Kentucky Gov. Beshear Announces Kentucky's Housing and Emergency Assistance Reaching the Homeless

FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, along with Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) Chief Executive Officer Richard L. McQuady, and Kentucky Interagency Council on Homelessness (KICH) Chair Kentucky Sen. Gerald Neal, this week announced the launch of Kentucky's Housing and Emergency Assistance Reaching The Homeless (KY HEARTH) Program, the Commonwealth's planned $18.5 million initiative to provide rental assistance and services to prevent people from becoming homeless and to help those who are experiencing homelessness. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness National Team Leader Michael German represented the Council. Governor Beshear is pictured here (center), with Mr. German (left) and Mr. McQuady (right).

"One of the roles of state government is to help care for vulnerable populations in times of crisis," said Governor Beshear. "Even in the face of revenue woes that have shackled state government, I have made it my mission to do exactly that - to help our Kentucky families survive this trying time." KY HEARTH will utilize anticipated recovery funds from President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program (HPRP). Kentucky Housing Corporation will administer the funding for the state. Louisville, Lexington, Covington, and the state have applied for direct allocations of funding from HUD. Nonprofits or units of local government are eligible to apply for funding from the state through a competitive process.

KHC also released the results of the statewide 2009 point-in-time count which was originally scheduled for January 29, 2009. Due to a massive ice and snowstorm that hit the state, many regions conducted part or all of the count on February 19, 2009. The weather and the rescheduling of the count by many areas to the later date are suspected to have had a major impact on the number of individuals included in the count.

In his two years in office, Governor Beshear has demonstrated both a continuation and a deepening of the commitment to prevent and end homelessness that has been at work in the state. Kentucky was recognized in 2006 with the Council's "Home for Every American" inaugural award for its state strategies and leadership, in which Kentucky Housing Corporation and the Recovery Kentucky treatment initiative have been key. The leadership and commitment of KHC's CEO Rick McQuady have been instrumental in the statewide initiatives of the last several years to develop and implement Kentucky's 10 Year Plan which was unveiled in 2006. KHC was central to the state's Policy Academy teams and the resulting 2005 launch of the Recovery Kentucky program to reduce chronic homelessness for drug and alcohol addicted Kentuckians. Pictured here are (left to right): KFC Board Chair William Summers, Michael German, Governor Beshear, Rick McQuady, and KFC Board Member Porter Peeples.

Also in Kentucky this week, First Lady Jane Beshear and CEO McQuady traveled to Harlan County to open the Cumberland Hope Community Center for Women, the most recent addition to the Recovery Kentucky initiative, a center for women. The development is part of the joint effort by the Department for Local Government, Department of Corrections and KHC to build housing recovery centers across the state. As supportive housing developments, each center uses a recovery program model that includes peer support, daily living skills training, job responsibilities and challenges to practice sober living. In 2008 Governor Beshear established the Recovery Kentucky Task Force to ensure the continued effectiveness and success of the program, which results in reduced public costs to the state's justice and corrections system. The First Lady and Don Ball, KHC Board of Directors member, co-chair the task force. The First Lady is shown here (center) at the ribboncutting, with (left to right): Donna Hilman of the Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Rick McQuady, Mary Mosley of Cumberland Hope, Don Ball, and Michael German.

At the time of the January weather emergency, the Kentucky Interagency Council on Homelessness had just convened its inaugural meeting in Frankfort and new discussions were underway in the state focused on the recalibration of the Kentucky Executive Order creating the Council as a priority for action with the expectation of a new order that creates inclusive partnership and involves the business community in Kentucky's strategies. Housing solutions and new cost benefit analysis were also on the Council's agenda.

A two-year study conducted by the Kent School of Social Work at the University of Louisville and presented at the January meeting showed that it cost nearly $89 million over a two-year period to shelter and care for just over 7,000 single homeless adults. The study also showed that providing permanent housing to these individuals over the two-year period would have saved $6.4 million.