The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Agency announced last week that as part of President Barack Obama's economic-stimulus package, Philadelphia would receive slightly over $21 million to spend on fighting homelessness.

The $21,486,240 that the city will receive to spend within three years is in addition to the $26.4 million that HUD had allocated to the city as part of its original budget.

The money that the city will receive from the stimulus, however, will not go to building new shelters for the homeless.

According to HUD's Web site, the money will be used to prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless and provide other assistance to those who are experiencing homelessness.

While the City's current budget for homelessness is provided directly to the shelter system, these new funds will provide the homeless with a much wider range of services such as rental assistance, credit repair and housing relocation.

"The [funds] may be able to make a very big impact if they are used to move people out of the shelter system," said Gloria Guard, president of People's Emergency Center.

"There's so many barriers to moving out of shelters and into housing that if we can reduce some of those barriers, we can open a spot for somebody else."

Penn School of Social Policy and Practice professor Dennis Culhane said the additional money should have an immediate impact on reducing the number of homeless people in the city.

"There's a whole range of activities that are funded in this legislation that are intended to help people stabilize their housing situation and to potentially avoid the shelter system altogether," Culhane added.

The federal funding to prevent homelessness is being handed to Philadelphia after the City recently announced it would cut some of its funding for homeless shelters because of the budget deficit.

"It is extraordinary in this incredibly difficult economic period to think that we might actually make progress on this issue," Culhane said.

According to Culhane, if the funds are used properly, the city would be able to reduce its shelter system and close some of its facilities.

"This money will actually go to homeless people, and that is a huge difference because the shelters don't ultimately solve people's homelessness problems," Culhane said.