In an effort to halt the actions of different major cities to sweep away homeless encampments in recent years, the federal government is now taking direct action in the form of two expanded grant programs it says have become necessary in the face of rising inflation and untenable rental markets. 

Bloomberg is reporting that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has earmarked some $365 million worth of funding aimed directly at the country’s unhoused population it says currently numbers more than 550,000.

The funding is going to be provided through an expansion of HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) grant program and a new round of housing choice vouchers which add up to $43 million. It represents the first time that the agency has dedicated monies to directly aid those who are without shelter, and will address the related issue of rural homelessness with a special earmark of $54.5 million. 

“Solving unsheltered homelessness means delivering help to the people who need it the most, but who have the hardest time reaching it. It means putting housing first and health care and other supportive services right after,” HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said at the announcement.

“Getting unsheltered veterans and homeless rural vets into houses is a top priority in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ strategy to end veteran homelessness,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough added, pointing to a critical aspect of the Biden-Harris homelessness agenda. "These new resources from HUD add timely new capacity to this fight. No veteran should ever be homeless in this country, which they swore an oath to defend.”

HUD recently issued an eye-opening assessment in which it declared that the issue of homelessness could be completely eliminated with an investment of $20 billion. This revelation drew ire online, as critics rightly pointed to America's sad tradition of prioritizing military expenditures over the wellbeing of its own citizens. The needed tide-change may be occurring in spite of this longstanding fact. In Biden's FY2023 budget, a total of $3.576 billion has been directed to Homeless Assistance – representing a $363 million increase over the previous year – and the largest since the program was enacted in the early-1990s. 

Between 20 and 40 municipalities are expected to receive the funding, which provides for a mix of supportive and transitional housing, temporary rental assistance, and outreach services. In a press statement, Fudge said the money would help empower communities to “scale up coordinated efforts to humanely and effectively move people from encampments into homes by linking homeless outreach with health care, treatment and housing.”