01.16.20

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $144 Million In Continued Funding For Local Homeless Assistance Programs

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that a total of $114,704,242 in grants have been awarded to renew support to more than 300 local homeless assistance programs and nonprofits across Illinois. The funding, which is awarded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Continuum of Care Program (CoC), will support a broad array of interventions designed to assist individuals and families experiencing homelessness, particularly those living in places not meant for habitation, located in sheltering programs, or at imminent risk of becoming homeless.

The full list of programs receiving funding in Illinois is available here.

“No family should be without a safe and reliable place to call home,” Durbin said. “This critical federal funding will help thousands of individuals and families across Illinois get back on their feet. I applaud the work of these organizations and will continue fighting to ensure they receive support at the federal level.”

“Individuals across Illinois rely on investments like these to gain access to affordable and reliable housing,” Duckworth said. “Having a safe place to stay is an important first step for families to move forward with their lives. I will keep advocating for federal funding with Senator Durbin to help ensure these organizations receive the funding they need to assist some of our state’s most vulnerable residents.”

With the goal of long-term stability, the CoC Program is designed to assist individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and to provide the services needed to help such individuals move into transitional and permanent housing.  More broadly, the CoC Program is designed to promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; to provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, States, and local governments to quickly re-house homeless individuals, families, persons fleeing domestic violence, and youth while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused by homelessness; to promote access to and effective utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families; and to optimize self-sufficiency among those experiencing homelessness.

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