Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 10, 1995 TAG: 9501100051
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Amid rumors and threats of comprehensive cuts, the Federal Emergency Management Assistance program has already halved funding to Montgomery County, a reduction Kathy Brown of the Montgomery County Community Shelter predicts will make more people homeless.
"A lot of people are going to suffer. I'm dreading what is coming," she said.
Last year, FEMA funds helped hundreds of people in the New River Valley by preventing homelessness and providing temporary shelter, local officials said.
In 1994, Montgomery County's Emergency Assistance program spent $38,000 in FEMA funds. The money was used as a short-term means to pay rent, utility bills and grocery bills for the needy, said the Rev. Harry B. Scott III of Christiansburg. This year, the county's FEMA share will be $17,000.
Likewise, the Community Shelter - the New River Valley's primary facility for the homeless - will receive $5,000 from FEMA instead of the 1994 allocation of $10,000.
"People are just going to have to make do," Scott said. "It beats freezing to death."
FEMA's decision to slash local funding was based on a formula determined by economic indicators, said Kymn Davidson-Hamley, director of the United Way of Montgomery County and Radford. Local unemployment dropped in 1994, and so did FEMA's allocation.
However, employment statistics often include part-time workers who lack benefits such as medical insurance, so a lower rate may be misleading, she said. "It's going to come down on people who have nowhere else to turn."
Brown said the New River Valley's homeless population - unlike more visible urban counterparts - is characterized by people working low-paying jobs without benefits who cannot make ends meet.
"We have people in substandard housing or people living in cars," she said. "People don't see it."
Local emergency assistance programs find temporary housing for families or individuals or keep them from being evicted or going hungry, Scott said. "We try to keep people from being homeless."
FEMA funds represented 40 percent of Montgomery County's emergency assistance budget last year. The other portion is raised privately.
"We're just going to try and make it stretch," said Scott, founder of the local program. "But we cannot fill the gaps. We don't have the resources."
The Community Shelter has only three apartments in its Christiansburg facility, not enough to handle the demand. In 1994, 90 families residing at the shelter used FEMA money, and others who qualified for help had to be turned away because of limited resources, Brown said.
Ironically, Radford's emergency assistance program received twice as much money from FEMA for 1995 - about $23,000 - as it did the previous year.
The Community Shelter has applied to the Radford program for financial help. "I fully support their efforts," said the Rev. Gina Rhea, chairwoman of the Radford FEMA board.
Radford FEMA funds have been allocated in past years to agencies providing emergency assistance such as the city's Department of Social Services, the Women's Resource Center and the Radford-Fairlawn Daily Bread program, Rhea said.
by CNB