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GOVERNMENT

Victorville creates $2 million program to help fund pandemic-hampered homeless shelters

Martin Estacio
Victorville Daily Press
Victorville City Hall.

A new $2 million program designed to give financial assistance to Victorville shelters and other nonprofits that provide housing to the homeless could begin as early as this week.

The American Rescue Plan Act Homeless Shelter and Housing Services Recovery program — approved by the Victorville City Council on Tuesday — would grant up to $100,000 per application.

Nonprofits would be able to file multiple claims to cover eligible expenses if they can prove that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a loss in revenue, according to city staff.

“I’m very happy to see the way we’re utilizing the ARPA funds,” said Mayor Pro Tem Leslie Irving during Tuesday’s meeting. “For me, this is good.”

City officials said the program is the third time Victorville has used the federal funds made available after the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill was signed in March.

The law provided $350 billion to state and local governments to aid in economic recovery from the pandemic.

The High Desert’s largest city was awarded $33.5 million, with the first roughly $16.7 million portion received in June, city analyst Tony Camargo said. The next installment is expected to arrive in the same month in 2022.

Using the ARPA dollars, Victorville purchased three new fire engines last month to replace aging vehicles in its fleet.

In July, the City Council voted to allocate $2 million from the ARPA allotment to help residents with past due utility bills and, if eligible, have their balances zeroed out.

Staff said the program was successful and helped almost 2,000 Victorville residents, an accomplishment they hope to mirror with the current program that concerns the nonprofits.

Shelters facing 'financial challenges'

Casey prepares to carry his bag of cans to a recycling center after speaking to volunteers during the Point-in-Time count in Old Town Victorville in January 2019.

Homelessness has become a seemingly intractable issue that the city has been dealing with for several years.

In 2020, Victorville had the second-highest homeless population — 451 people — of all cities in San Bernardino County for the third year in a row, according to data collected during the federally-mandated Point-in-Time count.

A year before, a Homelessness Solutions Task Force was created whose members proposed a 24/7 shelter with on-site services to help get people off the streets.

The 168-bed Wellness and Recuperative Care Center — slated to be the largest shelter in the High Desert and which officials want to build near Eva Dell Park — has hit funding snags, however, and a major funding source for the project remains uncertain.

A Victorville spokesperson told the Daily Press in February that the city planned to apply for a second round of Project Homekey funding, the state program aiming to expand housing for the homeless.

About $1.4 billion in Homekey grant funding will be made available to public entities with applications expected to be available in late September, according to the state.

In the meantime, nonprofits house most of the city’s homeless, and they are “facing financial challenges” due to COVID-19, city officials said in a report.

As an example, Jimmy Waldron, executive director of High Desert Homeless Services, told city staff that his organization was not able to fundraise in 2020 dueto coronavirus restrictions and has resorted to other measures to stay afloat.

A bird's eye view of the Victorville Wellness and Recuperative Care Center, a 170-bed interim housing facility proposed to be built near Eva Dell Park.

At one point, the organization ran their main shelter and an emergency shelter at the Victorville Transportation Center. The latter shelter then moved to the Westwinds Sports Center on the grounds of the former George Air Force Base and another nonprofit later took over operations.

“The additional requirements needed to meet COVID-19 safety and operational guidelines and operate both shelters increased HDHS’s operating expenses and depleted resources at hand,” a city report read.

As a result, Waldron said the nonprofit had to obtain a line of credit to cover expenses, join a coalition of other nonprofits for a better chance of receiving grant funding and plans to reopen a thrift store in Old Town Victorville.

Eligible nonprofits applying for the city’s program would be able to use money toward rent, lease and mortgage payments, utilities, payroll, benefits costs, personal protective equipment and other expenses “that occur in the ordinary course of operations,” according to a sample application.

Nonprofits would also be required to provide financial reports that demonstrate an ongoing financial need due to the pandemic and write up a close-out report that shows the funds were used for authorized purposes.

Camargo, the city analyst, said the program is scheduled to start Friday, Oct. 1, with applications being accepted through Victorville’s website.

The initial round of applications will be accepted through Nov. 30. Camargo said subsequent rounds may be added depending on the number of applications received.

Daily Press reporter Martin Estacio may be reached at 760-955-5358 or MEstacio@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_mestacio.