Catholic Charities of Onondaga County is among the agencies receiving a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to aid in housing efforts for the homeless.

The department will provide Catholic Charities of Onondaga County with $451,589 at the end of the calendar year, said Toni Maxwell, associate director of Catholic Charities of Onondaga County. The grant is part of the nearly $201 million in funding announced last week that is being awarded to 731 local homeless programs across the country.

‘We were very happy about our grant, not only because of the money, but we also experienced an outpour of support for our obtainment of the grant from other nonprofits in the area,’ Maxwell said.

The Catholic Charities of Onondaga County is a nonprofit organization that assists families and individuals in need throughout Syracuse. The organization’s efforts include helping homeless individuals find permanent residences in apartments throughout Syracuse, Maxwell said.

The grants were awarded to programs the department never funded before and were provided to ensure housing programs throughout the United States are able to remain operating in 2012, according to a March 13 press release from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

‘Grantees will join the tens of thousands of local programs that are on the front lines of helping those who might otherwise be living on our streets,’ said U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan in the release. ‘It’s incredible that as we work to recover from the greatest economic decline since the Great Depression, the total number of homeless Americans is declining, in large part because of these funds.’

Homelessness in the United States declined a total of 2.1 percent between 2010 and 2011, and 12 percent among homeless veterans, according to the release.

Although the national percentage of homelessness is declining, it remains an issue in Onondaga County, especially in Syracuse, Maxwell said. The highest number of homelessness in the county is found in Syracuse because it is the county’s main metropolitan area, she said.

‘The money will help us to not only move people into their new apartments, but we also will provide other services to help them get on their feet,’ Maxwell said.

Catholic Charities will use its grant money to open 40 new apartments in Syracuse for individuals and families in need of housing. Maxwell said the organization helps the recipients of their housing find income by assisting in their job searches and by helping to evaluate their eligibility for programs such as Medicaid and food stamps.

‘We work collaboratively with the community and organizations in the community to help with issues like homelessness,’ Maxwell said. ‘This grant is definitely going to significantly help our efforts.’

adhitzle@syr.edu 

Published on March 20, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Alexandra: adhitzle@syr.edu | @LexieHitzler