The Verde Valley Homeless Coalition is looking to build housing.
In 2018, VVHC made its case before the Cottonwood City Council for why the city should use its Community Development Block Grant funding to build transitional housing for Cottonwood’s homeless population, allowing those who are trying to move out of homeless- ness a place where they can live and pay rent but still receive help.
Municipalities receive CDBG money once every four years from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
The city at the time declined the proposal, choosing to instead use the $330,000 that they received to improve the city’s parks.
At a meeting on Tuesday, April 12, VVHC again requested the city’s help in getting a grant from HUD to build transitional housing. The homeless coalition requested sponsorship from Cottonwood for a $1.5 million CDBG Coronavirus grant from HUD through the Arizona Department of Housing, a special addition to the CDBG grant that uses funds allocated by Congress in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed in April 2020. In order to get the grant, the VVHC would have to have the funds pass through the city.
“Some homeless are going to be homeless pretty much their whole life,” VVHC Board Chairman Peter Flynn said to the council during his presentation of the proposal. “Some aren’t — either bad choices when they were younger, or an economic upheaval in their life. We focus on trying to help that component of the population get out of being homeless. So, ‘a hand up, not just a handout’ is a theme of us.
“Transitional housing is a bridge. It’s taking a person who has found employment, who has an income, but can’t immediately move into housing. If you’re homeless, and you get a job, you can’t walk out and get permanent housing, because you don’t have the first month’s rent, you don’t have the money you have to pay to get gas and power hooked up. So really what transitional housing is is a parking place for three to six months in which we would charge rent, but we would hold back a portion of that rent to be given back to the client when they move out. This is part of helping them get through that next step.”
If approved, the VVHC would use the funding to purchase the land that their current drop-in center is on, 654 N. Main St., from Friendship Missions and the Chenoweth family, who currently lease the land to the VVHC, as well as the adjoining 660 N. Main St., at below-appraisal prices.
The funding would then be used to renovate 654 N. Main St. to better suit the VVHC’s needs. The nonprofit would also construct a four-bedroom manufactured home and a new six-bedroom home on the newly purchased lot as transitional housing for up to 10 residents, paying rent to the VVHC and living communally with other transitional residents before eventually moving out into conventional housing.
After hearing from the VVHC, the council showed enough interest to move forward with a public hearing on Tuesday, April 27, followed by a vote on the issue on Tuesday, May 4. No official deci- sion has so far been made.
Cottonwood Police Cmdr. Gareth Braxton-Johnson said that the location is good for being slightly separated from the road, and not in a heavily residential area, hopefully leading to fewer complaints.
“We would be overlooking the project to make sure that the scope and the requirements are met, and also that they meet all the codes,” Deputy City Manager Rudy Rodriguez told council. “Secondly of course it requires that there be reporting on a timely basis, which we would have to take care of.
“Should the VVHC cease to exist, the responsibility would be on the city of Cottonwood to reimburse the CDBG for any remaining period …. If they were to only complete two years of the program, we would have to return three-fifths of the $1.65 million.”
Overall, the council expressed support for the proposal and sought to continue moving forward with it, though some members of the council expressed skepticism about some aspects of the proposal.
“I would hope that we could provide the opportunity to financially bolster this organization, and help out those that really are struggling with housing in the area,” said Mayor Tim Elinski, who also serves on the VVHC board. “Really what this transitional housing program is about is folks that have fallen on hard times, and do have a job but simply need help getting back on their feet, getting into regular housing.”
“I’m fine with going forward with a public hearing, assuming we could pull the plug at any time,” Councilwoman Debbie Wilden said.
“If we have the property we can at least recoup some of that,” Councilwoman Helaine Kurot said, speaking in support of moving forward.
Council also expressed concerns because VVHC’s former executive director, Matthew Martin, was arrested in October for allegedly embezzling funds from the nonprofit.
“You recently had someone in charge who stole some of your money,” Vice Mayor Michael Mathews said. “What have you done to prevent that from happening again? I would daresay that if something like that were to happen again, your funding is going to dry up and we’ll be on the hook.”
“We have good controls. We’ve even made them tighter,” Flynn said.
“I see the transitional housing giving the stability to folks who have just maybe started to work, the time to build up a reserve and be able get into whatever the next step of housing is for them,” Councilwoman Jackie Nairn. “I think this is a very needed service for Cottonwood and for the Verde Valley as a whole, and the way they’re proposing it is very well- thought out.
“I feel pretty confident that with the leadership that they have and the way they’ve weathered through the COVID pandemic that they will continue to provide the service that’s needed, and I don’t see them failing.”
