The Chattanooga Housing Authority will share in $30 million of federal grants awarded to aid parents struggling to provide adequate housing for foster care children and young adults.
CHA said Thursday it was granted more than $450,000 in funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Family Unification Program to provide 70 vouchers to help eligible foster care families or young adults from low-income families afford to rent an apartment.
Like HUD's Housing Choice Vouchers, these vouchers allow families to rent housing from a private landlord and generally pay 30 percent of their monthly-adjusted gross income towards rent and utilities.
"With this funding, we will be able help families obtain safe and affordable housing that will enable them to stay together," CHA Executive Director Betsy McCright said, "It will allow local children to leave the foster care system and live with their families so they have the opportunity to thrive together."
McCright said CHE will work with local public welfare agencies, including the Department of Children's Services, to identify youth at risk of homelessness and families whose lack of adequate housing is the primary reason their children are in foster care.