El Dorado County receives largest-ever grant to help end homelessness

PLACERVILLE, Calif. January 8, 2018 – El Dorado County Health and Human Services today announced that the County’s Continuum of Care program received nearly $400,000 in federal funding to help end homelessness and fund emergency domestic violence services and enhance coordination among local agencies that handle those issues. It is the largest amount ever awarded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the Continuum of Care (CoC).

“We are delighted that the El Dorado County Opportunity Knocks program was recognized for these grants as they will greatly increase the vital services that homeless individuals need to help get them off the streets and on to a better way of life,” said Patricia Charles-Heathers, El Dorado County’s Health and Human Services Director.

HUD annually provides one to two rounds of funding to end homelessness through the CoC program, called the Emergency Solutions Grant and the HUD CoC competitions. El Dorado County participated in both competitions in 2017, the most competitive series to date, receiving a combined total of $380,441. Two CoC partner agencies were awarded those funds, the Center for Violence-Free Relationships and Only Kindness, Inc.

The Center for Violence-Free Relationships was awarded $251,111 to support Domestic Violence Emergency Shelter, Supportive Housing Programs for homeless individuals, CoC partner coordination of services, and the CoC database to track client services. Only Kindness, Inc. was awarded $120,000, which will be used for Supportive Housing Programs for homeless individuals.

“Without the countless hours and effort of these two agencies putting together strong applications that met the large demands of the competition, we likely wouldn’t have received these grants,” said Daniel Del Monte, Deputy Director of Community Services. “It’s a tangible example of the success that can be achieved through CoC collaboration.”

National research shows that 75-93% of participants in these types of programs stay stably housed and avoid a return to homelessness.