Task force may decline funds

The Bonner County Homeless Task Force will receive $233,887 in federal housing money this year to keep two transitional housing programs open, but the task force may choose to give some of the money back.

The grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires the task force to match at least 20 percent of it with cash. That’s $46,777.

“The government hopes the community will step up and support these programs, but that’s hard in a small area,” said Deborah Baptist, executive director of the task force. “There are a lot of biases about the homeless. It’s a struggle.”

Baptist said she may accept a smaller amount of federal money more in line with the cash she believes she could raise for the match.

Last year, the Idaho Housing and Finance Association, which administers the HUD money, helped programs like Bonner County’s throughout the state by supplying $500,000 in match money. IHFA plans to help again this year, said Reed Hollinshead, agency spokesman. But he said IHFA’s budget this year isn’t as healthy as it was last year.

“We’ll make a contribution, but the amount is yet to be determined,” Hollinshead said.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society in Coeur d’Alene received $229,506 to help support its transitional housing programs in Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls. Lynn Peterson, director of North Idaho programs, doesn’t have the same worries as Baptist. St. Vincent has two thrift stores that raise enough to cover the cash match the organization needs to make. The Post Falls store alone earned $240,000 last year.

“We couldn’t live without the money,” Peterson said about the federal money that arrives every year at about this time. It’s a renewable grant that St. Vincent added to its budget years ago and has learned to rely on, she said.

Last year through November, 34 women, nine men and 70 children stayed at St. Vincent’s two transitional housing centers.

The HUD money also will continue to subsidize rents for 16 mentally ill people in North Idaho.

Last year, the Bonner County Homeless Task Force’s transitional housing programs sheltered 27 families – 47 adults and 58 children. The formerly homeless families trying to fit into the rental lifestyle and work ethic can stay up to two years in the transitional programs that provide housing, counseling, classes, child care and moral support.

The task force also runs a safe house for women fleeing domestic violence. That program attracts most of the donations sent to the task force, Baptist said.

“I have people specifically state that their donation is not to be used for the homeless,” she said. “They think they’re drug addicts, lazy. They don’t know that around 35 percent are women and children fleeing domestic violence.”

The HUD money will help pay for utilities, car maintenance and transportation to jobs and job interviews, classes, child care and a manager who lives on site.

The task force kept its entire HUD grant last year thanks to the Idaho Housing and Finance Association’s help with the match money. If that help doesn’t materialize this year, Baptist said, she may have to return some of the money.

“We’ll only use what we think we can match,” she said.

“A lot of organizations don’t apply for programs that need a match. We used to apply for an emergency shelter grant, but the match got so high we’ve had to decline it.”