Mayor John Peyton and U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw joined J. Nicholas Shelley, director of the Jacksonville office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Kevin Doyle from U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’s office and Ken Johnson from U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown’s office at City Hall Friday to announce $4,265,200 in federal grants that will be used to help fund local programs for the homeless. The grants will be allocated to emergency shelters, health care, drug and alcohol treatment and childcare services as well as programs to provide transitional and permanent housing to homeless persons. HUD grants this year total more than $63 million in Florida and $1.4 billion nationwide. “These resources will truly make a difference in our community by increasing the capacity of these programs and providing opportunities for some of Jacksonville’s most vulnerable citizens,” said Peyton.