Room at the Inn gets funding to stay open year-round after council vote
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
At Monday night's Columbia City Council meeting, city officials approved a resolution to give funding to make a once seasonal homeless shelter open year-round.
The council approved a resolution aimed at keeping Room at the Inn at 1509 Ashley Street open year round, beginning Oct. 29. According to the council memo, the City’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget included $450,000 set to keep the shelter open. The homeless shelter was previously open during the winter months, closing at the beginning of April.
The resolution includes two additional renewal terms for 2024 and 2025, according to the council agenda. It also increases the number of units of service for each renewal term, increases the total allowable compensation from $134,956.61 in 2023 to $584,956.61 for all of 2024, according to documents..
ARPA funding
The council also approved to allocate $25,284,624.00 in American Rescue Plan Funds and authorize the City Manager to negotiate any agreements or other documents with such allocations.
Groups had to apply earlier this year for several key areas affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among recommended key areas included community violence.
According to a press release and the council agenda, the funding recommendations by priority area includes:
- Affordable housing - $8,600,000
- Homelessness - $5,665,000
- Mental health - $3,000,000
- Workforce development - $2,449,961
- Community violence - $2,170,000
- Access to services - $1,325,000
- Workforce support - $1,324,663
- Capacity building - $750,000
