Courtesy / SAMMinistries
SAMMinistries staffers visit with unhoused people in an encampment beneath an overpass.
Nonprofit San Antonio Metropolitan Ministry Inc., or SAMMinistries, has landed two separate multimillion-dollar funding streams worth a total of $18 million to support its housing-first model of addressing homelessness.
The pieces come in the form of a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and money from a housing bond approved by San Antonio voters last December.
“These incredible investments will make a tremendous impact here in San Antonio. We are grateful and excited to put them to work,” SAMMinistries CEO Nikisha Baker said in an emailed statement.
“These incredible investments will make a tremendous impact here in San Antonio. We are grateful and excited to put them to work,” SAMMinistries CEO Nikisha Baker said in an emailed statement.
On Monday April 17, HUD awarded SAMMinistries $7.9 million to spend over a three-year period. The grant is part of a $14.6 total funding 47 housing vouchers across Bexar County and San Antonio, according to HUD officials.
The HUD funding will increase SAMMinistries' operational power, allowing it to serve more clients, according to Imami.
"[SAMMinistries] works with individuals that are on the verge of homelessness. That means that we prevent homelessness, that's one of our large programs," SAMMinistries spokesperson Maliha Imami said.
The HUD funding will increase SAMMinistries' operational power, allowing it to serve more clients, according to Imami.
On Thursday, April 20, San Antonio and Bexar County approved $11.1 million in funding to SAMMinistries through the housing bond program. That program will fund capital projects underway at the Hudson apartment complex, 6014 Blanco Road, and construction of affordable housing at the Brooks development on the South Side.
"The need is great in the community, so this helps us. [Mayor Ron Nirenberg] had a goal of adding 1,000 permanent supportive housing units to the community," Imami said. "And with this [housing bond] that they released last week ... they'll be able to add 300 units to the community."
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