Title
Cold Night Shelter Program (B)
This item is a request to approve additional funds for the Cold Night Shelter Program.
Explanation
Since January 1, 2006, the City and County have provided funding for the Cold Night Shelter Program in accordance with an Emergency Shelter Services Interlocal Agreement (Agreement) as executed between the City and County. As part of the Agreement, the City and County provide $25,000 respectively for a total of $50,000 annually for the purposes of providing services to ensure the health and safety of homeless individuals during periods of cold weather or other emergencies caused by extraordinary circumstances that threaten the physical health and/or welfare of homeless persons. Due to limited shelter capacity available for homeless individuals during extremely cold weather conditions, the emergency shelter services funds have been historically allocated to the Cold Night Shelter Program.
The services for the Cold Night Shelter Program are usually provided from December 1 through March 31 during the coldest winter months of each year. However, due to the recent severe emergency weather conditions (temperatures 45°F or lower), from November 5 through November 16, 2010, the City implemented an emergency set-aside of $5,000 to provide temporary shelter and support services to homeless individuals during this period. This left a remaining program balance of $45,000 to allocate to the Cold Night Shelter Program for the remainder of the program period through March 31, 2011.
As part of the standard annual application cycle for the Cold Night Shelter Program the City's Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) recommend and awarded the remaining $45,000 to two local housing agencies to provide temporary shelter and support services for the remainder of the program period. The Alachua County Housing Authority (ACHA) was awarded $24,750, and St. Francis House, Inc. (SFH) was awarded $20,250 to provide Cold Night S...
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