Families near eviction at risk as FL budget glitch holds up $4 million in aid

Subsidies to needy families for housing expenses and for other homeless prevention programs are at risk if state budget officials don’t resolve a glitch that will prevent $4.1 million from being released July 1.

Officials from the Orlando-based Florida Coalition for the Homeless spent Wednesday working the phones to persuade Gov. Rick Scott’s office and the Florida Department of Children and Families to address an issue with “challenge grants”  to homeless coalitions. Language to allow the funding to be transferred was left out of budget documents, said Eugene Williams, president of the state coalition.

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“The money was allocated, but there was no language to transfer the funds,” Williams said. “This is a terrible mistake and will cause harm. It is just sitting there.”

The challenge grant for 2019 is the third year of a program championed by former Sen. Jack Latvala, of Clearwater, Williams said. The program ran smoothly the first two years, Williams said.

Latvala resigned Jan. 5 because of a public corruption investigation and possible expulsion.

The original funding for the coming year was $5.5 million, but it was whittled down to $4.1 million, Williams said.

“I don’t know what the issue is,” Williams said, adding that nobody is coming forward to take responsibility for the wording in the document. “It really starts with the governor’s office. It seems like just a snafu.”

Florida has the third-highest homeless rate in the United States, with almost 36,000 people without homes; nearly 19,000 are in shelters and 17,000 are unsheltered. The figure includes children.

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The state coalition works with 27 regional homeless coalitions and they are being contacted about the funding hold-up, Williams said.

The Lee and Collier homeless coalitions are allocated $118,000 each for the coming year. The money will be shifted to programs that help the homeless, such as The Salvation Army in Lee, the Lee County Housing Development Corp., and the Shelter for Abused Women in Collier, according to program directors.

After annual “point in time” homeless counts in January, the Lee coalition determined there are 2,957 homeless people in the community; Collier’s coalition tallied 653 homeless.

The women’s shelter in Collier uses $85,000 in challenge grant funding for two case managers in outreach and transitional housing, and the balance is allocated to direct financial assistance for low-income people at imminent risk of eviction, said Christine Welton, executive director of the Collier homeless coalition.

In addition, 41 people this past year received emergency rental assistance and six received emergency assistance for utilities, she said. In addition, the grant helped 22 people obtain new affordable housing, and 11 seniors and families with children were assisted with emergency motel vouchers.

The loss of the emergency aid from the challenge grant puts people in limbo, she said.

“The shelter plans on using other resources for the shortfall, which will just cause them not to be able to expand the programs as they wished they could,” Welton said.

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