EDWARDSVILLE - During the regular meeting of the Madison County Board on July 17, 2024, questions were raised about the Salvation Army’s New Hope House and its location in Madison County.
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Madison County has access to a $2.5 million HOME Investment Partnership/American Rescue Plan (ARPA) grant that can be used to build a transitional housing facility in the county. Until July 15, 2024, Community Development was accepting letters of intent from entities in the community.
During the County Board meeting on July 17, Board member Valerie Doucleff asked if the County had received any letters of intent. According to County Administrator Dave Tanzyus, the only letter that the County received was from the Salvation Army.
Last month, Madison County Community Development released new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) guidelines that would require any shelter to be “geographically central to the County.” Specifically, the shelter must be located within five miles of the County Administration Building. This is a requirement for the shelter to be eligible to receive the HOME-ARPA grant.
Citizen John Harvey spoke against the NOFO guideline during the public comment portion of the Board meeting. He said that area mayors had not been contacted about this new guideline.
“Did anyone from the County, elected official, appointed or otherwise, call the mayors of Edwardsville and Glen Carbon and let them know about the new requirement? No, they did not. This is frustrating because area leaders are willing to come to the table,” Harvey said. “So much for the County’s idea of community buy-in. The lack of simple courtesy indicates bad faith.”
The Salvation Army previously proposed several locations in Alton where they could build the New Hope House. Board member Paul Nicolussi raised concerns about the City of Alton’s interest in building a shelter.
“I’m not sure the people in Alton are behind it,” Nicolussi said. “We’d be completely going out of bounds if we did what the people of Alton don’t want to do.”
Board member Alison Lamothe also asked about rumors that the County is being investigated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
“In the interest of transparency, I have heard that the County is currently under investigation by HUD,” Lamothe said. “How can I, as a Board member and concerned citizen, get more information about that?”
Tanzyus responded that he could show Lamothe the letters that the County has received from HUD and their responses.
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