Federal grant money to help Iowa’s homeless youth is in limbo due to a clerical error by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Iowa agency which helps fund and coordinate homeless services was supposed to get an initial $200,000 payment from a nearly $7-million grant, but there was a slip-up.
Courtney Guntly, director of the Iowa Balance of State Continuum of Care, says the group hasn’t received any of the money yet.
Guntly says, “It is very, very stressful being at this point that we don’t know, and I’m not even sure when we will know, what things look like for the long term.”
The agency was notified in mid-January of the clerical error by a HUD liaison, but she says the remaining funds are also in doubt due to federal funding freezes and contract cuts.
Guntly says the group already hired extra staff and they’re working with the expectation the money will eventually come through.
“We have to continue to do the work,” she says, “but we don’t know what’s going on or what the future of this funding looks like.”
A HUD employee confirmed Iowa was the only grant recipient affected by the error.
Guntly says HUD also hasn’t signed the contract for the annual grant funding which starts April first. Last year, HUD signed the contract on February 1st.
(IBy sabella Luu, Iowa Public Radio)