Senators: HUD OK’d expansion

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

Federal housing officials have cleared the way for an organization’s expansion of efforts to help Cincinnati’s poor and homeless, Ohio’s U.S. senators said Friday.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, and Rob Portman, R-Cincinnati, had been pressing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to resolve fair-housing restrictions on deeds for two properties wanted for use in a community-based “Homeless to Homes Plan.” Federal authorities have told the City Gospel Mission that it can move forward as long as it complies with federal nondiscrimination laws on gender and religion, the senators announced jointly.

“Faith-based organizations like Cincinnati’s City Gospel Mission play a crucial role in helping struggling families get back on their feet,” Portman said in a statement. “Bureaucratic red tape from Washington shouldn’t stand in the way of that.”

Brown said the agreement will allow the mission to expand service to needy Ohioans and provide critical services while ensuring people are protected against discrimination.

The organization has for decades provided shelter, hot meals, drug and alcohol programs, youth programs and employment help. The expansion will add to overnight shelter capacity and to training and recovery programs. It was founded in 1924, and works with hundreds of churches and utilizes thousands of volunteers.

Portman planned to visit the mission Friday.