FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Contact: Mitchell Rivard, 989-450-2534, Mitchell.Rivard@mail.house.gov
Congressman Dan Kildee Secures Federal Grants to Help Combat Homelessness, Help Domestic Abuse Victims
Kildee Successfully Fights for Nearly $2 Million in Federal Housing Grants for Saginaw at Risk Because of Bureaucratic Red Tape
WASHINGTON—Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05) has successfully worked to get the Saginaw community $1,884,846 in federal grants through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help the community reduce homelessness and protect victims of domestic abuse. The federal grants were at risk of being lost due to needless bureaucratic red tape.
In recent years, the Saginaw Housing Commission received federal grants from HUD to help reduce homelessness, support victims of domestic abuse and care for the mentally ill. For the last three years, the Housing Commission has requested that HUD award these grants directly to local organizations using the federal dollars, like Safe Haven and Domestic Violence Permanent Support Housing. However, due to bureaucratic red tape, the transfer process to switch the beneficiaries had not been completed, putting the federal grants in jeopardy, because the grant application deadline was soon approaching.
Local stakeholders, including the United Way of Saginaw County, reached out to Congressman Kildee to see if his congressional office could help complete the transfer before the next grant deadline. Working with community stakeholders and HUD, Congressman Kildee was able to successfully resolve the issue, protecting full funding for the grants and actually helping the community receive increased funding over prior years.
“Losing these grants would have been devastating to Saginaw County and the Homeless Consortium. The grants provide shelter and resources to our hardest to serve communities, including the chronically homeless, mentally ill, severely disabled and victims of domestic violence. I am thankful to Congressman Kildee and his staff for their work getting this transfer completed,” said Joanie Covert of United Way of Saginaw County.
“These grants are critical to the Saginaw community. We are grateful Congressman Kildee’s office was able to step in to get them completed. The grants not only sustain the housing programs that we’re doing, but help bring in additional dollars that go to helping those in Saginaw on the edge of poverty,” said Dan Streeter with the Saginaw County Consortium of Homeless Assistance Providers.
“I am pleased that my office was able to step in and protect these federal grants to reduce homelessness and provide support for victims of domestic abuse in Saginaw,” Congressman Kildee said. “My office is always available to assist mid-Michigan residents if they have a problem with a federal agency or feel that they have been treated unfairly.”