The federal government is making cuts to funding that support permanent housing and Fresno County is expected to feel the impacts at the beginning of next year.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, has released its Continuum of Care Notice of Funding.
The notice says there’s a cap at 30 percent on federal funds that back Permanent Supportive Housing and Rapid Re-housing Projects.
That’s a 45 percent decrease for Fresno County projects.
The organization, Turning Point of Central California, will lose funds with the new guidelines.
Because of the loss, Turning Point told its residents to vacate by the end of January.
“60-day notice for 80 people right before Christmas is devastating,” Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez said.
Chavez, whose district covers the permanent housing projects, says it’s all hands-on deck to find alternatives.
“The short-term solution is going to be postpones those 60-day notices to give us some more time and not just have folks go out in the cold,” he said.
HUD is expected to offer over $3.9 billion to its recipients but county officials say with the cap on permanent housing, they’re having to get creative on helping those in need.
“This is impacting people that are in long-term housing placements. But at the same time, it’s so important for us to be strategic about how we approach this funding,” Fresno County Homelessness Program Manager Dylan McCully said.
There’s state funding that could help with housing, but county officials explain it won’t be long-term housing solutions.
“We are, you know, working closely with the county, COC, our jurisdictional partners, and the city to try and mitigate these effects and and find housing pathways for the folks that effected,” McCully said.
Action News did reach out to Turning Point of Central California for comment and has not heard back at the time of publication.
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