Both Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan and Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston want to do what they can to prevent evictions and fight homelessness in the area.
But, last week, they were at odds with each other after what Alston is calling a “misunderstanding.” Things are copacetic now between the mayor and the chairman.
Alston, at a Board of Commissioners meeting on Thursday, Jan. 6, launched into a rant in which he said it appears that the City of Greensboro doesn’t care about fighting evictions because the city had not accessed $10 million in federal funds that Guilford County government had for the city to prevent evictions.
Guilford County received the money from a COVID-19 federal relief package and gave the city $2 million up front to work with its community partners on the issue. There’s an additional $8 million that the county has for the city that will be used to reimburse the City of Greensboro once it spends the money.
Alston’s tirade came after the Greensboro City Council did not discuss or pass a city budget amendment at its Tuesday, Jan. 4 meeting. County officials expected the council to pass the amendment, and, when it didn’t happen, county officials presumed the city was dropping the ball.
“We’ve worked it out now,” said Alston, who added that he’s just happy the relief money is getting into the hands of those who need it.
Alston said that he and county staff were surprised when the city council did not adopt a budget amended at the Jan. 4 meeting to make way for the acceptance of the federal relief money.
Vaughan told the Rhino Times after Alston’s public tirade that city officials were using the money and had made arrangements to access the funds in a way different than county officials were anticipating.
“They can do it their way if they want,” Alston said,” but I wished they had called to tell us what they were going to do.”
At the county commissioners meeting on January 6, an animated Alston suggested the city was not concerned about people being evicted during the pandemic because they weren’t taking action to access $10 million in funds that were readily available.
On Friday, January 7, the day after Alston’s outburst, an email from city staff to the Greensboro City Council members gave an update on the actions of the city with regard to the $10 million.
It stated, “On November 1, 2021, City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding between Guilford County and the City of Greensboro regarding the transfer and use of federally allocated funds for the Emergency Rental and Utilities Assistance (ERA) program. Among other terms, the agreement called for an initial allocation of $2 million from the county to the city, with further distributions made upon reimbursement requests submitted to the county from the city.”
The email to the council then provided a summary of the internal application review and payment process that the city is using to ensure proper auditing and documentation practices:
In the email, city staff stated that the process would meet the needs of the tenants and landlords as well as meet the documentation and audit requirements needed for receiving federal funding.
This whole eviction mess is a big tar-baby (if I can say that). No matter what you do, it is wrong.
King Skippy is happy now that the money is back in the hands of his cronies and thugs who run the city and county boards. Such a shame these thieves are allowed to do this. Yvonne I’m sure you got your big wad of cash too.
word
Ok skip set back breathe easy you’ve got your way and take a moment to get the knot out of your panties
“Back on the same page”……I feel so much better.
Poor Skip, his foot seems to fit in his mouth more and more. Temper tantrum’s should be reserved for young children, not those that have the facts available to them.
It’s time to fight homelessness at the top and audit apartment complexes who send residents “notice of non-renewal ” notices. With nowhere to go, they keep all their personal belongings leaving them indigent. I’m just one of many.
This is a very complex issue. However, if a tenant is not capable of paying rent, what option does a landlord have? Is it the responsibility of the local, state or federal government to tell the landlord that he cannot evict these people or will it get to the point where the government pays the landlord to house them. The latter is not a solution as it creates another layer of welfare that is too easy to abuse. It is hard to understand why people cannot pay for rent today when the labor market is desperate for workers at all levels. At some point, everyone must understand that getting a job and staying off government assistance is desirable to depending on others. However, this is will require a major change of mind for both those on government assistance as well as the government itself. Everyone needs to stop this concept of a “guaranteed standard of living.” The only thing that everyone is guaranteed when they are born is that at sometime they will die. Everything else is up to the individual, not the government.
Amen Mr. Nelson well said
Love your last sentence.
AMEN !!
Hey tuna and chris read the above post carefully. Then pick up your free tickets to Russia China North Korea or wherever you socialist want to live
Allaboard, so what is your solution to homelessness in GSO? Ship them off to Gastonia? Ignore them? or Lock em up?
Careful your heartless selfishness is showing.
Send them to wherever you and fishbait go. I only have a heart for animals and kids not socialist liberals like you and tuna
The majority of so-called homeless folks chose to live that way. They don’t want 4 walls with doors and windows around them. They would rather sleep in a tent, or under the bridge. You can’t fix that no matter how much time and money you throw at them.