Greensboro approves $6.6M plan to reduce homelessness

The City of Greensboro approved a plan to allocate millions of dollars to address homelessness at a meeting Tuesday. 

The city was awarded $6.6 million to increase housing stability as a part of the American Rescue Plan Act. City staffers have been trying to figure out how exactly to distribute that money for months. 

Caitlin Bowers, with Greensboro's Housing and Neighborhood Development Department, says they did that by consulting with stakeholders and reviewing data, including the city’s count of unhoused residents and housing inventory. 

In the end, the staffers opted to dedicate the bulk of the money to supportive services and affordable rental housing.

“To meet the overwhelming need for the development of permanent supportive housing and the wraparound social services to successfully maintain tenancy," Bowers said. 

The rest of the money will be allocated to tenant-based rental assistance and administrative fees. 

The city must submit the plan to the federal department of Housing and Urban Development for approval. The funding must be spent by September 30, 2030. 

*Correction: An earlier version of this story identified Caitlin Bowers as being with the city's housing and urban development program. She's with the city's Housing and Neighborhood Development Department.