The Delaware State Housing Authority announced more than $1.51 million in grant funding to support homeless services.
DSHA partnered with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh to offer grants to 17 nonprofits this year working against homelessness in the First State.
The nonprofits receiving funding from the Home4Good grants include AIDS Delaware, which received $46,200; Future Promises Foundation, which received $62,295 and YWCA Delaware, which received $126,390 between two centers.
FHLBank provided $875,000 of the funds available for grants.
DSHA Director Matthew Heckles said his team’s goal is to build a system where homelessness is rare.
“We know that a family that can be maintained in housing has better outcomes than one that falls into the homelessness system, and [it] actually saves the state and society more money by making sure that they never become homeless,” Heckles said.
He added it’s also important to help people who fall through the cracks by ensuring their experience being homeless is brief.
But Heckles pointed out there are complications at the federal level.
A federal judge blocked changes the Trump administration tried to make at the Department of Housing and Urban Development that Heckles said would increase homelessness rates. Delaware joined 19 other states in the lawsuit.
“Without getting too far away from the Home4Good program, which is a great part of the system that works extremely well, it's really frustrating to be doing really good work with the Federal Home Loan Bank and our partners, and then to have the federal government do what they're doing at the same time,” Heckles said.
Heckles said he expects HUD will appeal the decision shortly.
This year’s Home4Good grants are covered. But detrimental changes to the Continuum of Care grants could stop the DSHA from funding Home4Good in the future.
