DCA Awards More Than $7.1 Million in Homelessness Prevention Grants to Community Nonprofit Organizations Across New Jersey

• Posted on: 03/25/2024

Funds Are from the Homelessness Diversion Pilot Program and Homelessness Prevention Program

TRENTON, NJ – The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has awarded $7,167,766 in funding to nonprofit organizations across the state to help them provide services and financial assistance to people at risk of becoming homeless. The funding is through the Homelessness Diversion Pilot Program and the Homelessness Prevention Program, which are both administered by the Department’s Office of Homelessness Prevention. 

“DCA is partnering with community-based organizations statewide to help prevent families from experiencing the distress of unsheltered homelessness,” said DCA Acting Commissioner Jacquelyn A. Suárez. “Our programs are focused on finding practical and creative ways to keep people in their homes whenever possible and maintain their housing in the long-term.”

“We recognize that housing is fundamental to human dignity. Therefore, our goal is always to prevent homelessness from happening in the first place,” said DCA Assistant Commissioner Janel Winter, who leads the Division of Housing and Community Resources. “We understand there are situations where people lose their housing. In those instances, the mission of DCA and our collaborative community partners is to ensure that any experience of homelessness is as brief and singular as possible.”

The Homelessness Diversion Pilot Program deploys a combination of rapid housing case management, problem solving, and flexible funding assistance to help households resolve their housing crisis and stay in their home to avoid becoming homeless. DCA recently awarded $4.83 million in funding to the following nonprofit organizations:

Nonprofit Organization	County Served	Award Amount
Beloved Project Of New Jersey	Burlington	$230,000
Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services	Union	$230,000
Bridges Outreach, Inc.	Essex	$230,000
Camden County Council on Economic Opportunity, Inc.	Camden	$230,000
Catholic Family and Community Services	Passaic	$230,000
Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey, Inc.	Cumberland	$230,000
Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey, Inc.	Passaic	$230,000
Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey, Inc.	Essex	$230,000
Family Promise, Inc.	Union	$230,000
Family Promise of the Jersey Shore	Ocean	$230,000
Family Promise of Southwest New Jersey	Cumberland and Salem	$230,000
Family Promise of Warren County, Inc.	Warren	$230,000
Garden State Home	Middlesex	$230,000
HomeFront, Inc.	Mercer	$230,000
Jewish Family Services of Atlantic and Cape May Counties	Atlantic	$230,000
Mental Health Association of Essex County, Inc.	Essex	$230,000
Mental Health Association of Essex County, Inc.	Morris	$230,000
nourish.NJ	Morris	$230,000
Reformed Church of Highland Park Affordable Housing Corporation	Middlesex	$230,000
Trinity Episcopal Church	Monmouth	$230,000
The Waterfront Project, Inc.	Hudson	$230,000

 

The Homelessness Prevention Program provides up to three months of financial assistance to pay past due rent or mortgage payments for households in imminent danger of eviction or foreclosure due to temporary financial problems beyond their control such as medical disability or emergency, loss or delay in receipt of benefits, natural or man-made disaster, and/or substantial change in household composition. DCA recently awarded $2,337,766 in funding to the following nonprofit organizations: 

Nonprofit Organization	County Served	Award Amount
Arm In Arm	Mercer	$153,251
Bridges Outreach, Inc.	Essex	$129,974
Burlington County Community Action Partnership	Burlington	$133,429
Camden County Council on Economic Opportunity, Inc.	Camden	$126,123
Catholic Family and Community Services	Passaic	$176,995
Community Affairs and Resource Center	Mercer	$173,610
Family Promise of Essex County	Essex	$151,358
Family Promise of Hunterdon County, Inc.	Hunterdon	$74,866
Family Promise of the Jersey Shore	Ocean	$103,963
Family Promise of Sussex County, Inc.	Sussex	$82,224
Family Promise of Warren County, Inc.	Warren	$74,479
Greater Bergen Community Action, Inc.	Bergen	$89,036
Jewish Family Services of Atlantic and Cape May Counties	Atlantic	$106,740
NORWESCAP	Somerset	$85,986
nourish.NJ	Morris	$99,690
Puerto Rican Association for Human Development, Inc.	Middlesex	$110,767
Rural Development Corporation, Inc.	Cumberland	$99,840
Senior Citizens United Community Services, Inc.	Gloucester	$97,361
United Community Corportation	Essex	$268,074

 

The Office of Homelessness Prevention coordinates efforts to prevent homelessness among state and local government agencies and private organizations that provide services to persons who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The office administers programs and conducts research to assess existing homelessness prevention services and to develop and deploy innovative initiatives to address homelessness.

The Office of Homelessness Prevention is within the Division of Housing and Community Resources, which has the mission of strengthening and revitalizing communities through the delivery of affordable housing, supportive services, and financial and technical assistance to local governments and community-based organizations.

DCA offers a wide range of programs and services including local government management and finance, fire safety, affordable housing production, rental assistance, building safety, community planning and development, disaster recovery and mitigation, historic preservation, and information privacy.

For more information about DCA, visit https://nj.gov/dca/ or follow the Department on social media: