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MortgagePoint ยป Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 68 December 2023 J O U R N A L HUD ANNOUNCES $50M TO ADDRESS YOUTH HOMELESSNESS, IMPROVE HOUSING PLACEMENTS T he U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is making $50 million in Youth Homelessness System Improvement (YHSI) grant funding available to com- munities nationwide. HUD has announced new resourc- es, technical assistance, and regulatory flexibilities to support their efforts to address homelessness, including among youth, people in unsheltered settings, and people in rural areas. The grants will focus on systemic change to either improve or create response systems for youth at risk of or experiencing homelessness by funding projects that create and build capacity for Youth Action Boards; establish regional committees on youth homelessness to direct efforts across multiple systems including education, justice, and child welfare; collect and use data on at-risk youth and youth experiencing home- lessness; develop strong leaders within a community; and improve the coordi- nation, communication, operation, and administration of homeless assistance projects to better serve youth, including prevention and diversion strategies. "HUD knows that ending homeless- ness requires commitment from many partners. Through HUD funding and technical assistance, HUD is cutting some of the red tape to help communities make tangible plans and take actionable steps Government to address homelessness among youth, people in unsheltered settings, and in rural areas," Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said. "The Biden-Harris administration is taking a whole-of-government approach toward ending homelessness. We encourage our state and local partners to join us in this critical effort and leverage unprecedented levels of federal resources and flexibilities available to address this crisis." HUD is engaged in a multi-pronged technical assistance strategy to assist 62 Continuum of Care (CoC) communities and 139 Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) that received resources to address rural and unsheltered homelessness. The technical assistance will improve the coordination of programs and services, support people with lived experience to serve in advisory roles, improve their engagement with people in unsheltered and rural settings, and improve con- nections to permanent housing with supportive and health services. To further encourage and support PHAs to assist people experiencing homelessness, HUD issued a letter to PHAs encouraging them to take full advantage of HUD resources and regula- tory flexibilities to support their work to address homelessness. While other HUD and federal funds focus on specific housing and service needs of youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness, Youth Homelessness Sys- tem Improvement (YHSI) grants will help communities build a strong, resilient, and equitable homelessness response system that is less siloed and will break down barriers for youth in crisis. Recognizing that systemic change is often larger than one Continuum of Care, HUD is opening this $50 million notice of funding opportunity to include additional points for statewide or cross-community project proposals to emphasize the need for coordination across communities. The maximum amount of funding for each award type will be doubled for applica- tions that cover geographic areas in two or more Continuums of Care (CoCs), or if the CoC covers the entire geography of the state. YHSI Grants will add to the suite of HUD initiatives that support young people in gaining and maintaining stable