THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 14, 1996 TAG: 9609140237
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 97 lines
Norfolk and Virginia Beach programs for the homeless have been awarded nearly $2.5 million in federal grants, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Friday.
Here and elsewhere, the money will be directed mostly toward programs that try to restore the homeless to self-sufficiency, HUD said.
But HUD Secretary Henry G. Cisneros and local officials agree that homelessness may grow in coming years because of changes in federal and state welfare policies.
``I am concerned,'' Cisneros said in a nationwide telephone press conference. ``I note, for example, that when states cut welfare, we see the effects in increased homelessness and demands on the shelter system.''
He said the ``fastest growing segment of the homeless population is women with children.''
``I am not going to deny it is a potential problem. We have to get on top of it and address this,'' Cisneros said. He said welfare reforms must be followed by more efforts to create jobs for people coming off welfare.
Similar concern was expressed in Norfolk by Suzanne Puryear, director of human services, and in Virginia Beach by Andrew Friedman, director of housing and neighborhood preservation.
Neither Puryear nor Friedman could give a complete estimate of the number of homeless in their respective cities.
Yet, both officials were excited about the grants.
The money is designed to help cities here and elsewhere develop a ``continuum of care'' strategy that focuses less on short-term emergency shelter and emphasizes a wider range of services, such as job training, family counseling, child care and substance-abuse treatment.
``It's a far better strategy than just funding emergency shelter beds,'' Cisneros said.
The approach also allows more flexibility to local governments and nonprofit agencies, he said.
Nationwide, HUD awarded $675 million in grants to 266 communities.
The programs are expected to help about 280,000 to 300,000 homeless people, about half the estimated number of homeless in America on any given night, Cisneros and other officials said.
The total amount of grants is about $200 million less than last year's, HUD officials said. They blamed the reduction on cuts by the Republican-controlled Congress.
``Frankly, we displaced other housing priorities in order to fund homelessness,'' Cisneros said.
``The entire HUD budget has decreased from $25 billion to $20 billion.''
Norfolk programs will receive $1,527,634 for five homelessness programs. That's about $200,000 more than the city applied for, Puryear said.
She credited several nonprofit agencies for banding into a consortium to coordinate services.
``They turned what used to be a fairly competitive process for grants into a collaborative one,'' Puryear said. ``They did a tremendous amount of work coming to a consensus.''
In Virginia Beach, five programs will split about $972,000. That was more than $1 million under the amount requested, but more than what the city expected, Friedman said.
``This will be a significant enhancement of the community's ability to assist homeless people to become self-sufficient again. I say `community's ability' because these are all nonprofit community providers,'' Friedman said.
Cisneros denied that the announcement of the grants was timed to help the re-election campaign of President Clinton.
He said HUD's homelessness grants are given at about this time every year to help localities prepare for annual winter increases in the numbers of homeless people. MEMO: List of programs receiving HUD grants/B4
HUD GRANTS
Here are the homelessness programs awarded grants by HUD:
Norfolk: total $1,527,634.
Echo II, supportive housing program operated by the Episcopal
Diocese, $224,499.
Leap I & II, provides 90 days of housing for families coming out of
the Haven's emergency shelter, $843,020.
Morgan's Place, expansion of a transitional housing program, $46,748.
Salvation Army Center of Hope, job counseling for homeless people in
transitional housing, $235,725.
YWCA Women in Recovery, a program for homeless mothers who are
substance abusers, $177,642.
Virginia Beach: total $972,001.
Volunteers of America, day services such as outreach and job
counseling, $157,500.
Samaritan House, to acquire two townhouses for transitional family
housing, and provide job-readiness training and other counseling,
$210,000.
Judeo-Christian Outreach Center, homeless education center for
providing classes in job skills, GEDs and social skills, $169,801.
Mother Seton House, to build a transitional-housing shelter for
runaway males, ages 12 to 17. Program expects about 200 clients over a
year with capacity of 10 at a time, $136,500.
Virginia Beach Community Development Corp. transitional housing
program for families, to acquire 10 townhouses, and provide counseling
and other support services, $298,200.
KEYWORDS: HUD GRANTS by CNB