A tough vote
This, quite frankly, is a misleading headline for this article. It implies that the commission, without any regard for the well-being of the community's low-income citizens, randomly took money away from housing counseling.
The truth of the matter is that, again quite frankly, this has been a long time coming. Both Hancock Corridor Development Corporation and East Athens Development Corporation epitomize organizations which have grown too dependent on public funds that are designed to be seed money and, in turn, have done way too little with said funds. I'm not saying they're not staffed by good people who are acting with the best of intentions, but I think it's fair to scrutinize and even withhold public funding if they're not performing their job in an effective manner ... particularly when their continual receipt of funding is denying other organizations from performing similar functions.
EADC was slated to get $185,000 from Community Development Block Grant funding to offer housing counseling, but, in the past year, had only moved one individual into homeownership and offered the service to a mere 76 individuals. And, a look at the 2006 tax return filed by EADC shows that their budget for the entire year was more than $1 million, including $753,817 in public sector grants.
That's a lot of buck for a little bang.
Compare that with the organization I'm affiliated with, the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens. Our entire budget is approximately $100,000 (and we receive only $10,000 in CDBG funding), and we provide shelter, counseling and case managerial services to anywhere from 25 to 50 individuals a year.
Granted the comparison is somewhat apples and oranges, but the numbers game is interesting since those served are somewhat similar yet the expenditures are tremendously skewed upward for EADC (and HCDC too).
Though I sympathize with the concerns voiced by Elton Dodson, as well as the other three who opposed the denial of the funds, regarding the lateness of this proposal, I still support the commission's actions.
The truth of the matter is that, again quite frankly, this has been a long time coming. Both Hancock Corridor Development Corporation and East Athens Development Corporation epitomize organizations which have grown too dependent on public funds that are designed to be seed money and, in turn, have done way too little with said funds. I'm not saying they're not staffed by good people who are acting with the best of intentions, but I think it's fair to scrutinize and even withhold public funding if they're not performing their job in an effective manner ... particularly when their continual receipt of funding is denying other organizations from performing similar functions.
EADC was slated to get $185,000 from Community Development Block Grant funding to offer housing counseling, but, in the past year, had only moved one individual into homeownership and offered the service to a mere 76 individuals. And, a look at the 2006 tax return filed by EADC shows that their budget for the entire year was more than $1 million, including $753,817 in public sector grants.
That's a lot of buck for a little bang.
Compare that with the organization I'm affiliated with, the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens. Our entire budget is approximately $100,000 (and we receive only $10,000 in CDBG funding), and we provide shelter, counseling and case managerial services to anywhere from 25 to 50 individuals a year.
Granted the comparison is somewhat apples and oranges, but the numbers game is interesting since those served are somewhat similar yet the expenditures are tremendously skewed upward for EADC (and HCDC too).
Though I sympathize with the concerns voiced by Elton Dodson, as well as the other three who opposed the denial of the funds, regarding the lateness of this proposal, I still support the commission's actions.
posted by Jmac at 7:51 AM
1 Comments:
The silliest thing in the artice:
If even one person was able to buy a house because of the counseling programs, then the money was well-spent, Maxwell said.
No, spending money on ineffective organizations which claim to work in the service of a good cause but don't actually have an impact is not money well spent. It's money wasted. Shifting the money to organizations who seek to fill a similar community need, and who have a verifiable track record of doing so in an effective way, is a much better solution.
And here's their real concern:
EADC and HCDC may be forced to lay off employees or even shut down after losing the funding, Sims and Maxwell said.
They say this as if it's a bad thing. There are certainly charitable causes where tangible progress that can be objectively measured is not easily provided, especially in the short term. But this is not one of those areas. And if this is the best they can do, they should be shut down and the money be reallocated to people and organizations that can use it effectively.
decon
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