Forty-three homeless shelters in South Carolina will stay open, with the help of stimulus funds.
The U-S Department of Housing and Urban Development Wednesday announced a grant extension through its Continuum of Care programs. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan says that as the country is moving through the coldest time of year, its’ critical that no program rick running out of money to keep their doors open.
HUD spokesman Larry Knightner says that means more than $6 million for five areas of the state. “That’s Charleston in the Low Country, also Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson in the Upstate, the Columbia Midlands, and also Sumter and Myrtle Beach, and Florence County and City in the Pee Dee were funded this year,” he says.
Knightner says this money is awarded annually in a competitive grant. “The grants are given for the purposes of health care, training, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and child care,” he says. “And as we very well know, we want to provide housing for individuals so that they will not be living on the streets.”
HUD says that these funds are awarded for those states who are working to reduce homelessness. “The grants are competitive,” he says. “And if South Carolina were not making a significant impact on the lives of the homeless, we certainly would not have a grant this year.”
Knightner is HUD’s director of public housing for the state of South Carolina.
Based on HUD assessments, chronic homelessness has been declining since 2005.
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