Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) presented a grant for $6,881,000 to the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH) to develop and implement a coordinated community plan to prevent and end youth homelessness in San Antonio. Under its Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP), HUD has awarded a total of $75 million in grants nationally to end youth homelessness in 23 local communities across the country.
Your San Antonio Chamber of Commerce’s is honored to represent the region’s business community by serving on the SARAH Board, and we continue to be invested in finding solutions to homelessness in San Antonio, for the sake of our community and its members as well as propelling business success through a supported workforce.
This year’s funding level is significantly higher than the $43 million awarded last year. “The solutions to youth homelessness that are being built and tested through HUD’s YHDP program represent community collaboration at its best,” said Jemine Bryon, HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Needs, who spoke at the event. “We are confident that SARAH, working with its Youth Action Board and partners, will use this grant to move towards permanently ending youth homelessness in San Antonio.” Brenda Mascorro, Executive Director of SARAH, said, “We are so excited to receive these funds from HUD. We are looking forward to crafting a plan to help our youth with housing and to provide them the assistance needed to realize their amazing potential.”
Over the next several months, SARAH will work with its Youth Action Board, child welfare agencies, and other community partners to create a comprehensive community plan to end youth homelessness. In San Antonio for the 2018-2019 school year, 421 unaccompanied youth were identified in public school, and 98 unaccompanied youth were counted the night of the 2019 Homeless Point-in-Time Count. SARAH believes these numbers do not accurately represent the total number of homeless youth in San Antonio/Bexar County, including those who are couch surfing, exiting foster care, escaping human trafficking, and fleeing violence. Data sharing and collaboration will be a key component of the upcoming coordinated community plan.
