Banning council hears Faith in Action proposal for homeless services, directs staff to seek grant rework

The Banning City Council on May 27 considered a proposal from nonprofit Faith in Action to provide homeless services, workforce training and housing navigation and directed staff to explore modifying existing grant spending rather than awarding a contract at that meeting.

The presentation from Faith in Action outlined a shift toward coordinated outreach, housing navigation, career technical education and “structured weekly engagement” for program participants, with an emphasis on incorporating partners and using rapid rehousing and Pathway to Home funding. Daniel, a Faith in Action board member, urged a collaborative approach: “If we can get all of us in the same room at the same time, I think that we could really form a collaborative,” he said.

Why it matters: the council is weighing how to use nearly $980,000 in grant-funded Opportunity Village line items and related emergency-response funding tied to state and county grant agreements. City staff and the council raised that changing how the money is spent requires formal budget modification requests and state approval, a process that must be followed to avoid potential repayment or other remedies under the grant standard agreement.

Most important facts first: Police staff presented transient-disturbance statistics showing…