By Nicholas Ibarra | OBSERVER Staff Writer
On Wednesday, October 26, Sacramento Steps Forward (SSF) announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $6.5 million to the local Continuum of Care (CoC) program to build a region-wide plan and fund innovative programs designed to end youth homelessness.
“We are thrilled to receive this very competitive funding to develop model approaches to end youth homelessness,” said Lisa Bates, Chief Executive Officer of Sacramento Steps Forward, the agency which filed the application on the CoC’s behalf. The CoC is designed to promote a community wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness, provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, and to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma caused by dislocation.
Youth homelessness is a particularly challenging issue due to the difficulty of establishing the accuracy of affected youth because of miscounts related to couch surfing or being doubled up with friends during the bi-annual Point in Time count.
The funding is part of HUD’s $83.7 million Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP). It will come with federal technical assistance to develop and implement a coordinated community approach to preventing and ending youth homelessness.
The goal is to develop the plan within six months. Programs will be guided by the help of youth voices. The CoC can then fund a wide range of housing programs including rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and create host homes with YHDP funding.