Nearly $3 million in federal grant funds will be dispersed to nonprofits with the goal of addressing and preventing youth homelessness in the Omaha metro area.
The funding is part of the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program, which is administered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD. The money was awarded to Omaha’s Threshold CoC in late 2024, but grantee organizations were announced just this week.
Continuums of Care, or CoCs, have been established by HUD in most major metropolitan areas. They work with businesses, government agencies and service providers like shelters and food pantries to coordinate the community-wide response to homelessness. Threshold CoC, which covers Douglas and Sarpy counties in Nebraska and Pottawattamie County in Iowa, was established in 1996.
Threshold CoC said in a statement that the funds will be used, in part, to expand “access locations” where young people can connect with housing resources, case management and supportive services. The CoC itself will receive $148,601 for planning purposes, and the remaining money will be allocated to organizations that partner with the CoC.
The Institute for Community Alliances, an Iowa-based nonprofit that gathers data about homelessness, will receive just over $46,000 for data management. Family Housing Advisory Services, which is focused on preventing homelessness by educating people about homeownership and providing rental assistance, will receive $457,400.
Together Inc., a food and housing advocacy nonprofit, will receive just under $1.1 million for its rapid rehousing program, which focuses on finding housing for people who are living on the street or in cars and emergency shelters. Youth Emergency Services, a nonprofit specifically aimed at finding housing for youths and young adults, will receive just over $1.1 million for transitional rapid rehousing.
According to the most recent point-in-time count released by Threshold CoC in January 2024, a total of 202 children under 18 were homeless during the one-day survey period. All but one of the children were in an emergency shelter or transitional housing with an adult household member. None were recorded as unaccompanied.
Sixty-two young adults between 18 and 24 years old were identified in the point-in-time count from 2024.
The grantees are set to enter the grant agreement and begin implementation of the projects on March 1, according to the CoC website.