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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Posted: Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009 - 10:14:55 am CDT

County applies for grant to prevent homelessness
By DON NORFLEET
The Fulton Sun

The Callaway County Commission Monday applied to the state for a $99,519 grant to help prevent people from becoming homeless in the county.

The money comes from a $12 million grant the Missouri Department of Social Services received in federal stimulus money to be divided among non-metropolitan counties in the state.

The Callaway County Commission designated SERVE, Inc., which operates a food pantry and provides other services to low income residents, to operate the Callaway County program to help prevent homelessness.

Two SERVE representatives signed an application to the state along with commission members Monday. They are Lisa Brown, executive director of SERVE, and Julie Roark, Callaway County Action Network director, a SERVE agency. They will administer the program in behalf of the county.

Roark said SERVE will use the money only to help people pay rent to avoid becoming homeless. She noted SERVE also has other funds available for current homeless people in the county.

Homeless people receive assistance and housing in Fulton at the Haven House and at the Wiley House.

Roark told the commission that the new federal program is designed to work with the homeless for a longer period. She estimated SERVE with the $99,519 grant would be able to help more than 90 families with rent for two or three months.

Brown noted the guidelines specifically prohibit using the money to help a family make a mortgage payment to avoid foreclosure.

The federal grant is intended to keep people from becoming homeless and it cannot be used to operate a homeless shelter. The money also cannot be used to pay a credit card bill, car repair, travel costs, food, medical care, dental care, medicines, clothing, home furnishing, pet care, entertainment, work, education or cash assistance.

Roark said to avoid noncompliance with a long list of regulations, the money would be used in Callaway County only to help families pay rent if it can be proven that their financial standing is so bad that they would otherwise become homeless.

The money can be used to pay utility bills but Roark said SERVE has funds from other programs for that purpose.

The deadline for the application to be received by the state is July 6. The letter to the Callaway County Commission from Ronald J. Levy, director of the Missouri Department of Social Services, informing the county of the homeless aid program was dated June 22, about two weeks before the deadline for applying.

The federal stimulus money came to the state from the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Lee Fritz, Callaway County presiding commissioner, said he wanted to act quickly on the notice received from the state in order to help Callaway County residents struggling with a weakened economy.

He noted unemployment figures have taken a big jump in Callaway County recently.

Eastern District Commissioner Gabe Craighead said there are a many rules and regulations to administer in the program.

Both commissioners agreed that because of the quick notice by the state and the many rules and regulations attached to the program several counties probably will not participate in the program.

"This isn't because those counties don't want to help people in their counties, it's just that they don't have an organization like SERVE in their counties that is able to handle the complicated administration of such a program. We are fortunate to have SERVE in Callaway County to act as a qualified administrator for this type of a program," Fritz said.

He said Callaway County later may be able to apply for a second round of aid based on counties not participating.

The state received $12 million for most of its counties and another $15 million will be distributed directly by the federal government through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to five metropolitan areas of the state. These entities are the urbanized areas of Kansas City, St. Louis city, St. Louis County, Springfield and St. Joseph.

The Missouri Department of Social Services divided the $12 million to the state's other counties based on each county's poverty, food stamp usage and unemployment.

The formula was based 50 percent on the number of people regarded as living in poverty, 25 percent on food stamp usage and 25 percent on the unemployment rate.

The state allocated these amounts to the following Mid-Missouri counties that must apply to the state by July 6 to receive the money:

Audrain, $77,712; Boone, $391,081; Camden, $118,325; Cole, $149,786; Cooper, $42,238; Gasconade, $41,342; Howard, $27,444; Maries, $26,245; Miller, $87,166; Moniteau, $36,598; Montgomery, $37,085; Morgan, $74,525; Osage, $30,220; and Randolph, $82,963.