[Vision2020] Sojourners' to close for 2 months Sept. 1

[Moscow Cares]

As the City of Moscow approves million$ in support of the resolution for the Airport Improvement Grant . . .

"A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization."
- Samuel Johnson, Boswell: Life of Johnson

Courtesy of today's (June 21, 2016) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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Sojourners' to close for 2 months Sept. 1
Official says plan is to re-open once additional funding is secured
Sojourners' Alliance Executive Director Steve Bonnar met Monday with the Latah County Commissioners and announced the transitional housing facility will shut its doors for at least a two-month period beginning Sept. 1.
Bonnar, who spoke with commissioners during a budget presentation for his organization, also requested a commitment of $12,500 for the upcoming year from Latah County.
He said since losing $100,000 in funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, he has determined he needs to secure an annual budget of at least $125,000 in order to keep the center operating in a sustainable manner. He said he has collected approximately $65,000 in donations and grants since losing funding.
"At the end of August we are taking two months off," he said. "Everybody that is on site will be gone come Aug. 31."
If additional funding is not secured by then, the re-opening date will be pushed back, he said.
Bonnar said Sojourners' is contributing $270 to each current resident, with an additional $350 from HUD, and covering housing deposits to help those being forced out during the closure. HUD is also moving current residents up the Section 8 housing voucher list, he said.
The center is currently housing 20 people.
"I'm finding them all housing that will be stable so they are not one month from being homeless again," he said.
Without the center, the closest place to find similar housing is in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene or Boise, Bonnar said.
Bonnar said he is also speaking with a variety of people and organizations about grant possibilities, and he has asked the Moscow City Council to reach out to surrounding cities in an effort to locate more funding sources.
He is also looking into possible agreements with the Department of Corrections to house felons directly out of prison.
The Latah County Recovery Center also requested $12,500 in funding next year from the county Monday.
Since opening in September, the center has had 600 people through the door, with 56 people, or "peers," receiving recovery peer services, said Darrell Keim, program director for the Latah Recovery Center.
"We want them to keep coming, because that is what makes a community," he said.
Moscow Volunteer Fire Department Chief Brian Nickerson also met with the commissioners Monday to request $20,000 - the same as last year - to support the department's paramedic program.
Nickerson said two paramedics recently graduated and another four have been selected to begin the approximately two-year-long program in the fall.
MVFD paramedics provide EMS services to Moscow and support area rural departments.
"This last year we did 130 medical rendezvous calls, which is where we meet an ambulance somewhere along the way to the hospital," he said.
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The people of Moscow care . . . just not the elected ones.

It's a shame.

Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" 
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
  
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