Grant Types

• Federal homeless grants fall into the categories of housing, medical and mental health care, education and employment. The overall federal approach to ending homelessness is coordinated by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.
  
  

Limitations

• TV ads promising easy money from the government are misleading. Keep in mind these limitations:
  
  Federal homeless grants are not available to individuals. You must be a state or local government entity, a private nonprofit or a quasi-governmental entity such as a public housing authority to apply. This ensures that entities receiving homeless grants have the expertise to spend the funds effectively.
  
  Many grant application processes are competitive--applications are weighed against each other. Those that plan most effectively for the most useful services tend to win. Noncompetitive grants are given to government entities only, who then distribute funds to nonprofits.
  
  Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires grantees to be involved in a regional homeless planning process called "Continuum of Care," or "CoC." CoC's are coalitions that meet locally to coordinate homeless resources. Some CoC's cover a city, but others span entire states. All CoC's require you to be involved with the CoC by attending meetings and working with their coalition before you can apply for funding.
  
  

Finding Federal Homeless Grants

• There's money to help the homeless, but it takes work and persistence.
  
  The Web is your best resource for finding homeless grants:
  
  --www.federalgrantswire.com: a comprehensive search engine for federal grants, with information on navigating the often complicated process of applying. You can browse grants by applicant type or by type of assistance provided, or check links on how to apply and who is eligible.
  
  --www.grants.gov: provides a comprehensive listing of federal grants of all kinds. You must register with this site if you intend to apply for any federal grant.
  
  --www.hud.gov: HUD's home website includes a page linking all of HUD's homeless programs and other federal agencies that offer homeless grants.
  
  --http://hudhre.info: HUD operates the Homeless Resource Exchange website, which has information about applying for HUD grants. The site has contact information for every Continuum of Care.
  
  

Housing Grants

• Safe, decent and afforable housing is HUD's goal.
  
  HUD is the main federal provider of housing grants, which include:
  
  1. Shelter Plus Care, a rental assistance program for disabled homeless people available only to government entities and public housing authorities.
  
  2. Supportive Housing Program, for nonprofits to build, buy or rehabilitate rental units and operate rental housing for disabled homeless people.
  
  3. Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG), providing funds for shelter operations, homelessness prevention and related activities. ESG funds are granted to governments, which then distribute the funds to nonprofits.
  
  

Medical and Mental Health Grants

• Health and Human Services is the main provider of medical and mental health grants, which include:
  
  1. Access to Recovery, which funds substance-abuse treatment and recovery support services. Clients served need not be homeless.
  
  2. Projects for Assistance in Transition From Homelessness (PATH), which funds 480 nonprofits nationwide to provide support services and mental health services for homeless people.
  
  

State Funding

• State funds to house homeless people come from state housing finance agencies (HFA's). Every state has a housing trust fund or similar arrangement that is funded by fees from real-estate transactions. HFA's must spend a percentage of their funds annually on serving homeless populations. A complete list of HFA's is available at the website of the National Council of Housing Finance Agencies, www.ncsha.org. As with federal homeless grants, state funds are available only to nonprofit agencies or government entities.