Agencies in Tucson and Pima County that help the homeless will get $7.2 million to provide permanent and transitional housing, job training, health care, mental- health counseling, substance-abuse treatment and child care.
The money - part of a $32 million pot divvied up in Arizona - comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is a renewal of grant funding for 102 homeless-assistance programs in the state. Nationally, almost $1.4 billion will be given to 6,400 existing programs as part of HUD's Continuum of Care plan.
Locally, funding will be divided among 20 or so agencies, including programs supported by the city of Tucson and Pima County, which will get $2.3 million and $2.1 million, respectively; CODAC Behavioral Health Services, $392,561; Old Pueblo Community Foundation, $289,907; Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, $202,655; and Primavera Foundation, $215,792.
People are also reading…
Much of the county's award will go to the Jackson Employment Center, which trains homeless men and women to enter the work force, said Gary Bachman, senior Community Development and Housing planner. Funds also will be set aside to provide stable housing for parents with children.
The Primavera Foundation will receive money for its Catalina Transitional Housing for men and the Five Points Transitional Housing for men and women. Both programs require residents to be employed or enrolled in job training. The goal, said Peggy Hutchison, executive director of the Primavera Foundation, is "getting them on that pathway out of poverty, helping them secure housing and jobs."
Locally, about 4,000 people are without housing, and it will take more than the government's grants to end homelessness here.
"HUD is one component that's critical," Hutchison said, "but it really doesn't pay for the whole thing."
Contact reporter Kimberly Matas at kmatas@azstarnet.com or at 573-4191.
