Council to consider setting aside $200K for homeless day center

Amanda Lehmert at the News & Record writes about the efforts of homeless residents, advocates, politicians and providers to create a homeless day center in Greensboro. City Council member Dianne Bellamy-Small, Liz Seymour and Tim Hutchinson from Food Not Bombs, Jehan Benton from Partnering to End Homelessness, and I discussed with Amanda our convergent hopes for the day center: providing basic amenities and services, building community, connecting homeless people with resources, and transitioning them to another way of life.

Of particular interest to me is this, about funding:

“Several City Council members have expressed willingness to spend city funds to help launch the day center. On Tuesday, when the council votes on the 2008-09 budget, council members will decide whether to save $200,000 of housing money that could be used as startup funding.”

I don’t believe that’s “new” money. I think that $200K would come from existing housing funds, and I don’t know where it’s currently allocated. Hmmm…

Update: I called Andy Scott at the City (HCD) to ask about the $200K, and got some good news. It would come from existing housing funds, but it’s from an unallocated fund balance, so it wouldn’t take money from any current housing or homeless programs. Andy gave me a detailed explanation about the funds and the process. I should have taken notes. Watch tonight’s Council meeting for more.