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Red tape, confusion block COVID homeless aid from cash-strapped cities, counties across US
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By Shaena Montanari and Natalie Walters
Howard Center for Investigative Reporting
Winter in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge is wet and freezing, a life-threatening situation for the area’s homeless residents even without a pandemic. Darcy Long-Curtiss understands that better than most.
The shelter that normally provided nighttime refuge was closed because of COVID-19, and federal aid money meant to help protect homeless people from the pandemic came late and with confusing restrictions. By the time Long-Curtiss, a councilwoman in The Dalles, a city of about 16,000 at the eastern edge of the gorge, got permission to erect temporary shelters, temperatures were already dipping below freezing. She had just one week to ready the site and make potentially life-and-death decisions.
In the headlines:
► Americans who have direct deposit set up through the Internal Revenue Service could be receiving their stimulus payment as early as Tuesday night, according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Paper checks will begin to be mailed Wednesday, according to a press release from the Treasury Department. The new round of stimulus includes $600 direct payment to qualifying individual Americans, or $1,200 for couples.
► California extended its regional stay-at-home order for Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, where there is 0% ICU capacity. Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state s health and human services secretary, said the order is in effect for the time being with no set expiration date for the restrictions, the Los Angeles Times reported. Ghaly said ICU projections will determine when the orders will be lifted.
Calculating homeless aid has relied on a flawed formula
Dec. 29, 2020 at 7:15 am
ANDY BLYE and AUSTIN FAST, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
Eric Smith will finally have a place to call home after years of sleeping in his car and on his aunt’s sofa because of an obscure change in how the federal government calculates homeless aid.
For decades, Washington has determined how much taxpayer money to give states, counties and cities for their homeless residents, using a formula that actually has nothing to do with homelessness. But the COVID-19 pandemic, and its billions in emergency aid, forced lawmakers to rework the old, politically popular homeless formula, which spread the wealth regardless of need.
Communities struggle to make best use of largest influx of homeless aid in U.S. history Shaena Montanari and Natalie Walters, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
Winter in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge is wet and freezing, a life-threatening situation for the area’s homeless residents even without a pandemic. Darcy Long-Curtiss understands that better than most.
The shelter that normally provided nighttime refuge was closed because of COVID-19, and federal aid money meant to help protect homeless people from the pandemic came late and with confusing restrictions. By the time Long-Curtiss got permission to erect temporary shelters purchased with her community’s share of the funding, temperatures already were dipping below freezing. She had just one week to ready the site and make potentially life-and-death decisions.
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