Dec 4, 2013 3 min read

A new federal grant of $124,500 awarded through the state is expected to be coming to Community Action Southwest to “rapidly rehouse” local homeless residents, Washington County Human Services Director Tim Kimmel announced Wednesday.

The county commissioners will vote Thursday to have Washington County be the recipient of the grant, and, at their final meeting of the year, they expect to designate Community Action Southwest, which has been providing services to the homeless more than two decades, as the agency to provide intercede on behalf of those who are losing their homes due to eviction from rental properties.

“Rapid rehousing is really not a new concept,” said Jeff Fondelier, vice president of operations for Community Action Southwest. “We’ve been doing this for at least eight years under what was known as the Emergency Shelter Grant, although we do much less crisis-related programming these days. We’ve evolved into more of an education and self-sufficiency oriented organization, focusing on building the skills of our constituents and asset development. Our homeless-related activity makes up less than two percent of our organizational budget. It was indeed a competitive grant.”

The grant “will enable us to pay rent when someone has an eviction proceeding or when they can’t stay in their home due to eviction,” Fondelier said.

Community Action Southwest’s program is aimed at renters who have received an eviction order from a district judge.

“Every circumstance is unique,” Fondelier said, citing different landlords or different leases. In some cases, a landlord is willing to accept overdue rent and allow a tenant to stay on the premises. In cases where tenants must vacate, Community Action has a list of landlords who can provide housing. Community Action, through the grant, can pay security deposits, moving costs and utility payments.

“A small part of it allows us to defray some of our staffing costs,” Fondelier said.

The agency’s aid for the homeless goes back more than 25 years, according to the vice president of operations.

In the late 1980s, Community Action Southwest we ran both bridge and transitional housing programs, and started the first family homeless shelter in Washington County in the early 1990s. The nonprofit organization has been implementing the Homeless Assistance Program since at least 2004, Fondelier said, which provides rent and utility assistance for individuals and families who are either homeless or at risk of becoming homelessness. This taxpayer money from the state Department of Public Welfare allows the agency to serve about 60 households or 150 people per year.

Through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, emergency shelter grants since at least 2008 have provided rent and utility assistance to approximately 75 households or 243 individuals.

In 2009, Community Action Southwest received the homeless prevention rapid rehousing funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, again from HUD. This three-year program allowed the agency to serve 887 clients who were homeless or at risk of homelessness, keeping them out of shelters and providing families with greater stability.

Following the expiration of stimulus package, HUD continued to fund rapid rehousing through the Emergency Solutions Grant, which Community Action Southwest has received since 2011.

The proposed grant will allow Community Action to serve 65 households over the next two years.

The most recent grant money, part of $3 million made available statewide, must be used by July 25, 2015.

The federal money for the program became available because it helps free space in homeless shelters and gives a measure of stability to families who face eviction.