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Sioux City to accept roughly $2.9 million in emergency rental-assistance funds and seek homeless-shelter operating grant
Summary
City staff told the council the funds are COVID-era allocations from the U.S. Treasury that will be used for emergency rental assistance, rapid rehousing and a targeted passthrough to support refugee families; a separate state-funded homeless-operations grant would route about $125,000 to the warming shelter with the city as a passthrough.
Sioux City will move forward with a $2.9 million amendment to federal emergency rental-assistance funding and apply for a state homeless-shelter operations grant, city staff said during the council meeting.
The money comes from COVID-era programs administered through the state. "These are emergency rental assistance funds that were allocated out to the state during COVID. They're COVID funds from the Department of Treasury," said Jill Waterscheid, Neighborhood Services Manager. She told the council the city has used prior allocations for homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing.
Waterscheid said the current subgrant is near its end and must be spent by September, with no extensions allowed. She described an added allocation to support refugee families resettled in Sioux City through local partners, saying the state had asked the city to pass that assistance through to agencies serving those households.
"They reached out again ... to support some of their refugee families," Waterscheid said, explaining the additional dollars would be used for rental assistance through September. "It is a part of it so it's just blessing up our number even more to allow for that final push of rental assistance specific to those individuals and families."
Separately, Waterscheid described a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG-CV) allocation the city will apply to homeless-shelter operations. She said the city would keep $1,500 to cover its staff time and that the state designated the remaining roughly $125,000 to go directly to the warming shelter to support staff and operating costs.
"The state made that decision. The state told us how they were allowed to be spent," Waterscheid said.
The measures were placed on the consent agenda; staff characterized the city’s role in both items as a subgrantee or passthrough administrator rather than a primary service provider.
Why it matters: The funds are intended to prevent evictions and support emergency shelter operations ahead of program expiry dates this fall. In Waterscheid’s description, some of the rental-assistance funds will be targeted at refugee families whose resettlement partners have lost other support.
Council-level action: The allocations and applications for the two grants were included on the consent agenda; City staff presented details and answered council questions during the meeting.
What’s next: Waterscheid said the rental-assistance allocation must be spent by September and the CDBG-CV passthrough was similarly time-limited. The city will administer the award terms defined by the state and coordinate with local nonprofit partners on distribution.
