The annual grants are awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Loreto House in on Hamilton Street in Holyoke, which offers transitional housing for homeless men, netted $80,351 in federal grants announced Wednesday.BOSTON - Organizations in Western Massachusetts will receive $2.6 million in federal grants to provide housing and other services for the homeless and mentally ill, the state’s congressional delegation said on Wednesday.
The annual grants, awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, are critical for assuring housing, counseling and other services to some of the most needy people in the region and the state.
“The amounts we get have helped us create a safety net for moving the lives of homeless folks forward,” said Northampton Housing and Community Development Planner Margaret L. Keller.
U.S. Sens. John F. Kerry and Scott P. Brown and U.S. Reps. Richard E. Neal, of Springfield, and John W. Olver, of Amherst, announced the grants.
Northampton is the lead agency for the Three-County Continuum of Care, an alliance of about 300 to 400 agencies formed in 1997 to compete for federal funding.
Under Northampton’s grant, private nonprofit agencies in Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden counties, excluding Springfield, received $1.441 million for 14 different programs.
For example, the Loreto House in on Hamilton Street in Holyoke, which offers transitional housing for homeless men, netted $80,351 and the Silver Street Inn in Greenfield, which provides transitional housing for homeless people, was awarded $200,529.
The Paradise Pond Apartments in Northampton, which provides a home for low- and very low-income families with children, received $22,312. HAPHousing in Springfield, a nonprofit developer of affordable housing, owns the 12 apartments in Northampton.
The Samaritan Inn in Westfield, which provides emergency shelter for the homeless and operates a day center, received $104,993.
The city of Springfield is the lead agency for a grant of $1.165 million for five private, nonprofit agencies that run 10 separate programs.
Geraldine McCafferty, director of housing for the city of Springfield, said the grants are vital for helping move the chronically homeless off the streets. “These are critically important to our plan to reduce homelessness,” she said.
The River Valley Counseling Center, a mental health clinic, received $118,831 for a program to provide housing for people with AIDS or the virus that causes AIDS.
The Tranquility House in Springfield, part of Open Pantry Community Services Inc., received $35,419. The program helps women recover from substance abuse and addictions.
The Massachusetts Career Development Institute in Springfield received $217,908 for Families First, a program that provides transitional housing for 12 homeless families for up to two years, and $195,574 for Annie’s House, which is transitional housing for single, homeless women.
The Mental Health Association in Springfield won $96,694 to provide housing for single homeless adults with serious mental illness and the Human Resources Unlimited in Springfield garnered $152,428 to provide apartments to individuals or families suffering from serious mental illness.