Odessa Links, a nonprofit organization, has been awarded a federal grant of $305,004 through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care Program to provide housing assistance and support services for individuals, families, minors, and domestic violence survivors experiencing homelessness.
Andrea Quiroz, executive director of Odessa Links, said they have to make a 25 percent match with the grant, which is $76,251.
Quiroz said this is a renewal of its rapid rehousing program called Project Hope. She said this is their 13th year of getting the funding. They just found out Feb. 2.
“We’re excited,” Quiroz said. “If we didn’t get this funding, we wouldn’t be able to house the families that we did.”
From July to December 2023, Project Hope served 92 people; 32 were adults which were single parents; and 60 of them were children under 18.
“Not only that, we had 31 evictions call us in December,” Quiroz said.
She added that the majority of those were layoffs from November where clients couldn’t pay their rents or mortgages. December was a busy month for Odessa Links. In just a week, they were able to house seven families.
The funds pay for housing application fees, deposits and monthly rent for clients. Meanwhile, they are doing a self-sufficiency plan. Clients have to provide a monthly budget and they stay with Odessa Links for 12 to 18 months.
“We use scattered sites,” Quiroz said. “Instead of spending all the money on providing a shelter, we have a good rapport with local apartment managers and landlords.”
She noted that it takes about five weeks to write the grant and they still have paperwork to fill out with the award.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, released a statement after Odessa Links was awarded the grant.
“Homelessness in Texas is on the rise, and higher costs on everything from rent to utilities to groceries have made it even harder for these individuals to get back on their feet,” Cornyn said in a news release. “This funding will give those on the front lines of this crisis in Odessa the tools to help Texans secure permanent housing and achieve their long-term goals.”
The Continuum of Care Program is designed to promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; to provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, states, Indian Tribes or tribally designated housing entities, and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals, families, persons fleeing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and youth while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused by homelessness; to promote access to and effective utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families, and to optimize self-sufficiency among those experiencing homelessness, the HUD website says.
