Millions in federal funds to help homeless residents coming to Alameda County
OAKLAND -- New projects to help homeless residents of Alameda County will be getting millions in support from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to a HUD announcement last week.
Alameda County's continuum of care, the group that manages homeless services and prevention in the county, was awarded $15 million over three years. The money will be used to support five projects serving people living in encampments, on the street and in vehicles.
Alameda County was one of only two continuums of care in California to receive the federal funding. The other was the city and county of Los Angeles. HUD will be making awards to additional communities soon.
"Housing with supportive services solves homelessness," HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a statement. "That's why, for the first time the federal government is deploying targeted resources to meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness in unsheltered settings or in rural areas."
The $15 million awarded to Alameda County is part of nearly $315 million HUD awarded to 46 communities across the nation.
In Alameda County, one of the projects to be funded, the Enhanced Care Vouchers project, will get about $8.2 million to create 100 new permanent supportive housing units for homeless people with chronic physical and mental health needs.
The Mobile Action Points project will get about $3 million to create more mobile access points into the coordinated entry system, which connects people to interventions to end their homelessness.
About $2.1 million will provide advocacy and legal services to unsheltered seniors so they can increase their income and break down barriers to housing.
Oakland's Navigate to Housing project will be getting about $1 million to rapidly rehouse unsheltered residents primarily in encampments. The money will go toward rental assistance, housing search assistance and case management.
The Neighbor to Neighbor Street Outreach project will get $600,000 to train people to help seniors in encampments, mainly in West Oakland.
Over 7,000 people on any given night in Alameda County are experiencing unsheltered homelessness, according to last year's point-in-time count.