Politics & Government

Homelessness Prevention: Arlington Uses Local Dollars to Offset Sequestration Cuts

The county will dip into its contingency fund thanks to cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Arlington County Board on Saturday dipped into a $3 million contingency fund to deal with the effects of federal sequestration for the first time since the across-the-board budget cuts hit in March.

The board voted unanimously to restore $39,000 to the county's Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. The money will be used to fill a gap in state funding that was reduced due to sequestration cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“This is the first time the County has had to tap into its sequestration fund, but unfortunately, we are quite certain it will not be the last,” Arlington County Board Chairman Walter Tejada said in a statement. “Across the nation, communities are feeling the impact of sequestration. These indiscriminate cuts are affecting the lives of real people, in large and small ways, and that impact is only going to grow as time goes on. In this instance, we are able to use the special funds to continue important safety net services for some of our most vulnerable individuals and families.”

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Earlier this year, the county set aside $3 million to help ease the pain of federal sequestration.

The funds authorized Saturday will restore case management services to at-risk individuals and families provided through four area nonprofit partners.

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Arlington's Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program is an essential ingredient to the county's 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness. The idea is helping people stay off the streets — or to help them back into housing as quickly as possible — works to prevent homelessness from becoming a bigger problem than it already is.

The program provides short-term financial assistance for rent, security and utility deposits, utility payment and moving costs, along with case management through the Arlington Street People's Assistance Network, the Arlington-Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless, Doorways for Women and Families, and Volunteers of America-Chesapeake.

For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, the program served 198 households, which represents 217 adults and 111 children, according to the most recent data available. That's a 10 percent increase in households over the previous year.

The median length of participation for households that received financial assistance was two months. The median length of participation for homeless individuals and families who were moved back into housing was about four months.

In terms of homelessness prevention, 98 percent of those served by the program remained in housing — of them, 60 percent with the help of a subsidy.

Of the homeless who benefited from rapid re-housing, 64 percent were placed in apartments thanks to a rental subsidy.

Arlington's Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program has served 569 people since October 2009.


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