Has the Government Shutdown affected the Tennessee Fair Housing Council? This is a question we have been asked a lot recently. The answer is emphatically YES!
Since 2016, The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has experienced alleged difficulties that have created 4 and 6 week gaps in funding. 2018 was the last year of our 3-year grant cycle and the Council submitted a timely grant proposal on Dec. 19, 2018… Two days before the shutdown.
As originally communicated to us, the Council faced up to a 5 month gap between the end of one grant and the beginning of another. Due to the shutdown, no one was reviewing the grant proposals so, all things being equal, we likely face a 6 – 6.5 month gap. Half a year without our primary funding source.
What this means for our clients is that we have had to cut services since January 1 – from serving 7 counties to serving 1. If the gap is as anticipated, we face 5 to 6.5 months without our major source of funding; longer if the government shuts down again.
Channels 4 and 5 in Nashville have run stories on our organization recently. The links are below.
https://www.wsmv.com/news/organization-that-fights-housing-discriminatio…
https://www.newschannel5.com/news/local-non-profit-struggling-during-gov…