Grant money earmarked for 'rapid rehousing'
All of the $64,000 Butler County recently got for the homeless will go toward “rapid rehousing” projects.
But what exactly is rapid rehousing? And is $64,000 enough to help Butler County's most disadvantaged residents?
The county organization applied for about $96,000 for homelessness relief in this grant cycle, according to its application, but only got about $64,000.
The money will go toward getting homeless people back into housing and paying their first few months of rent, said Amanda Feltenberger, a Butler County Human Services director of integrated services.
There are about 25 households that fall into that category. The department is tracking 107 households, of which all but 25 are considered at-risk of homelessness, but not actually homeless.
Of those 25, about half are individuals and half are families with children.
Those getting the help typically receive a security deposit and three months of rent covered. If they need more and are fulfilling certain requirements, such as looking for a job or seeking addiction treatment, they can get more rent covered. Feltenberger said many are tapered into paying their full rent over several months.
The grant money can't be used to pay for housing at costs above fair market rent, which varies depending on how many bedrooms are needed. Feltenberger said the maximum rates are $670 a month for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,050 for a three-bedroom unit.
Pennsylvania received about $5.2 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, but counties asked for more than $10 million worth of funding in this grant cycle.
Feltenberger said the difference in what was requested and what was received won't make or break the program. She doesn't feel the county was slighted.
“The fact is that most people don't get what they asked for,” Feltenberger said. “We use this as our little gap filler just to keep the program going until we get that next round.”
This is the smaller of the state's alternating two grant cycles for its emergency solutions grant program. The next cycle will have much more of an impact, she said, but she's still fairly confident that enough money will come through. She said the money is administered to the full legal specifications.
“I'm as confident as you can be with grant funding,” Feltenberger said. “You can't ever be 100 percent confident with grants, though.”
Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development collects the applications and decides where the year's funding is to be allocated, according to Michael Gerber, a press secretary for the department.
“Because DCED receives a limited amount of funding from HUD, applicants rarely receive the full amount they request,” Gerber said. “DCED's goal is to provide funding to as many areas of the commonwealth as possible with the resources it has available.”
The state gives 40 percent of the funding to the western half of the state, 40 percent to the eastern half and 20 percent is directly given by the federal government to specific communities in need.
