Plano shifts focus of housing funding toward homelessness prevention

The city of Plano will redirect money from housing rehabilitation programs in order to make a concerted push to prevent residents from becoming homeless during the coronavirus crisis.

The city will now reserve well over $1 million for rental assistance and rapid rehousing for financially distressed households in Plano after council members approved the plan May 11.

The bulk of the funding will come from the federal stimulus law, which made more than $800,000 available to the city from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The city has also shuffled its existing federal housing funding, taking money that had been designated for housing rehabilitation programs and bookmarking it instead for homelessness prevention.

Another $200,000 from the federal law will be used to help small companies retain low-income workers.

The homelessness prevention funds will be overseen by the Assistance Center of Collin County, the city said in a May 12 message to residents. Other nonprofit groups would administer the homeless housing assistance, while city staff would handle the small business program.

The city said it would post more information on these programs on its “get help” page when it becomes available.