LUBBOCK, Texas — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday announced the allocation of over $174 million in emergency COVID-19 grants to the State of Texas, including $1.3 million to the City of Lubbock.
The funding is to support homeless Americans and those at risk of becoming homeless because of COVID-19-related hardships, such as job loss and wage reduction, according to a release.
HUD awarded Texas $77 million in similar grants in April, according to the release.
“This increased funding to help our homeless will make a difference now as we combat the coronavirus and inform long-term, innovative solutions for addressing homelessness in the future,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson.
Read the full release by HUD below:
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson today announced the allocation of $174,237,595 in Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) funding to 21 Texas cities and the State of Texas to support homeless Americans and individuals at risk of becoming homeless because of hardships such as job loss, wage reduction, or illness due to COVID-19. Nationally, $2.9 billion in ESG grants was awarded today.
Today’s funding is in addition to the $77 million in ESG grants awarded to Texas announced during the first wave of HUD CARES Act grants in April.
The funding awarded today can be used by grantees to:
- Make more emergency shelters available for homeless individuals and families.
- Operate emergency shelters by providing food, rent, security, maintenance, repair, fuel, equipment, insurance, utilities, furnishings, and supplies necessary for their operation.
- Provide hotel/motel vouchers for homeless families and individuals.
- Provide essential services to people experiencing homelessness including childcare, education services, employment assistance, outpatient health services, legal services, mental health services, substance abuse treatment services, and transportation.
- Prevent individuals from becoming homeless and rapidly rehouse homeless individuals.
“Homelessness was a major issue in some cities across our Nation long before this pandemic occurred, and unfortunately the dire living conditions of our most vulnerable Americans left many without a home to isolate in, or the proper medical and healthcare resources needed to defend themselves against this invisible enemy,” said Secretary Carson. “This increased funding to help our homeless will make a difference now as we combat the coronavirus and inform long-term, innovative solutions for addressing homelessness in the future.”
Congress has provided $4 billion for HUD’s ESG program for local governments to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus among individuals and families who are homeless, receiving homeless assistance, or are at risk of becoming homeless. With today’s announcement, HUD has allocated $3.96 billion in ESG funding to impacted communities in every U.S. State and territory. The remaining $40 million is being utilized to provide technical assistance to build capacity of grantees in those communities receiving the funding.