A local nonprofit focused on solving homelessness in Central Florida has received a grant from the federal government to coordinate resources for unsheltered youth.
Thank you @SecFudge and the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida for today's round table discussion dedicated to finding housing and homelessness solutions in our community. Secretary Fudge also announced @HUDgov is contributing $8.3M to directly serve our homeless youth. pic.twitter.com/ObLlC99GFI
— Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings (@OCFLMayor) October 24, 2022
Central Florida has more unhoused young people than any other area in the state. That’s according to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge.
To help address the problem, the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida in Orlando is getting an $8.3 million dollar grant from HUD.
Fudge says the money will be used to coordinate services that are already available for unsheltered youth through a variety of different partners.
“They're already doing housing in a really, really big way. But let's just say, and I talked earlier about medical needs, things that happen to interact with the schools, aging out of foster care, all of those things. But they need a coordination.”
Right now, she says that coordination simply isn't happening.
“And so this grant is, this is what the young people requested, was to be able to put in place something that would allow them to interact with all of the various people they need to interact with. So I don't know where it exactly starts. But the young people already have an idea of where they want it to go. So I'm excited to see where it's going to go.”
Learn more about the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida here.