Reducing Homelessness and Hunger
Kern County Homeless Collaborative
Related Links
|
United Way of Kern County, is the fiscal agent of the Kern County Homeless Collaborative (KCHC), which is made up of dozens of nonprofit homeless service providers, faith-based organizations, advocacy groups, government agencies, businesses and private persons working together to address the needs of Kern's homeless and at-risk families and individuals.
United Way of Kern County invests $250,000 annually, on average, in the fight against homelessness and hunger. Working with food banks, emergency homeless shelters, domestic violence service providers, community resource centers, and faith-based grous in every corner of our county, UWKC is helping to reduce homelessness and food insecurity through strategic grant making.
United Way of Kern County also administers FEMA's Emergency Food & Shelter Program (EF&SP) locally. This program aims to help the homeless, as well as those experiencing a financial crisis, with the basic needs of emergency shelter, temporary lodging, warm meals and groceries, and one-time rent/mortgage and utilities assistance.
A 10-Year Plan Committee has been designated as a committee of the Kern County Homeless Collaborative, although its membership reaches well beyond the service providers who make up the Collaborative.
This plan provides the framework for aligning all efforts throughout the community, and a starting point to work together on determining how we will carry out this system-wide change.
Did You Know?
- According to the Kern County Department of Human Services, 16,900 families in Kern County receive cash aid.
- 18% of Kern County families are living on incomes below the poverty level.
- In Kern County approximately 53% of all renter households are cost burdened, meaning they spend over 30% of their monthly income on housing.
- Accourding to the 2010 NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index, Bakersfield/Kern County ranked 76th in the nation and 14th in the region in housing unaffordability.
- According to the new study commissioned by Housing California, a minimum wage earner in Kern County would have to work 106 hours a week to afford a Fair Market Rental apartment in our area.
- According to RealtyTrac, for April 2011, the county of Kern has one in every 172 in a home foreclosure.