Housing fund shuffle will hurt poor families
The Department of Housing and Community Development has proposed a 33 percent ($200,000) reallocation in funding for emergency assistance that helps poor families stay in their homes.
If reallocated, the funds will go to the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in Guilford County.
Four agencies now receive funds from the city to help poor people in emergency situations with rent and utilities. These are older adults and working people, many with children, who have lost a job, had their hours cut, had an illness or other emergencies over which they have no control.
Cuts in these funds will seriously impact poor people in Greensboro and will contribute to many becoming homeless and needing shelter.
Studies show that the cost to society for having just a few of these people homeless can be far greater than the $200,000 to be cut from emergency assistance.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not the answer. Reallocating this funding now will be counterproductive to the agencies providing assistance, to the Ten Year Plan and to the hundreds of poor people who need this assistance.
Skip MacMillan
Greensboro
Comments (2)
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Agencies like this are generally inefficient. So much money gets siphoned away to run the 'agency' that very little actually makes it to the people who need it.
This sounds like something that would better be left to charity than goverment.
Posted on June 1, 2007 10:33 AM
"Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not the answer"
Exactly where do you think this money comes from? My name sure as heck ain't Paul.
Posted on June 1, 2007 10:34 AM