Thursday, August 10, 2023–2:00 p.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
The City of Rome’s General Administration Committee voted Thursday to support, without committing a dollar amount, a proposed rapid re-housing program that seeks to address homelessness in the community.
The program is a partnership, primarily between the Northwest Georgia Housing Authority and the United Way of Rome and Floyd County. Other partners include Hospitality House, the Davies Shelters, the Family Resource Center, and the Salvation Army.
26 units at Willingham Village in West Rome have been set aside for the pilot program. They are now known as the Hannah’s Place Apartments, in recognition of Hannah Phillips with the housing authority. The apartments will be furnished.
The model provides short-term (under 3 months) and medium-term (3 to 24 months) services for eligible Floyd County households that have successfully completed a shelter care program or are enrolled in the United Way’s Community Case Management program.
“The space we are stepping into with the pilot program is after sheltering, or before sheltering is necessary,” said Alli Mitchell with the United Way of Rome and Floyd County. “Right now, what is happening is that individuals are going into shelter care, and they are doing everything they are asked to do. Then, at the end of their stay, there is no housing for them to go to because all of our shelters are 30, 60, or 90 days max now, except for Hospitality House.”
Mitchell added that while the shelters are investing in excellent care and are doing their jobs, there is a need for filling the next gap.
“The goal is pulling people out of shelter care or keeping them from having to enter a shelter while they are precariously housed,” she said. “If we see an eviction on the horizon, if they lose a job, or that kind of thing, we bring them here. Three to six months is probably going to be our typical range. We can have it all the way up to 24 months. That’s probably going to be someone like women with children, for example. A minimum of 26 households will go through here. We are estimating it will be at least twice that, but this will take people into permanent housing from here. “
The City of Rome is being asked to contribute $710,000 to fund the 24-month pilot. That comes to a cost of $13,644 per household per year. By comparison, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, it is estimated that between shelters, emergency rooms, and shelters, it costs $40,000 a year for a homeless person to be on the streets.
“I don’t know how popular it would be to the masses to use general fund dollars,” said Rome City Manager Sammy Rich. “However, we do have some unallocated ARPA [American Rescue Plan] dollars. If the commission is asking me if we want to do this and let’s figure out a way to pay for it, my recommendation would be to tap into the ARPA funds. Obviously, we’d love to leverage our dollars and we’d love for our friends with Floyd County to get on board to split the costs.”
Rome City Commissioner Randy Quick agreed that ARPA funds may be the way to go.
“Let me say to the agencies how very proud I am of the model that we have before of today,” he said. “It shows a tremendous cooperative spirit between each and every one. We are past the days when everyone was trying to vie for the same dollars. We are working together on a solution and that’s a great thing.”
It is hoped that the initial program, if successful, can be expanded to include additional units as well as adaptations of the model itself to address other known housing gaps in the community.
“It’s going to work,” said Melvin Scott with the housing authority. “It is going to be the best thing for Northwest Georgia, Rome, HUD, and anybody out there. One thing I have learned, not only with the housing authority but with the City of Rome, we are at the forefront.”
General Administration Committee Chair Bill Collins made the motion to support the model, again, without setting a dollar amount, which was then approved unanimously.
Following the meeting, those in attendance were given a tour of the remodeled units that will be a part of the pilot program.