By KIMBERLEY HAAS Homelessness has risen for individuals and people with disabilities, according to the 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report released on Monday by officials at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Homelessness among single individuals increased by 3.1%. The number of people with disabilities experiencing homelessness for long periods of time increased by 16% between 2020 and 2022. The report found 582,462 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2022. States with the highest numbers of people who were homeless in 2022 include California (171,521), New York (74,178), Florida (25,959), Washington (25,211), and Texas (24,432). Officials say the Biden-Harris Administration is working to reverse the post-2016 trend of rising homelessness. Their goal is to…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced over $2.6 billion to fund roughly 7,000 local homeless housing and service programs throughout the country. HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said that access to stable housing is a basic necessity and the safety of a home is essential as the United States continues to fight COVID. “These Continuum of Care program grants, coupled with the historic resources in the American Rescue Plan, will deliver communities the resources needed to ensure that every person in a respective community has the equitable opportunity to a safe and stable home,” Fudge said in a statement released on Monday. The FY 2021 Continuum of Care Competition Awards will provide funding…
President Joe Biden issued an executive order Thursday that increases the percentage of funding the federal government will provide when emergency officials provide housing to people during the Covid-19 pandemic. The order, issued on Biden’s second day in office, increases the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s share of the costs from 75 percent to 100 percent when providing emergency housing during the pandemic. Previously, states or cities would have to pay whatever the federal government did not cover. The change was recommended by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which had issued a report that said “the resources needed to keep people experiencing homelessness afe during the public health emergency exceed the response capabilities of state and local governments and warrant the full…