Attorneys general and governors from 20 states sued the Department of Housing and Urban Development over changes to its Continuum of Care Program.
Grant recipients counting on two year grants to fund their permanent and transitional housing programs discovered their grants were ending at the end of this month, a year early.
Erin Prochnow is CEO of YWCA of Cass Clay in Fargo, and says about a hundred women and children rely on this funding to keep a safe roof over their heads.
At a hearing on December 19, a federal judge ordered a stop to these actions that pause the funding – but Prochnow says it doesn’t solve the issue. It basically just informed HUD that their actions were too far off from what was initially agreed upon in Congress. She says now, Congress needs to act.
"I think, best case scenario is that they fund the renewal projects from this year and essentially just extend them one year because many of us are starting that process again, and when we applied, it was to be a two year award. What I think will happen, is that both sides will come to some sort of agreement on revised language, and they're going to make us apply again. The process will be significantly delayed, and we're going to have all this uncertainty as providers, that in many cases, will roll over onto real people that live across our communities, across the United States."
Prochnow says the Senate is scheduled to hear a mini-omnibus bill in January. She says she’s hopeful North Dakota’s delegation will support the funding. But she says she’s never experienced this type of uncertainty in her line of work before – and it has her concerned for the women and children served throughout the community.
"It's one of those things, where, I'm not trying to be alarmist in having the kind of conversation that I'm having. We don't stand alone in this particular fight, people deserve to have a safe roof over their head, and some consistency in how these programs are administered."
Prochnow says for now, the YWCA and other partner agencies remain in a “holding pattern” as they wait.