The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a $365 million package aimed at efforts to reduce homelessness and provide outreach and care for people lacking adequate housing.
The federal government hopes to ease the nationwide homelessness crisis with a new package of funding announced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). According to an article by Sarah Holder in Bloomberg CityLab, the package “includes $43 million worth of housing choice vouchers, which provide recipients with permanent subsidized housing, and $322 million in Continuum of Care homelessness grants.”
And it’s not a coincidence that this week’s funding announcement comes at a time when some statehouses are advancing legislation that would ban camping in public right-of-ways, and law enforcement officers in places like Los Angeles and New York have doubled down on conducting sweeps of encampments — a sometimes violent practice that advocates warn does little to get people off the streets long term and can lead to harmful cycles between jail and the streets.
In a statement, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said “Solving unsheltered homelessness means delivering help to the people who need it the most, but who have the hardest time reaching it. It means putting housing first and health care and other supportive services right after.” Fudge said the funding should create the resources for local agencies to “scale up coordinated efforts to humanely and effectively move people from encampments into homes by linking homeless outreach with health care, treatment and housing.”
The model known as Housing First, which promotes placing people into housing without prerequisites, has helped cities like Houston and Denver drastically reduce the number of people living without shelter.
FULL STORY: White House Hopes New Funding Will Deter Clearing Homeless Encampments
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.