Long Island gets $10.6M in federal grants for homeless programs

Long Island agencies received $10.6 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for homeless housing and service programs, including nearly $350,000 for new programs, the federal agency announced this week.

The money will chiefly go to “continue our region’s essential homeless programs for one more year,” said Greta Guarton, executive director of the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless.

The new programs funded include two permanent-housing programs for homeless people, including veterans, as well as about $59,000 for the development of a centralized assessment system for homeless services on Long Island, Guarton said.

Four other new programs, to permanently house the chronically homeless, did not receive money, she said.

“There’s never enough housing,” she said. “For every unit we’re able to develop, there’s probably five or six eligible families that just can’t find a place.”