Rep. Costa Announces $8.21 Million In Recovery Funds To Prevent Homelessness In The Valley

WASHINGTON, DC- Today, Congressman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) announced that a grand total of $8,214,230 million has been released to the Cities of Fresno and Bakersfield and to the Counties of Kern and Fresno to rapidly re-house families who fall into homelessness, or prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place. Funding was released through the Department on Housing and Urban Development (HUD) made available in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"These short and medium term funds to families on the verge of homelessness are drastically needed in our Valley and I thank Secretary Donovan for releasing these funds," Costa said. "It's unfortunate this is a nationwide problem, and it was important for Secretary Donovan to see our housing challenges first hand during his recent trip to the San Joaquin Valley. These funds are an important step to prevent homelessness."

The City of Bakersfield will receive $1,372,351

The City of Fresno will receive $3,130,746

Fresno County will receive $1,634,630

Kern County will receive $2,076,503

HUD's new Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) provides a total of $1.5 billion for communities to provide short- and medium-term rental assistance and services to either prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless or help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized. Plans for the remaining grants under this program are still being approved and will be announced in the coming weeks as well.

Grants provided under HPRP are not intended to provide long-term support for individuals and families, nor will they afford mortgage assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure. Rather, HPRP offers a variety of short- and medium-term financial assistance to those who would otherwise become homeless, many due to sudden economic crisis. This can include short-term rental assistance (up to three months), medium-term rental assistance (up to 18 months), security deposits, utility deposits, utility payments, moving cost assistance, and hotel vouchers. Payments will not be made directly to households, but only to third parties, such as landlords or utility companies.

The program also provides assistance to rapidly re-house persons who are homeless and likely to remain stably housed, whether subsidized or unsubsidized, once the HPRP assistance concludes.