CUOMO ANNOUNCES $5.6 MILLION IN ASSISTANCE TO HELP HOMELESS PEOPLE IN THE STATE OF MAINE

PORTLAND, MAINE - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today announced $5.6 million in grants to provide housing and needed services to help people in Maine move from homelessness to self-sufficiency.

Cuomo made the announcement at a news conference in Portland with Congressman John E. Baldacci and Portland Mayor Nicholas Mavodones, Jr. at the Preble Street Resource Center, a homeless service provider.

"These funds will give homeless people in Maine the opportunity to turn their lives around," Cuomo said. "We will help people overcome the problems that made them homeless, and help them move on to jobs and permanent housing."

Mayor Mavodones said: "We greatly appreciate HUD's continued funding support in our goal to fight homelessness here in Portland. We view this as an important signal from the federal government that recognizes the value of this mission. We know from our experience that every innovation truly makes a difference and believe that working in concert with city, state and federal agencies, this issue can ultimately be solved."

The aid to Maine is part of HUD's Continuum of Care approach to homelessness. In addition to providing housing, the Continuum of Care funds a broad range of job training, child care, mental health services, and substance abuse treatment programs that offer long-term solutions to homelessness.

The grants are awarded to non-profit groups, states, and local governments based on a number of factors that measure the effectiveness of plans to help homeless people become self-sufficient.

Individual grant winners within the Portland Continuum are:

Organization	Grant Amount
City of Portland	$251,100
City of Portland Social Services Division	$158,032
YWCA of Greater Portland	$126,452
City of Portland Social Services Division	$66,597
Maine Adoption Placement Services	$71,355
City of Portland	$31,322
Ingraham, Inc.	$304,999
Department of Mental Health/Mental Retardation	$135,000
Portland West Neighborhood Planning Council	$68,500
Department of Mental Health/Mental Retardation	$156,600
City of Portland Social Services	$15,422
TOTAL	$1,385,379

Funding for the City of Bangor Continuum is:

Organization	Grant Amount
City of Bangor	$1,059,180

Individual grant winners within the State of Maine are:

Organization	Grant Amount
Maine State Housing Authority	$246,120
Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation	$2,897,460
TOTAL	$3,143,580

The Continuum of Care, which is the centerpiece of the federal policy on homelessness announced by President Clinton in 1993, stresses permanent solutions to homelessness through comprehensive and collaborative community planning. Communities submit Continuum of Care plans to HUD that reflect efforts to address the complexities of homelessness through a range of housing and services.

This year, the Continuum of Care was one of just ten winners, out of 1,600 competitors, of the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award that is given by the Ford Foundation and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The awards are designed to recognize "cutting edge" government programs that effectively solve problems.

Cuomo released on Dec. 8 the most comprehensive report ever done on homelessness, which showed programs by HUD and others to help homeless people are working.

The landmark study said most people who become homeless have suffered severe hardships - including physical and sexual abuse, childhood trauma, poverty, a poor education, disability and disease - but are successful in escaping homelessness when they get help from federal and other programs.

The report said that when homeless people get housing assistance and needed services, 76% of those living in families and 60% of those living alone end their homeless status and move to an improved living situation after completion of the assistance program.

The report is titled The Forgotten Americans - Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve. It is filled with revealing statistics that tell the story of people around the nation who have fallen through the social safety net into homelessness.

The report said the top priority of homeless people it surveyed was to get a job - the first step to self-sufficiency. It said 44% of homeless people surveyed worked at least part-time during the past month.

Content Archived: January 20, 2009