LAYTON -- Twenty-two Layton residents spent at least one night in The Road Home shelter in Salt Lake City in 2009.
A representative from the homeless shelter was recently in Layton and asked the city council to consider that figure when distributing this year's Community Development Block Grant funds this summer.
The federal entitlement funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development are earmarked for projects benefiting low- to moderate-income people, said Ben Hart, city economic specialist.
Hart said he expects Layton will receive about the same amount of funds this year as it received last year, which was $342,092.
"We have to do as much good with the money as we can," he said.
During the first of two public hearings the city is required to hold to receive the funds -- with the second hearing to be held in May -- representatives from the Layton Community Action Council and The Road Home approached the council to be considered for funding.
Of the 5,293 people who stayed at least one night in the Salt Lake City homeless shelter, 22 were from Layton, said Matthew M. Minkevitch, executive director for The Road Home.
The cost to the shelter to house the 22 residents, based on the historical average of each individual who stays in the shelter, usually for 37 days, totaled about $14,000, he said.
Minkevitch said the estimated cost to serve the city's residents is in no way a billing invoice he is presenting to the city, but merely an indication of the needs the shelter is trying to meet.
For the past two years, the shelter has seen a disturbing trend -- a record number of families have been turning to the shelter for assistance, he said.
In the last three weeks, however, that trend has begun to shift, with more families beginning to move out of the shelter than move in, Minkevitch said.
"Thank you for the lives you save," he said.
Hart said Layton donated $4,500 to the Salt Lake City shelter last year.
Val Stratford, executive director of the Layton Community Action Council, also requested the action council be considered for CDBG funds. The action council is responsible for the nationally recognized Layton Youth Court program that has been in existence for 12 years.
Hart said the community action council last year received $9,500 of the grant money.
He said the old downtown infrastructure projects received the bulk of last year's CDBG funding.
Comments