The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson announced $50,763,628 in grants to support homeless assistance programs in Louisiana.
What We Know:
- These grants are part of a total of $2.2 billion that was awarded nationally under HUD’s Continuum of Care grants to provide critically needed support to approximately 6,593 local programs that serve individuals and families experiencing homelessness. This is the first of two announcements of Continuum of Care awards. View a complete list of all the state and local homeless projects awarded funding.
- HUD Continuum of Care grant funding supports programs that assist those living in places not meant for habitation; those located in sheltering programs, or those 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. 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.
The number of families with children experiencing homelessness declined five percent from 2018 and more than 32 percent since 2010. Local communities also reported a continuing trend in reducing veteran homelessness across the country—the number of veterans experiencing homelessness fell 2.1 percent since January 2018 and by 50 percent since 2012.
