Rutherford County homeless granted basic needs
Dustin Evans
Issue date: 4/13/09
In the midst of a controversial stimulus package, Congressman Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., announced that Rutherford County has been awarded $80,139 as a grant to aid people without food or shelter on April 9.
Gordon said that the grant, a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, comes at a time when homelessness and hunger have significantly increased in Middle Tennessee.
"I am confident that grants like this, in addition to the job creation components and federal grant programs that received funding from the Recovery Act, will pull Middle Tennessee and the rest of the country out of this recession and back on the track of economic prosperity," Gordon said in a news release.
The Nashville Homeless Power Project stated on its Web site that since 2007, the city of Nashville has already benchmarked funding to develop 200 units of housing for the homeless a year before the grant.
The NHPP Web site also stated they had previously asked for $2.3 million for 200 units to build during 2007-08, the city budget was only able to allocate $800,000, which was still able to produce 60 units of shelter.
Gordon said that this grant will be able to assist projects like the NHPP that exist in Rutherford County.
"The money allocated today will help to expand Rutherford's existing program," Gordon said. "Not only can the funds be used for food and shelter purposes, but they can also be used to provide one-month assistance with rent, mortgage and utility payments to prevent evictions, and transition assistance from shelters to stable living conditions."
Gordon said that the funds were allocated by a formula that took current population, unemployment and poverty into account.
Gordon also said that this funding from the ARRA provided funding to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program. The ESFP's goals are to provide funding to the "neediest areas," to respond quickly, and to maintain accountable reporting.
For more information on Rutherford County's grant, you can contact United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties at 893-7303.
