Prince George’s County Awarded More Than $3 Million To Combat Homelessness In The County

LANDOVER, MD--Prince George's County was conditionally awarded $3,156,239 to aid homeless individuals and families in the county.  The funding will be used to target chronic homelessness in the county.

Chronic homelessness focuses on the most difficult to serve clients in the total homeless population who suffer from a combination of serious mental illnesses, chronic addictions to drugs and/or alcohol.

"This funding will help to continue with the progress the county has already made in ending chronic homelessness and is part of the Livable Communities Initiative," said County Executive Jack Johnson.

The funding was distributed through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and will go towards 14 programs countywide aimed at providing supportive housing and services that will allow homeless and chronic homeless persons in the county to live as independently as possible. 

The Prince George's County Department of Social Services is the local administering agency for the county's homeless services programs and facilitates the annual application process.  More than $1 million will go toward four individual programs within the Department of Social Services, including Prince George's House (PGH), Transitional Housing Program, and Advancing Toward Ownership Program (ATOP).

The Prince George's County Homeless Services Partnership (HSP), a coalition of nonprofit, faith-based, local, state and federal entities, private sector service providers, and formerly homeless persons, plans services for the chronic and non-chronic homeless under a Continuum of Care. The HSP provides oversight for the development and continuation of all homeless services in the county.

The HSP reviews and prioritizes funding proposals.  The results of the review are included in the application completed by the Department of Social Services and submitted to HUD on behalf of the Prince George's County Government.  HUD's review process considers the county's goals for ending homelessness including action steps to be taken and progress made from use of previous funds.

The 2005 application was very successful. The county ranked 22 out of 475 applicants nationwide securing an application score well within the top 10 percent of all jurisdictions applying for funding.

The county's ranking was based on multiple factors, including the quality of the application and the process.  By receiving both a high sore and high ranking, the county exceeded HUD's funding cutoff and was able to secure funding for its homeless programs. 

"We are moving closer towards our goal of helping all of our residents to live in stable homes," said James A. Dula, Ph.D., Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Health and Human Services.