Detroit — Up to 140 families a year living in Detroit homeless shelters will be placed in permanent housing and have their rent paid for up to one year under a city program announced Wednesday by Mayor Mary Sheffield.
The $9.2 million investment over three years will transition families with minor children from emergency shelters to permanent housing. The initiative is a 500% increase from last year’s investment and aims to help around 140 families annually, with an estimated impact on 500 Detroiters each year.
Some 78 families have already been identified and are currently transitioning into permanent housing, city officials said Wednesday. City officials didn’t specify how the families were selected.
“This significant $9.2 million dollar investment is going to continue to support families and individuals like we just heard today, ” said Sheffield at a Thursday press conference at McDuffy Park. “Taking them out of emergency shelter, giving them a place to call home, while we pay for rent for six to 12 months with the intensive wraparound support that they need to be self-sufficient.”
The investment comes at a time when “federal funds are being cut for these types of services,” Sheffield said. The city’s emergency homeless shelter system operates at close to full capacity on a regular basis, officials said.
The investment was made possible by an increase in general fund dollars in the city’s budget, which also freed up some federal dollars the city has access to, said Luke Schaefer, chief of the city’s Health, Human Services and Poverty Solutions department.
“We know when families have access to stable housing and support, they remain housed and lives change,”Schaefer said. He cited various studies that the months of paid rent and other support that will be offered to the families often result in longer term stability.
The first 78 families in the program have already been contacted and going through leasing process, officials said. The expanded program is one of the first major initiatives by the city’s Human, Homeless, and Family Services Department, which Sheffield created in January.
laguilar@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit expands program to get homeless families out of shelters, offer free rent
Reporting by Louis Aguilar, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Louis Aguilar, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
