Last week representatives from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development traveled to Oneonta to meet with officials and awarded Catholic Charities of Chenango County with $446,522 to provide Rapid Rehousing Services to local residents who are struggling with homelessness. (Submitted photo)

NORWICH – On February 2 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Region II Regional Administrator Alicka Ampry-Samual traveled to Oneonta to award two local service organizations with $1,162,978.

The award was part of a first of its kind Supplemental Notice of Funding Opportunity that was available to national Continuums of Care.

Catholic Charities of Chenango County, a member of the NY-511 Continuum of care which covers Broome, Chenango, Deleware, Cortland, Otsego and Tioga Counties, was one of the agencies selected to receive an award.

Only forty six providers throughout the United States, and only three in New York State received awards for this funding.

The agency will receive $446,522 of this award to provide Rapid Rehousing Services to Chenango County residents who are struggling with homelessness. The funding will specifically be used to provide intensive case management and housing subsidies to help homeless individuals achieve permanent housing stability.

Catholic Charities wrote this proposal in an effort to add funding to Chenango County’s very limited resource pool to address homelessness. The proposal was one of numerous that the agency is working on to address these growing needs, and is an essential part to developing a continuum of homeless services.

For the past year, Catholic Charities has been an active member of a coalition of providers within Chenango County who have been working diligently to collaborate on how to reduce homelessness in our rural community. The decision of Catholic Charities to apply for this funding was due, in part, to the service gaps that this coalition has identified.

This historic and unprecedented award will provide a significant step forward in the fight to end homelessness in Chenango County. Catholic Charities is grateful to HUD for recognizing the unique needs of rural communities, and entrusting our agency with this funding to deliver these resources to the people who need it most.

– From Catholic Charities