U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $7,825,678 to support 27 homeless housing and service programs in Delaware.
The Continuum of Care (CoC) grants provide housing and support services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness throughout the First State. Here is a link to a complete list of Delaware’s homeless projects awarded funding.
The HUD funding is part of $2.2 billion in grants to support 6,593 local homeless assistance programs on the front lines, serving individuals and families experiencing homelessness. This is the first of two announcements of Continuum of Care awards.
“As one of only three states in the nation to have effectively ended Veteran homelessness, Delaware has always been a leader in this area. So, it was surprising that the number of people experiencing homelessness increased last year. The good news is this year we turned the tide,” said Joe DeFelice, regional administrator of HUD’s Mid-Atlantic region. “For Delaware’s CoCs to find the total number of persons experiencing homelessness declined by nearly 15 percent, it is evident their work is making a difference.”
HUD Continuum of Care grant funding supports a broad array of interventions designed to assist individuals and families experiencing homelessness, particularly those living in places not meant for habitation, located in sheltering programs, or at imminent risk of becoming homeless. Each year, HUD serves more than a million people through emergency shelter, transitional, and permanent housing programs.
In 2019, most of the country experienced a combined decrease in homelessness but significant increases in unsheltered and chronic homelessness on the West Coast, particularly California and Oregon, offset those nationwide decreases, causing an overall increase in homelessness of 2.7 percent.
Many areas of the West Coast have little affordable housing.
HUD’s 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress found that 567,715 persons experienced homelessness on a single night in 2019, an increase of 2.7 percent since 2018 but nearly 11 percent decline since 2010, a release stated.
