The Randolph County Housing Authority in Elkins will receive $260,564 in federal grant funding to address homelessness, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., announced recently.
The RCHA will create the Outreach in North Central West Virginia program with the help of the funding, the agency’s executive director, Graham Godwin, told The Inter-Mountain.
“At the heart of this program will be street outreach, and we will be conducting with a pair of individuals,” Godwin said. “One will be a case worker from Randolph County Housing Authority’s Support Services department, and we’ll be working in partnership with Davis Health System and have a person going and doing the street outreach with us, and meeting clients where they’re at.
“This will be to, one, start to build a rapport and relationship with them, to both offer medical services as needed, and then also the supportive services that we have a track record of offering in-house at RCHA.
“Some of the services that will be included will be helping with rental applications, trying to find permanent housing or longterm housing solutions for these individuals,” Godwin said. “We will also be able to, for some, provide temporary hotel space while we look for those longer solutions. Our goal is to find something more permanent, but sometimes the first best step is to get a roof or shelter overhead.
“We are also going to be able to help with some utility downpayment, and help with clothing needs and food needs. Some of this is going to be done through partnerships that we have with other organizational partners.
“Our goal in-house is to offer our job training programs to potential new clients,” Godwin said. “We offer training programs in health courses, wood product manufacturing and heavy equipment operating. Our hope is to funnel some of these people we’re helping into those trainings to help get them reliable income, steady employment, which then makes the longterm housing solutions easier to achieve.”
Godwin, who has been the executive director since the beginning of 2022, said it is believed this is the first time the RCHA has received the grant, and that officials are grateful.
“We really take a collaborative approach,” he said. “Not one of these issues operates in a silo. So to prepare people to go out and be on their own, we have to provide answers and aid for all of these issues, to get people on the best foot forward.”
Capito announced a total of $12,133,681 in federal Youth Homeless Demonstration Program Continuum of Care (CoC) and Continuum of Care Renewal (CoCR) grants for West Virginia organizations.
The grants, which come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will be used to support organizations throughout the state that aim to address homelessness, especially among youth populations.