A potential housing project in Kodiak is waiting on the green light to move forward, after President Donald Trump put a freeze on federal funding. The freeze was halted by a federal judge’s temporary restraining order earlier this month on Feb. 3, but the project is still in limbo.
Throughout last year the nonprofit Kodiak Island Housing Authority was working with RurAL CAP, another nonprofit that primarily serves low-income residents in rural Alaska, and Koniag, Inc. on a self-help housing project in Kodiak.
The project cleared the main hurdles of securing an agreement with the city council for the land, and lining up most of the funding needed. But the organizations were waiting to find out if the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office would award them $1.05 million through the Mutual Self-Help Housing Technical Assistance Grants in Alaska program to go ahead with the project.
Mindy Pruitt, the head of the housing authority, said in an email to city staff that the program’s funding was frozen for a “short-time” as part of the President’s executive orders but it was unfrozen as of Feb. 6.
According to Pruitt’s letter, USDA told RurAL CAP that the Kodiak housing project is ready to be awarded funding, but, “all funding notifications are currently delayed as federal agencies work through the review process.” So Kodiak Island Housing Authority doesn’t yet know whether they got the money or not.
Mi’Shell French, the rural housing director with RurAL CAP, did not respond to a request for comment before the publishing of this story.
But Jasmine Boyle, the chief development officer at RurAL CAP, told the state House Judiciary during a meeting earlier this month on Feb. 3 that her organization is waiting on the federal government to reimburse them for services it provides to other groups, putting the nonprofit in a tight spot financially.
Pruitt, however, said last week on Feb. 6 the Kodiak organizations are optimistic they will be notified of receiving the USDA grant funding “any day”. If or when that happens, the Kodiak City Council will make the final decision to transfer its land on Selief Lane for the mutual self-help housing project.
Kodiak Island Housing Authority also worked with RurAL CAP and Koniag, Inc. to apply for grant funding with the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Down Payment Assistance Program, which could help qualifying families who are approved to participate in the self-help housing program.
Meanwhile the National Council of Nonprofits, which represents nonprofits all over the country, sued the White House over the funding freeze memo and won a temporary restraining order on Feb. 3 but the lawsuit is still ongoing.
