HAMPTON — This city recently received a grant from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to address homelessness on the Peninsula.
The 2020 Virginia Homeless Solutions Program Grant amount is $1,047,754.
“The grant will be spent to fund the regional services that include the housing crisis hotline, coordinated assessments, outreach, prevention services (preventing families and individuals from becoming homeless); rapid re-housing (for individuals who have been evicted or otherwise have become homeless) and shelter operations,” Robin McCormick, spokeswoman for the city, wrote in an email.
Here’s the breakdown of the grant:
- Outreach: $54,
000 - Coordinated assessment: $18,403
- Prevention: $295,395
- Shelter operations: $250,000
- Rapid re-housing: $327,029
- (Continuum of Care) CoC planning: $54,295
- HMIS (online information system: $20,717
- Administration: $27,915
In addition, the state is allocating $159,700 for the rapid rehousing program and the federal government is giving $167,329, according to the grant agreement.
The city’s department of human services has received this grant every year since 2014, according to the agenda approved by city council.
Hampton did not have to match the grant.
The main goals of the Virginia Homeless Solutions Program are to reduce the number of people who are homeless, the length of time the people are homeless and lower the number of individuals who return to homelessness.
Hampton is one of several localities including Newport News, Poquoson, Williamsburg, James City County and York County who are part of the Greater Virginia Peninsula Consortium.
The group partners with local nonprofits such as LINK of Hampton Roads, Transitions and the Salvation Army Peninsula and serves as a resource for people who are homeless.
LINK of Hampton Roads and the Hampton Roads Economical Lodgings and Provisions each run a winter shelter program which rotates out of different churches each week — it’s a seasonal program and does not address the year-round issues of homelessness.
In Newport News, the city recently opened a day services center where people who are homeless can take a shower, wash their clothes and get access to case workers and other resources. While the center is open year-round during the day, it does not provide overnight accommodations.
Neither the winter shelter program run by the nonprofits or the city run day services center operate a year-round overnight shelter for people who are homeless — currently there is not city-run shelter on the Peninsula.
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