WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) - The Coalition to End Homelessness in Wichita and Sedgwick County is getting its biggest grant ever from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). At $3.2 million, it's $300,000 more than last year. This year, more funding is available to help keep up wi th inflation. The money is going toward maintaining Sedgwick County's Continuum of Care program, which is managed by the coalition. The program connects several organizations working to match people with homes to create a more streamlined process. Area nonprofits say maintaining those programs with adjustments to funding is essential. "For everybody, the cost of living has increased," said Deann Smith, executive director for United Methodist Open Door. "It costs more to have food, it costs more to have rent." The boost in funding this year is allowing existing programs to be maintained. The Salvation Army offers help with unpaid gas bills "All of our ongoing projects were sustained, as opposed to we had to cut a program," said Pete Najera, president and CEO of United Way of the Plains, which manages the continuum of care program. The money is divvied up among eight different entities. It helps pay for the United Way's management of the Continuum of Care program, including maintaining a database of information about people who need homes and coordinating services. "You need those pieces first, and then you bring in the nonprofits that are doing the work," Najera said. Those nonprofits are also pulling from HUD funding to pay for housing programs. Each nonprofit targets a different demographic. The network of housing services is necessary to connect unhoused people to housing through the planned Multi-Agency Center. "These programs that are funded today will hopefully create good, affordable options for people to find housing," said Steve Dixon, the Multi-Agency Center Board Chair. Having affordable housing options is especially important, as past efforts from the city to get money to build affordable housing as part of the multi-agency center have been unsuccessful. ...read more read less