meetings". You know for who. Thanks for sticking up for us !

[Jay Lewis]

08:57 PM on 03/14/2012

I once had a friend, an economist, Chinese American, conservative as blackboard chalk, who wrote his masters thesis on the financial structure of the Welfare system and he claimed, with documentation, that over 80% went to salaries and structures.

We need a welfare system that works, but I wonder where that would come from? God always writes the script that the wolves beat the sheep to the available funds. Especially in today's financial climate, where greed is celebrated, not condemned.

There will no success until there is a paradigm shift in America's collective consciousness that makes right the perception that the good guys and the bad guys are not the same as the winners and the losers.

[aliceandthecat]

07:54 AM on 03/14/2012

Have any of these monies being earmarked to prevent homelessness in that portion of the population that faces homelessness within 90 day - the high risk population? The economy has increased the number of people who are now homeless. There has been an up-tick in evictions among renters since 08-09 crash.

[PhantomShadow]

07:47 AM on 03/14/2012

The story says it is to keep them out of jails and emergency rooms. Is anything being done to help reduce the number on the streets? If not, then it is simply the same old same old case of applying a bandage and doing nothing to try to heal the wound.

[PhantomShadow]

07:49 AM on 03/14/2012

Ignore the previous comment as I missed a few things in the article.

[Justtheobvious]

06:13 AM on 03/14/2012

Live free and homeless or indentured servitude to some bank for a roof over your head. Gotta love America!

[Corie Lemmon]

06:12 AM on 03/14/2012

It would be cheaper to start buying the foreclosed homes..... that 201 mill for 703 projects is over two hundred and seventy thousand Per project....You could buy probably 10 foreclosed homes per project (over 7,000 homes could be bought). I see a lot of wasted money here...Those homeless people could actually have homes, but its going to be used on projects???

[Bobbito]

06:48 AM on 03/14/2012

I'm sure you would look forward to having them as your neighbors........

[TruelyFedUp]

04:00 PM on 03/18/2012

Another exploitive capitalist justification for the status quo - no matter how cruel.

[Robert Frank]

06:10 AM on 03/14/2012

if we spent as much money on homelessness as we waste on the idiotic "war on drugs" it could have been solved already

[Siebenstein]

05:41 AM on 03/14/2012

Thanks former, current administrations and Banksters for this mess !!

We will not forget, we will not forgive, expect us !

[dirtydog1776]

11:59 PM on 03/13/2012

Based upon HUD's previous track record, $201 million should enrich 37 lobbyists, get bribes for 27 Congressmen, fund 19 trips to a brothel, get huge salaries and pensions for 14 scabby bureaucrats and help one homeless person.

But hey, they keep on trying! Hope we don't go broke before they succeed.

[maxfax]

11:11 PM on 03/13/2012

Oil companies get more than that in subsidies per quarter.

[dirtydog1776]

11:59 PM on 03/13/2012

The lesson is: No subsidies for anybody.

Are you learning yet? Or you keep listening to liberal claptrap?

[Lina Sorbilli]

06:29 PM on 03/13/2012

Although this seems commendable enough, I am appalled somewhat. Alot of these ppl choose to live this way. Forget about rehabilitating them off of drugs & alcohol, won't work, never has. They tried something similar here about putting some in housing. They all left the housing apt's provided to them. Said they'd rather be on the streets. It might help a few, like women with kids (due to unemployment). There are low-income seniors who could sorely be in need of this money. They are thrown out of homes they want to be in. Most cannot even afford the needed medications. Alot are out there, coming out of a pharmacy to pick up their meds & r selling them to drug dealers & junkies, so these poor seniors can live on the low monthly ss/ss disability benefits they receive. I cannot believe this. What an atrocity. It's like who gives a f...k about r seniors, most who paid their dues to society, worked hard...and basically receive an avg payment of $700 mo...thank you

[Saundra Romero]

08:54 AM on 03/14/2012

I'm with you Lina. This is just another token program to make the government look good, but most of the money will not go to the people most in need, and it's only a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what it will take to end homelessness and keep everyone in their homes.