Homeless Services Assistance

The City of Newton is committed to assisting people who are homeless or are at-risk of homelessness and allocates funding from three U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants to programs that address homelessness Community Development Block Grant, Emergency Solutions Grant and Continuum of Care.

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)

Newton allocates a portion of the annual Community Development Block Grant funding it receives from HUD to programs that address homelessness. These programs are funded through the 15 percent of the Citys CDBG grant that is allocated to human service programs. For FY13, four programs have been funded:

Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG)

Grants are awarded to nonprofit agencies through an open grant application process. Each fall, Newton Housing and Community Development Program staff issues a notice of availability of ESG funds for the following fiscal year. Grant applications from homeless shelters, transitional housing programs or homeless prevention programs are screened by the Human Service Advisory Committee (HSAC), a citizen advisory group. Grants are awarded to the agencies that demonstrate an outstanding capacity to meet documented needs. The table below details the agencies and programs that were selected for funding during FY13 and the amount allocated to each program:

Reach Emergency Shelter	$19,600
The Second Step, Inc.	$41,400
Middlesex Human Services Agency	$24,000

Continuum of Care

The City of Newton is part of the Brookline-Newton-Waltham-Watertown Continuum of Care, one of 19 Continuums in Massachusetts formed as a result of HUDs annual competitive application process for Continuum of Care funds. These Continuums are made up of the geographic area of one or more contiguous cities and/or towns. The purpose of forming these continuums is to bring communities together in a coordinated planning effort to work towards alleviating homelessness.

Within the Brookline-Newton-Waltham-Watertown Continuum of Care geographic area, the entity that meets regularly to carryout this goal is the Homelessness Consortium. The Homelessness Consortium, which was formed in the mid-1990s, is composed of representatives of nonprofit organizations, municipal government, state agencies, businesses and religious organizations, as well as homeless and formerly homeless people. As the lead entity of the Consortium Newton Housing and Community Development staff coordinates the annual application for HUD Continuum of Care. These funds are awarded annually through an extensive, highly competitive application process. Agencies that receive funds contract directly with HUD.

Listed below are the agencies that were awarded funds during the FY11 funding round. For more information regarding the City of Newton's homeless assistance programs, please contact Carl Baniszewski at (617) 796-1132 or via email at cbaniszewski@newtonma.gov.