Letter to the Hon. Julian Castro, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development - Arizona Continuum of Care Allocations

Letter

Dear Secretary Castro:

We write to you regarding the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) recent announcement of FY2015 Tier 2 Continuum of Care (CoC) allocation in Arizona.

While we support increased competition in the CoC allocation process, due to limited funds, several Arizona-based housing organizations did not receive funding. This has resulted in the unfortunate and imminent displacement of 67 families in Maricopa County if a short-term solution is not found.

As you know, CoC funds are used to target homelessness in communities by providing assistance to homeless individuals and families to obtain both transitional and permanent housing. In the past, due to the timing of funding decisions, some housing organizations regularly incurred expenses for a portion of the year on the assumption that they would cover their expenses after their funding requests were ultimately approved by HUD. It is our understanding that two Standing Strong For Families groups, House of Refuge and Labors Community Service Agency, did not receive adequate notice that CoC funding would be terminated and leaving little time to mitigate their shortfall of funds and relocate families. Furthermore, wait lists for existing programs in Arizona are already at capacity and there is no ability to absorb these additional families being displaced by the affected programs.

In light of this impending housing problem, we request that HUD work with these housing organizations to identify any existing resources to prevent the 67 Arizona families from returning to homelessness. We respectfully ask that HUD reviews this request for feasibility and further recommendation in a manner consistent with existing rules and regulations.

We thank you for your attention to this matter and look forward to your timely response. Should you have additional questions please contact Gina Gormley with Senator McCain via Gina_Gormley@mccan.senate.gov or (602) 952-2410.