Sunday, July 25, 2010

Macon, Ga., receives $2 million federal grant for housing for people with mental illness or developmental disabilities

From The Associated Press:

MACON, Ga. -- More than $2 million in federal grants will build housing for people with mental illness or developmental disabilities in Macon.

The homes are expected to be completed by the end of next year. River Edge Behavioral Health Center plans a 10-unit apartment complex with a grant of nearly $1.2 million, and Advocacy Resource Center-Macon will build two group homes for about $428,000 each.

Georgia has a backlog of people searching for such housing, many leaving Central State Hospital in nearby Milledgeville. The Department of Housing and Urban Development says housing recipients will have to be very low income.

The grants are provided under a HUD program that provides for supportive housing for people with disabilities, and the two Macon nonprofits are receiving the majority of that funding in Georgia.