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About $38.5M in financial assistance available to struggling renters in Kent County
Updated Mar 16, 2021;
Posted Mar 11, 2021
The golden hour falls on the Grand Rapids skyline, as seen from the city s West Side. (Allison Farrand|MLive.com)
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GRAND RAPIDS, MI An estimated $38.5 million in rent and utility payment assistance is flooding into Kent County.
The federal COVID-19 relief dollars, allocated this week and administered by the state, greatly exceed the previous amount of $2.8 million in rental assistance received by Kent County partners last summer.
The new dollars also have looser federal restrictions, providing far greater flexibility to help more households.
Third-grader collects winter clothes, blankets to help those in need
Brown Elementary third-grader Jojo Gurd holds bags filled with new winter items to donate to Dégagé Ministries
Byron Center The bins filled with new winter clothes and blankets at the entrance of Brown Elementary School are just a sampling of what third-grader Jojo Gurd has collected to help keep people warm over the winter months.
In November, the altruistic youngster with help from her parents and brother Hudson, a second-grader hosted a neighborhood drive and collected enough donations to fill an entire Salvation Army van. The crew helped drop them off at Dégagé Ministries in downtown Grand Rapids. Dégagé offers services including shelter to between 400-500 people experiencing homelessness daily.
Grand Rapids plans to clear homeless encampment in park after overflow shelter opens
Updated Dec 16, 2020;
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As it turns out, the rumor of it happening Wednesday, Dec. 16 wasn’t true.
City officials say their first priority is getting people sheltered, not clearing the camp.
“The timeline is fluid at this point, because the city will not go through with enforcing the ordinance for no camping in city’s parks until the new shelter is open,” Tammy Britton, the city’s homeless outreach coordinator, told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press on Wednesday.
“That’s the first step, making sure the alternative shelter is available before anything else.”