Help is on the way for the growing problem of homelessness in Placer County.

Eight nonprofits serving Roseville and the county will share $1.2 million in federal stimulus funds over the next two years. The money’s mission? Make a dent in the number of people slipping into homelessness. And get those who have already lost their homes back on track.

“It’s great. And we need to get it out into the community,” said DeAnne Thornton, executive director of KidsFirst First in Roseville, which led the unusual multi-agency grant effort. “It’s certainly helps us in terms of being able to serve additional people.”

The major grant marks the largest local distribution of funds from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is meant to combat the issue, which has exploded as the economy has deteriorated.

Roseville’s unemployment rate is hovering around 11.5 percent, and organizations say they’re seeing more middle-class residents turn to them for help with things like utility-bill assistance.

KidsFirst, for instance, served more than 12,000 clients so far this year, double the amount it planned for.

“Everyone’s been hit so hard,” Thornton said.

Organizations received news of the grant this month and money will begin rolling out to groups in the weeks ahead.

Groups receiving funds include KidsFirst, the Salvation Army, Sierra Foothills AIDS Foundation, Legal Services of Northern California, Roseville HomeStart, the Lazarus Project, the Lincoln Lighthouse and the North Tahoe Family Resource Center.

The money will help the community in two ways, grantees said.

Roughly half the funding must go toward groups’ efforts to prevent homelessness through services including utility-bill and temporary rent assistance.

“We’ve had a tremendous increase in need from Placer County citizens facing foreclosure, whether it’s their own or landlords,” Thornton said. “We had an avalanche of clients this year that we weren’t planning on.”

Michelle Talbott, social services director for the Salvation Army of Auburn, said things like rent assistance are granted only after an “intensive needs assessment” and can help people for up to three months.

“They have to do a budget,” she said. “We look at what’s incoming and outgoing, where they need to make changes in these hard times.

“Then, the dollars go directly to the vendor, not the client. We’ll actually pay the landlord the rent. Or it will go to PG&E.”

The rest will be dedicated to helping homeless get back into housing and setting up a computerized homeless-services tracking system.

For instance, the Lazarus Project – which runs four transitional group homes for homeless individuals – will be able to support qualifying clients with one to nine months’ rental help. It will also hire a part-time “housing resource coordinator,” whose job is to assist in the search for viable permanent housing for homeless people, said David Loya, executive director.

“The need is so great out there,” he said.

The program is also welcoming another $175,000 federal grant to pay for case-management and administrative costs. That will allow the Roseville-based program to expand to five homes, Loya said.

Still, while the organizations involved are welcoming the grant funds, they said the don’t alleviate the continued need for community support.

“Even with all these grants, we’re still short and have to rely on churches and foundations to make it happen,” Loya said.