House America leverages American Rescue Plan and other federal resources to immediately re-house and build additional housing for people experiencing homelessness
By the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
On Monday, September 20, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria joined U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia L. Fudge, who serves as chair of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), at a virtual event to launch House America: An All-Hands-On-Deck Effort to Address the Nation’s Homelessness Crisis.
House America is a national partnership in which HUD and USICH invite mayors, county leaders, Tribal nation leaders, and governors to use the historic investments provided through the American Rescue Plan to address the crisis of homelessness through a Housing First approach by immediately re-housing and building additional housing for people experiencing homelessness.
“We here in the City of San Diego spend millions of dollars on this issue and yet we are not getting the results that San Diegans would expect,” said Mayor Gloria. “This is where the dollars from the American Rescue Plan become very, very helpful. We will take those new revenues as well as repurposed dollars to really double down on proven strategies.”
House America is the federal government’s direct response to the crisis of homelessness, which was rising even before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, HUD released its 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part 1 to Congress, which found that more than 580,000 people experienced homelessness in the United States on a single night in January 2020, prior to the pandemic. COVID-19 has created greater urgency to address homelessness, given the heightened risks faced by people experiencing homelessness. At the same time, COVID-19 has slowed re-housing activities due to capacity issues and impacts on rental market vacancies.
Through the American Rescue Plan, San Diego City and County received 744 emergency housing vouchers and $20.9 million in HOME Investment Partnerships grants to help more residents obtain the safety of a stable home.
As a founding member of House America, Mayor Gloria and the City of San Diego will partner with HUD and USICH to use these American Rescue Plan resources to re-house households experiencing homelessness through a Housing First approach, and to add new units of affordable housing into the development pipeline by December 31, 2022.
To learn more about House America, visit: www.hud.gov/house_america.
