Grant to pay rent to get homeless off the streets
Grant to pay rent to get homeless off the streets
The Homeless Coalition of San Benito County has won a grant designed to pay rental costs to help get individuals and families off the streets permanently through a project called “Helping Hands.”
The $207,966 grant from Housing and Urban Development will pay rental costs on up to 11 units – either apartments or houses – at a fair market rate in order to provide a place to live for some of the estimated 400 homeless people in the county.
“This is a huge opportunity for those experiencing homelessness to get in off the streets permanently,” said Cindy Parr, executive director of the Homeless Coalition. “This is just the beginning, but there is automatic renewal possible with this grant, so it’s sustainable.”
Parr called the homelessness situation in San Benito County “horrible,” particularly with the seasonal closure of the winter shelter on Southside Road that provided housing for 87 people during the colder months.
“We’re going to keep bouncing them from point A to point B now that the shelter’s closed,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll eventually get a year-round facility and make a difference.”
For now, however, the HUD grant will provide housing for homeless people with a qualifying disability, whether it’s physical, mental or related to substance abuse. A provision of the funding requires that case managers be assigned to tenants to make sure they are visiting a therapist, receiving substance abuse treatment, or similar services.
Participants must also be registered with the Homeless Coalition’s homeless management information system, which includes information on all participants such as how many days they have utilized a shelter and which support services they have used.
County Supervisor Margie Barrios said the Helping Hands program has roots in the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness, which was developed by San Benito and Monterey counties.
“We’re hoping this is just the beginning,” she said. “With approximately 400 homeless people in our county, including families, women and young people, we’re trying to address that problem because they have needs and there are reasons people are homeless – ranging from losing their jobs to having issues such as substance abuse.”
CJ Valenzuela, the county’s housing programs coordinator, said his staff and representatives of the Homeless Coalition are reaching out to property management companies and private property owners and recently made a presentation at the San Benito County Association of Realtors’ meeting to find potential housing units that can be rented with the grant money at a fair-market rate.
“This is the first grant award of this nature in San Benito County, so we’re excited,” he said.
Parr said the coalition will have its name on the rental agreements “and we’ll be 100 percent responsible for anything that happens” to a unit. “We’re leasing the units but we have the support of case managers to back us up. We also have the sheriff’s department, mental health, the county health foundation, the city and county; quite a few stakeholders.”
To devote herself full-time to the grant, Parr said she will step away from her duties as manager of the winter shelter after seven years there.
“I’ll still oversee it, but I won’t put in 40 hours a week there,” she said. “I’m going to go full-force with this program to make sure it succeeds.”
Asked how she’ll address concerns from property owners who may have reservations about renting to formerly homeless clients or those with substance abuse problems, Parr said, “That’s going to be my responsibility as manager. It’s the coalition’s reputation at stake. Each client or family will sign a contract and will know this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You blow this, you don’t get to re-try it.”
Support services associated with the grant project include life skills and job training, counseling, health services, childcare and transportation. The grant’s operating budget also provides funding for maintenance and repair costs, utilities, and renters’ insurance.
Funding for the grant is expected to be released in September, Parr said, though if rental locations are identified soon the application could be expedited.
Barrios said Helping Hands will provide services to the homeless who are given a place to live, but will also require that the tenants fulfill their responsibilities – such as regular participation in behavioral health or substance abuse programs.
“We want to make sure this is meeting the needs of these folks to get them the assistance they need and to prepare them to get jobs,” she said. “This is just the beginning, but it’s a great start.”
Working with the real estate community is essential to the program’s success, she noted.
“We asked them to be partners with us because it’s going to take an entire community for this to happen and be successful,” Barrios said. “Ultimately, we want to end homelessness in our community.”
