Regional grant will fund a rapid re-housing program and support work to
strengthen the safety net

Boulder County, Colo. - The Boulder County
Housing Authority’s (BCHA) Housing Stabilization Program has received a
$680,560 Continuum of Care (CoC) grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD). The grant will support approximately 30 families or
individuals in Boulder County who are homeless or at imminent risk of
homelessness and will strengthen the work of the county’s Community Housing
Resource Panel.

The housing panel is
composed of seven community safety net organizations that administer supportive
case management and rapid re-housing resources. Through the coordinated
referral and assessment work of the panel, the Boulder County Department of
Housing and Human Services (BCDHHS) – which houses BCHA – provides a range of
supportive housing options to homeless or imminently homeless households, with
the goal of helping them move toward self-sufficiency.

“We are grateful for the
deep working relationships we’ve built over time within our community safety net,”
BCDHHS Director Frank Alexander said. “The
Housing Panel is a unique way for non-profit and governmental partners to work
together to screen and structure supportive rental assistance and case
management, and to help people become stable as quickly and efficiently as
possible. We couldn’t do this without the great collaboration of our community
partners.”

In addition to BCHA and
BCDHHS, members of the panel include: Emergency Family Assistance Association,
Sister Carmen Community Center, OUR Center, Safe Shelter Progressive Alliance
for Nonviolence, Safe Shelter of St. Vrain Valley, and Bridge House. Access to
this resource is only available through referrals from these organizations.

“The lack of affordable
housing is one of the most pressing issues facing our county at this time,”
said Sister Carmen CEO Suzanne Crawford. “At Sister Carmen, we work with
families who are struggling to avoid eviction and homelessness. We are grateful
that our community has this additional resource to help these families.”

“We’re so proud of
the collaborative work taking place across our county and our region to greatly
reduce homelessness in our community,” Boulder County Commissioner Cindy
Domenico said. “We know that access to safe, stable, and affordable housing is
critical to any individual’s or family’s ability to thrive. This grant will
help us respond to the growing need in our community and will strengthen our
prevention-oriented safety net.”

The county’s housing panel is part of the Metropolitan
Denver Continuum of Care, a regional system for helping people who are homeless
or at imminent risk of homelessness by ensuring that appropriate housing and
services are available. The regional CoC is facilitated by the Metropolitan
Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI).

About HUD’s Continuum of Care Program

The
Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is designed to promote community-wide
commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; provide funding for efforts by
nonprofit providers and State and local governments to quickly re-house
homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation
caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness;
promote access to and effect utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals
and families; and optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families
experiencing homelessness.