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Homeless program likely to go unfunded
The board had received an $85,000 HUD grant and $13,000 in city funds for the homeless program.
YOUNGSTOWN — The financial crunch being experienced by the city and nation make federal and local funding for the City Health Department’s homeless outreach program uncertain for 2009, said commissioner Neil Altman.
The health commissioner told the health board that if the grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is not renewed for fiscal year 2009-10, which begins April 1, the program could be pushed back to where it was when it was started, about 10 years ago, when services were volunteered by various agencies.
The board received an $85,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for fiscal year 2008-09, which expires March 31, 2009. The city provided $13,000 in matching funds for the grant.
However, city health officials were informed late in 2008 that the grant would not be renewed because of budget cuts.
“We don’t know what the new administration in Washington, D.C., will do” about funding levels, said Altman, hoping that President-elect Barack Obama will reverse the HUD cuts.
“What we do know,” Altman said, “is that the program is very important.”
In a letter to members of city council, the health commissioner explained the homeless program, created about a decade ago by an ad hoc homeless task force, founded by himself and Edna Pincham.
Because there were few services then, the homeless problem was larger, with homeless people sleeping on heating ducts, finding refuge in vacant homes in which they lit fires, or taking up residence in city hall.
The health department donated nursing services when it was determined that, other than housing, health care was the most urgent need of the homeless, Altman said.
In 1999, the health department applied for a HUD grant, and the homeless outreach program was funded for three years, and a nurse, Michelle Evans, hired to run the program. The grant has been renewed several times since then, due primarily to the hard work and concern of Evans, Altman said.
He said from Jan. 1, 2005, to the present, 188 males and 180 females, including 32 children, received health services.
In other action, at its recent meeting, the board accepted Ohio Department of Health grants for four programs. They are: HIV prevention, $300,602, which is supplemented by $40,000 from the city; dental sealant, $30,000; immunization action plan, $145,720, supplemented by $10,000 by the city; and sexually transmitted disease control, $41,141.
alcorn@vindy.com