San Bernardino County Agencies Receive $10.3 Million from HUD to Fight Homelessness

SAN BERNARDINO>> The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $10,339,584 to agencies within San Bernardino County to support homeless housing and service programs throughout the region. “What we are seeing is a unified, community-wide effort to promote self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness,” said San Bernardino County Supervisor and Inter-agency Council on Homelessness Chair Josie Gonzales. “The county took the lead by embracing the Housing First model, providing permanent housing as quickly as possible and then providing necessary wraparound supportive services. There is still much work to be done and these grants will enable us to minimize the trauma caused by dislocation, Gonzales concluded.” The County of San Bernardino partners with several agencies and nonprofit organizations to curb homelessness including Knowledge, Education for Your Success, Inc. (KEYS) and Step Up. Interested agencies participate in a competitive grant application process to access federal funds made available through HUD’s Continuum of Care (COC) program. COC was designed to aid state and local organizations in their efforts to rehouse and promote self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness. The Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino (HACSB), whose permanent housing and supportive programs serve more than 300 families a year, received the largest portion of those funds – $3,554,119. “We are very excited that we were able to attain renewal funding, and extremely proud that we were able to expend every single cent of those grants that expired this year. I believe that effort in expending those funds has assisted us in securing the renewal grants," said Housing Authority Executive Director Maria Razo. "We’re also excited that our affiliate nonprofit, KEYS was able to secure continued funding to assist homeless families throughout the county. KEYS received a grant renewal of $241,021 and an additional amount of $285,480. Approximately, 40 families benefit from KEYS’ supportive services per year." Step Up, a permanent housing and support services provider, recently expanded its reach to San Bernardino. The nonprofit received a renewal of $1,544,888 and a bonus of $361, 002. “It’s important to emphasize that this is both new funding and new dollars for San Bernardino,” said Step Up Director Kimberlee Albers. “We’re thrilled to be a part of being able to bring additional resources to fight chronic homelessness in the area. This funding will house an additional 31 individuals.”