Ability Housing Receives $200,000 HUD Grant for Finally Home Nassau

Press release Ability Housing of Northeast FloridaAbility Housing

Submitted by Amy Rankin

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             Ability Housing of Northeast Florida has received a $206,739 grant from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care Program (CoC) for its Finally Home Nassau community initiative.  Ability Housing is a Jacksonville based nonprofit that focuses on providing permanent supportive housing for those who are homeless, at risk of homelessness or adults with a disability.           

Finally Home Nassau will identify 16 chronically homeless persons with a disability living on the streets in Nassau County and provide them with permanent supportive housing.  The effort is based on the Housing First concept that provides people with disabilities or serious health problems who lack stable housing with an essential foundation to access to primary care and chronic disease management.  It has been proven that these housing-based services reduce utilization of more costly emergency, inpatient, and long term care while providing a better quality of life for the individual.

            “We are continuing to reach out to many Northeast Florida communities that are trying to solve the problem of homelessness,” said Shannon Nazworth, Executive Director of Ability Housing.  “This program, along with our joint effort with the Nassau Homeless Coalition to transform the Kountry Inn in Yulee into permanent supportive housing for veterans and others trying to exit homelessness, will add to the community’s ability to help the homeless.”

            The HUD grant to Ability Housing for Finally Home Nassau is the third and final round of funding for the Continuum of Care Program competition.  This year HUD had challenged local communities to reexamine their response to homelessness and give greater weight to proven strategies such as rapid re-housing and permanent supportive housing.

Message from the Nassau County Coalition for the Homeless
“The Coalition is extremely grateful to Ability Housing, along with ESHC (Emergency Services Homeless Coalition of Northeast Florida) for their efforts to assist in our county toward the goal of ending homelessness in Nassau.  With this grant, and other projects that are in the works, Nassau could effectively put an end to chronic homelessness on our streets.

We are thrilled at the prospect of housing our most chronic and vulnerable homeless citizens – this is what we all have worked so hard for year after year – and we feel that this is just one step in the ultimate goal of ending homelessness altogether for all individuals in our county.”

Robyn Andrews, President – Nassau County Coalition for the Homeless

http://www.clicked.com/coalition
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/chnassau
Twitter: @nassau_coalition

Finally Home Nassau:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/FinallyHomeNassau
Twitter: @HomeNassau

For more information about Ability Housing, visit abilityhousing.org, like at Facebook.com/AbilityHousing or follow @Ability_Housing on Twitter.

August 12, 2013 8:12 p.m.