A provision within a bill signed into law Monday by President Clinton temporarily restored federal funding allowing a Joliet agency to continue providing housing for 55 Will County homeless adults with mental and other developmental disabilities.
The emergency funding provision, which was introduced by U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.), will provide about $500,000 over the next federal fiscal year to Cornerstone Services Inc. for its housing-assistance program.
The Will County agency was cut off late last year from receiving housing assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Had the funding not been restored, the agency likely would have been forced to scuttle the program, forcing its formerly homeless clients and their more than 50 children back onto the streets, Weller said.
“While we had success in obtaining $100,000 in stopgap funds from the state this spring to keep the housing program alive, Cornerstone would have had a tough time surviving the year without this type of help,” said Weller, whose congressional district includes Joliet and a large portion of Will County.
Weller originally introduced his provision for continued funding of Cornerstone as part of a supplemental emergency appropriations bill approved by the U.S. House. But the provision eventually became part of the federal government’s fiscal 2001 military construction spending package, which passed both the House and the U.S. Senate. It’s that bill that Clinton signed into law Monday.
The provision also sets aside nearly $6 million for some 40 other housing-assistance programs across the U.S. similar to Cornerstone’s that also were cut off from HUD funding last year.
Weller noted that it was “unfortunate” that Congress had to go to such lengths to restore Cornerstone’s funding and those of other organizations across the country because of what he described as HUD’s “stubbornness” and “insensitivity.”
“I can’t believe how incredibly difficult HUD was to deal with in this process,” said Weller, who has asked the General Accounting Office, Congress’ investigative arm, to look into HUD’s procedures for funding homeless services.
“It’s a shame that Congress had to take this action to fix HUD’s mistake,” added Weller, who was joined in putting together the emergency funding package by U.S. Rep. John LaFalce (D-N.Y.) and U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), whose district also encompasses part of Will.
“I’m glad, however, that the president signed this bill in a timely manner and that leaders of Congress were understanding of the situation at Cornerstone and helped us overcome several of the usual legislative hurdles,” Weller said.
HUD last year informed Cornerstone and similar organizations that it would no longer fund their housing-assistance activities after Jan. 31 because it had come up with new housing-assistance programs for the homeless and needed the money for those programs.
The cutoff shocked Cornerstone officials, especially because HUD consistently had hailed its program over the years as a national model.
Cornerstone, established in 1969, provides vocational, behavioral health, developmental and residential services to people in Will County with disabilities. A non-profit organization, it provides permanent housing and support services for homeless adults and their children in apartments throughout the county.
