KHA awarded vouchers to help combat homelessness

Sept. 07--The Kokomo Housing Authority has been awarded tens of thousands of dollars expected to help provide permanent affordable housing to non-elderly people with disabilities.

The agency announced Wednesday that it was awarded $93,011 in the form of 19 Mainstream Vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Effectively, the HUD program provides funding to housing agencies to assist non-elderly people with disabilities who are transitioning out of institutional or other separated settings; at serious risk of institutionalization; homeless; or at risk of becoming homeless.

The Mainstream Voucher program also requires housing authorities to work with other agencies to develop community-based integrated housing opportunities, according to a KHA media release.

That measure is meant to ensure services, programs and activities by public entities are provided in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of people with disabilities.

"The Mainstream Voucher program is essential to combating homelessness, or the possibility of it, in vulnerable populations," said KHA CEO Debra Cook. "We are working with over 15 community partners to address this situation locally. And with the community's help, we will transform lives."

Kokomo was one of five public housing authorities in Indiana awarded housing vouchers through the competitive grant. The others were Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Lafayette and Portland.

"These vouchers are a direct effort to help provide non-elderly persons with disabilities immediate access to permanent housing," added Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight. "Programs like this have shown to have benefits in other cities, and it will have a positive effect here in Kokomo."

Organizations supporting the program include the Kokomo Rescue Mission, Coordinated Assistance Ministries, Turning Point: Systems of Care and others.

Such partnerships are expected to help the KHA use the vouchers by providing referrals; assisting transitions into housing units; and providing access to support services.

The program "provides critically important affordable housing serving the most vulnerable individuals with disabilities across the state," said HUD Midwest Regional Administrator Joseph P. Galvan in a separate announcement.

"It will promote independence and diversion from costly institutionalization and will prevent homelessness."

Notably, the KHA already administers the Housing Choice Voucher program, which subsidizes rent payments to private landlords on behalf of eligible clients, allowing notably low-income families to lease or purchase "safe, decent and affordable" privately-owned rental housing, according to the release.

Last year's Point-in-Time count found a total of 149 homeless people in Howard County, down from 171 in 2016. In 2017, that included eight veterans and 28 juveniles, or youth under the age of 18.

There were 12 people listed as having a serious mental illness; 13 with a substance abuse disorder; and 32 victims of domestic violence. But that only represents the people willing to admit those facts.

The Point-in-time homeless county survey, which offers a snapshot of homelessness on a particular night, is required by HUD for every community receiving federal funds for programs to aid the homeless.

It's likely, however, that the numbers are actually much larger.

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Policy said in a 2017 report that the count produces "a significant undercount of the homeless population at a given point in time."

The organization reported that the annual number of homeless people is estimated to be 2.5 to 10.2 times greater than what's obtained during the Point-in-Time count.

George Myers can be reached at 765-454-8585, by email at george.myers@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter @gmyerskt.

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