On Monday, March 14, 2022, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Marcia L. Fudge visited Houston to announce Continuum of Care (CoC) Competition Awards for FY 2021.

Multimedia: Watch the press conference: https://fb.watch/bMKvPIMuDI/

Partner agencies of The Way Home — the local homeless response system for Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties, of which the Coalition is the lead agency — will receive $45.2 million.

For a complete list of the agencies receiving funding and award amounts, click here.

“It’s time for us to make sure that we — the government, the people who work for you — are doing our part to ensure that we take care of the people who we need to take care of. That’s the job of government — to take care of its people,” said Secretary Fudge.

The more than $45 million is a continuation of past annual grants, with a small increase. This funding allows the agencies of The Way Home to maintain permanent housing and supportive services for people already residing in housing programs.

While the number constantly fluctuates as new clients move in and others move on, as a point of reference, on the night of Jan. 24, 2022 (the night of the PIT count), there were more than 8,500 people in our community living in permanent supportive housing (PSH) and rapid re-housing (RRH). The annual CoC dollars are crucial to maintain their housing.

“The idea of the Coalition for the Homeless that we work with, is to ensure that homeless persons are housed. And the point we want to make today is that homeless persons deserve to have homes. Not just to have a house, or a place to stay, but to have homes,” said Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who hosted the press conference at U.S. Vets Houston.

“We could not be more delighted … that [Secretary Fudge] is spending the day here … getting to know the incredible people working across this community to end homelessness … and set the example for communities across the country …” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.

“As long as we’re working on this, we will ensure that homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring in our community,” said Lance Gilliam, chair of the board of the Coalition.

“We were proud to have had HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge in Houston to announce federal funding for programs that prevent and end homelessness in Houston," said Michael Nichols, president and CEO of the Coalition. "This annual federal funding is critical and by far the largest source of funding for our work. It allows the partner agencies of The Way Home, the local homeless response system, to maintain housing for the more than 8,500 people who are currently residing in permanent housing programs.”

Congressman Al Green also attended the announcement event.

The annual Continuum of Care (CoC) Competition Awards are the largest source of funding for the local homeless response system. For the FY 2020 competition, The Way Home received $42.6 million; in FY 2019 local agencies received $41.8 million.

Under the leadership of the Coalition, the funding has increased from $25 million in 2012.

The Coalition is the “collaborative applicant” for The Way Home. This means that the Coalition organized the local funding competition for the direct services agencies.

HUD will distribute funding directly to the awardees.