Baltimore is using $90.4 million in federal funding to create emergency housing and other housing assistance programs, Mayor Brandon Scott announced Tuesday. The majority of the funds are drawn from the city’s $641 million COVID-19 relief money and mark the largest dollar amount the city has spent on homeless services.
The Mayor’s Office of Homeless Services plans to use $75 million of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds to change housing methods first used widely during the public health emergency, namely sheltering people temporarily in individual hotel rooms instead of congregate shelters where COVID-19 could easily spread.