The state of Georgia and city of Atlanta will use a $4.1 million grant to provide housing for low-income residents with mental and physical disabilities, officials promised Friday.
The federal grant allows people with disabilities who earn less than 30 percent of the area’s median income to live in mainstream settings. Much of the money is expected to flow to Atlanta’s homeless population.
“How we treat the most vulnerable in our population speaks about who we are,” Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said at a news conference at the state Capitol on Friday.
The grant is the result of a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Ed Jennings Jr., Southeast regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said the cash should help place 150 people in permanent housing and give them important support services.
Friday’s event is the latest development in Atlanta’s strategy to reduce homelessness. Last year, the city housed 131 veterans in 100 days by cutting wait times with the help of federal agencies and nonprofits. The plan is to find housing for another 300 chronically homeless veterans by December 2013.
In mid-January, nearly 200 volunteers scoured homeless shelters and outdoor areas in Atlanta to survey homeless people about their medical needs. That survey was designed to help the city aim services at the highest-risk people.
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