Feds Grant $88 Million to Combat Homelessness in Texas
By Wes Rapaport, KXAN.com
Texans experiencing homelessness will receive millions of dollars in grant money from the Trump administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Thursday.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson made the announcement in a conference call with reporters, in which the department said it would commit a record $2 billion to help “tens of thousands of our most vulnerable neighbors” in the United States.
The recipients are thousands of homeless assistance programs across the nation, Carson said, as he challenged state and local partners to “support their highest-performing local programs.”
Texas groups will receive $88,239,025, distributed to 205 organizations. That is up $2 million from 2017, and 10 fewer organizations.
Texas Homeless Network president and CEO, Eric Samuels, said Texas “can really do a lot to move the dial nationally” through local and regional programs.
Graph Courtsey of KXAN.com
Darryl Brandenberg lived on the streets for more than five years. In October, with help from a program designed to assist people experiencing homelessness, he moved into a trailer in a community village in Central Texas.
He said he’s grateful to be in the position he is in, with an income, and a roof over his head, but not all who live the lifestyle he knows so well are able to get into the same position.
“Some people have been homeless for such a long time that’s all they know, they may need some sort of counseling or money management or learn how to take care of themselves every day,” Brandenberg stated.
Even though Brandenberg has found a home, advocates expect to see a higher homeless population in the state when an annual count is conducted at the end of January.
At the time of the last count, the agency counted 23,695 people experiencing homelessness. That is a slight uptick from the year before, when the homeless population in Texas was at its lowest point since 2012.