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Protect Federal Funding: Continuum of Care

This past Friday, the New York Times published an article titled, “Trump Seeks to End Permanent Supportive Housing for the Chronically Homeless.” This article details the President’s budget that significantly cuts housing and homelessness programs that Beacon and residents of our buildings depend on.

This budget eliminates a program that is critical to Beacon and other supportive housing providers called the Continuum of Care (CoC). Elimination of the CoC will endanger housing stability for over 300,000 people nationwide who have experienced homelessness and now live in supportive housing.

Take Action: Email your Member of Congress and ask them to preserve funding for supportive housing in their budget.

There is a lot of trust here. Whether it’s the case managers, or your neighbors. When people live in a place like Lydia, you can choose your own path and reach whatever goals you’ve set. – Ray, Resident at Lydia Apartments

What’s at stake?

The stakes are high for Beacon and other organizations working hard to end homelessness once and for all.

For Beacon, the CoC supports nearly 300 residents at four supportive housing buildings, including Beacon’s very first building, Lydia Apartments. There, the CoC helps provide services for 80 residents. These services are what make a place like Lydia more than a roof over someone’s head.

Single adults who live at Lydia face overlapping, complex challenges to achieving housing stability. Supportive housing offers a safe environment with on-site supports and resources where residents can regain agency, focus on recovery, reconnect with community and pursue their individual goals.

The CoC is a federal program that supports the coordination and funding for local efforts to end homelessness. This program directly funds:

• Permanent supportive housing programs
• Local databases that track homelessness to direct resources where they are most needed
• Coordinated entry, a system that matches individuals and families with housing opportunities best suited to their needs

What happens next?

Congress must pass the federal budget, so the President’s budget is just a starting point. However, it does point in the direction many in Washington want to go and means we must be loud and persuasive in our defense of supportive housing.

The CoC is an essential component of our current system. While its funding remains intact for the moment, Beacon and many providers who have CoC contracts remain vigilant. We need to make sure our leaders in Washington understand how critical the CoC is to preserving supportive housing. Email your Members of Congress today!

Please join me in lifting your voice to protect supportive housing!

Sincerely,

Ben Helvick Anderson

VP of Policy & Organizing

There is more to unpack in the President’s proposed budget. Look for more emails from Beacon explaining other parts of it, including its dramatic cut to the rental voucher system. We encourage you to read the NYTimes article referenced above, or this MPR coverage.