With city departments adjusting to budget cuts recommended by the Columbus City Council, Travis Jones, director of federal programs, said the tight Fiscal Year 2013 budget means a change in some of the grants his office will pursue.
One of those grants, money that could provide five new homes for low income residents, has been put on hiatus for the moment.
“Because of the budget, we decided not to pursue the Home Partnership Investment Grant because the city’s budget is tight and matching funds are involved,” Jones said.
Jones said the grant is competitive and there was no guarantee the city would have landed the funds. Columbus last received about $350,000 in grant money in 2010. The grant was used to replace three dilapidated homes in the Sandfield neighborhood. The city was not successful in receiving the grant in 2011.
“If we had applied for the grant and received it this year, we could have replaced five dilapidated or beyond-repair homes,” Jones said. “The grant allows us to have the homes torn down and rebuilt on the spot. I was going to ask for approximately $450,000 for 2013 and the city would have had to match it at $100,000.”
During the city’s budget hearings, Ward 5 Councilman Kabir Karriem expressed his concerns over not applying for the grant. Tuesday, Karriem said he feels the grant money could help the community.
“I think there’s a need for it,” Karriem said. “I can say this coming from a single-parent home. I understand the need for it. Even though we aren’t guaranteed the money, if we had gotten this grant, we could have constructed five homes. It could have provided people a sense of hope. I have people all over my ward that need this kind of help. There are people all over Columbus that are living in poor conditions.”
Jones said he hopes not applying for the grant will help keep the city’s budget in line.
“We have to look at the bigger picture,” said Jones. “(Not applying) isn’t going to break the office but cuts have to come from somewhere.”
The city plans to have a public hearing on the budget Sept. 6 before giving it final approval on Sept. 13. Karriem said he feels the cuts should have come from other areas and not the housing grant.
“I was an advocate for this program,” Karriem said. “I felt it was the last thing that should have been cut. We had been told we were going to apply for the grant and we would need to set aside $100,000. I think we really need to look at the budget again. You sit in those grueling meetings for a few days and then you have time to reflect and see where you could have done things differently.”
Although the housing grant is off the table for the moment, Jones said he is actively pursuing and receiving different grants for the city.
“Right now, we are looking at the grants available for the possible bus line,” Jones said. “We are looking to see what is out there. We have also received a grant for an emergency public facility in East Columbus. This will be used to try and stop flooding in the area. The grant was $100,000 with no matching money from the city. These are the types of grants I am pursuing — the one with no matching funds from the city. The Bluecutt Road project was done with money from MDOT and not the city. It is expected to be completed in September. We will continue to seek no-match grants for the city.”
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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