By Caroline Hopper

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and the Department of Housing and Com­munity Development director Leila Edmonds announced the availability of $7.5 million in Homeless Preven­tion and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) funds, part of the federal American Recovery and Reinvest­ment Act of 2009. The District will use these resources to re-house and assist residents struggling with home­lessness.

“Through the Homelessness Pre­vention and Rapid Re-Housing Pro­gram, the District is both preventing and responding to urgent housing needs in the District,” Mayor Fenty said. “We look forward to supporting District residents’ efforts to secure safe and comfortable homes.”

To receive funds, a person must be currently homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, a District resi­dent, and receiving less than 50% of the median income, according to Vanessa Benoit, Department of Hu­man Services (DHS) homeless coor­dinator.

According to the mayor’s office, a total of $1,040,000 will be directed toward homelessness prevention. Residents experiencing temporary housing dilemmas, such as recently becoming unemployed, may access the $2,412,500 of the HPRP funds that are available for rapid re-housing services. To guarantee that residents remain housed, $1,440,000 in HPRP funds will be directed to case management of households.

“HPRP provides an excellent supplement to our existing programs,” Edmonds said. “My staff and I will take full advantage of this oppor­tunity to ensure stable and affordable housing for families in our city.”

The D.C. Department of Housing and Commu­nity Development (DHCD) and the DHS will provide financial assistance, housing coun­seling, and legal services to D.C. residents who struggle to afford hous­ing. These services will be paid for with HPRP funds, according to the mayor’s office.

Certain community or­ganizations, including Catho­lic Charities, Community of Hope, Housing Counseling Services (HCS) and The Com­munity Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, will help implement these funds.

“It’s been quick,” said Kelly McShane, Executive Direc­tor of Community of Hope. “There was a large response of 75 to 80 people just within the first week.”

According to Benoit, interested residents must undergo a screening process at one of the four community organizations.

“This is to make sure the family or individual meets the criteria to re­ceive a fund,” Benoit said. “Also, the eligibility provider needs to see that the family has a plan after the end of the subsidy.”

According to the mayor’s office, both individuals and families are entitled to up to 18 months of rental assis­tance. Each member receiving assistance will be reassessed ev­ery three months to determine the validity of his or her eligibility for financial support.

According to Mc­Shane, the timeline is the biggest challenge.

“The hard part is that these are short term funds,” McShane said. “Participants are expected to con­tinue on their own afterwards.”

Marian Siegel, executive director of HCS, is hopeful about the new avail­ability of these funds as her organiza­tion works to screen individuals and families.

“My hopes for this project are that tenants who have had a temporary emergency can be put onto a better trajectory for financial health,” Sie­gel said. “That will happen through finan­cial assistance, housing counseling, and case management.”

Still, Siegel said she is concerned “that needs may outweigh resources.”

Though homelessness remains an outstanding problem in the District, previously unstated fi­nancial assistance programs, similar to the HPRP funds, have proved suc­cessful.

“The city has the Emergency Rental Assistance program,” Siegel said. “It has met tremendous needs of hundreds of families assisted.”