Tens of millions of dollars on which local service organizations count to combat roaming remain frozen because the federal government changes the rules governing this money to restrict support to undocumented immigrants.
President Joe Bid’s Administration had previously announced more than $ 44 million for the San Diego region, which was aimed at supporting a range of programs. These so-called care continuum subsidies have been approved by the congress and, in some cases, may have reimbursed the organizations of San Diego for money already spent.
However, local leaders say that they have not been able to access these funds and are in the place invited to sign a new agreement which prohibits the “promotion of illegal immigration”, among other regulations, without explanation on the way in which revised policies should be carried out.
“It’s not clear,” said Tamera Kohler, CEO of the regional working group on homelessness. “We have these new requirements and we are not 100% sure how we put them into action.”
Federal dollars are only one of the many sources of funding on which the County of San Diego relies in the midst of a homeless crisis which has regularly increased for years.
In the city of San Diego, the continuum of care subsidies represents only about 3% of all homelessness expenses for the current financial year, according to the office of the independent budgetary analyst. But the federal government is a major player in the region, in particular with regard to rental aid programs which help formerly maintain the homeless, and the delay in the distribution of funds alarmed the members of the delegation of the San Diego Congress.
In a letter of March 3, representatives Scott Peters and Sara Jacobs, among others, implored the head of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, to distribute the promised money.
“Most of this funding concerns existing projects, and without subsidies, these projects will expire during the calendar year 2025,” wrote the members of the Congress. “These projects allow homeless service providers to help veterans, families with children, young people, the elderly and vulnerable people.”
A spokesperson for Peters said at the end of last week that their office had not yet received an answer. Hud also did not answer questions from the San Diego Union-Tribune on the moment when money could be dealt with and how civil servants would apply the rules concerning immigration.
The county was promised a total of 61 subsidies, according to the files shared with the Union-Tribune by the regional working group. (The list seems to have been withdrawn from the HUD website, and by clicking on a link in the original press release from the Biden administration now triggers an error message “page not found”.)
More than $ 615,000, for example, was promised to the local salvation army. Spokesperson Jake Minger said these funds were needed to quickly make hundreds of families in stable housing.
Normally, the money would have been accessible in February, said Kohler, the head of the working group. Instead, service organizations have received new contracts to sign – but even they seem to be a target in motion.
A version of mid-March would have forbidden to spend money on “programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion that violates all applicable anti-discrimination laws”. However, a more recent language examined by the Union-Tribune has negotiated this anti-DEI section against a more general ban against “programs that violate all applicable anti-discrimination laws”.
Anyway, there have always been languages targeting undocumented immigrants.
Immigration is not a main engine of local roaming, and newcomers to the United States have already been able to use a separate shelter system for migrants. However, this network contracts quickly under President Donald Trump and some undocumented residents end up staying in traditional shelters for homeless.
The latest version of the grant agreement indicates that local governments may not use federal funding “in a way that, by design or effect, facilitates the grant or promotion of illegal immigration”.
We don’t know how it could be applied. Local shelters do not generally request participants on citizenship to avoid violating laws prohibiting the discrimination of housing. HUD leaders have previously declared that the “necessary to protect life or security” services, such as the awareness of the street or shelter beds, should be accessible to all, regardless of immigration status.
Scott Marshall, spokesperson for San Diego Housing Commission, said the agency is still trying to understand how the new language could apply to shelters.
Other sections of the agreement include rules against the promotion of “gender ideology”, a reference to policies that support transgender residents, and a paragraph noting that HUD will not force homeless programs “to use a program of housing program.”
This latest line indicates that Trump can again try to retreat a federal policy that has long guided the country’s response to homeless.
The accommodation first favors the implementation of people under a roof before other problems, such as disorders linked to the consumption of substances, are discussed. Although a large number of research has revealed that the approach was effective for the majority of participants, many conservative managers think that the accent on housing has been put to the detriment of other key services, such as the treatment of drug addiction.
The elimination of housing first at the federal level would have less effect on San Diego, as California still uses the model to distribute public funds.
The two American senators from California, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, recently joined other colleagues to say that certain provisions of the revised agreement have raised “serious legal and constitutional concerns”.
“By linking critical funding to unrelated and discriminatory political requirements,” the senators wrote in a letter of March 19, “HUD risks endangering the rescue services”.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
