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SALT LAKE CITY — State officials have notified advocates who were involved in efforts to help keep homeless people off the streets during the upcoming NBA All-Star Weekend that funding for that effort will no longer be available.
That decision came after KSL.com published a story Wednesday reporting that an offer had been made to temporarily house those experiencing homelessness by helping fund the 2nd and 2nd Coalition's "movie nights" at the First United Methodist Church over the upcoming NBA All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City, said Wendy Garvin, a member of the 2nd and 2nd Coalition.
That offer was rescinded during a phone call with State Homeless Coordinator Wayne Niederhauser about 1 p.m. Wednesday, just hours after the story was published, according to Garvin. Niederhauser confirmed that he had notified advocates that there will be no funding available.
Advocates said the change is likely in response to criticism voiced by the group.
"Other providers have warned me that I am too critical of the administration and that they wouldn't be willing to fund me if I continued to be publicly critical," Garvin said. "I guess they can make funding dependent on what I have to say to the press, but I don't think that's right."
Niederhauser cited the lack of a contract with the coalition as the reason behind the state's decision not to go forward with the funding.
"I knew this right from the get-go, that it would be almost impossible to fund anybody that does not currently have a contract with the state," Niederhauser said Thursday.
He confirmed that Garvin had been involved in discussions regarding the proposal to house more unsheltered people next weekend and had submitted a budget for the plan. For this portion of the proposal to go forward, the 2nd and 2nd Coalition would have needed to be paired with a service provider that is under contract with the state, he added.
The lack of communication regarding the necessity of such a contract was a point of frustration for advocates.
"Whatever their excuse is today, they've been going on this pathway for three weeks telling me that they were going to provide funding and now they're rescinding it. They have always not had a contract with me. So if the contract was important, then that would've been part of the discussion from the beginning," Garvin said.
The 2nd and 2nd Coalition is a group of homeless advocates from different organizations. The group's combined efforts began during the cold snap in December in which five unsheltered people died on Salt Lake City's streets amid freezing temperatures. The coalition opened the doors of the First United Methodist Church to fill the gaps in the winter overflow plan. Since that effort, the group of advocates has worked to open the church on days when temperatures have dropped near or below freezing.
The proposed budget for offering the "movie nights" and several other services during the All-Star Weekend carried a nearly $55,000 price tag as of Tuesday. The 2nd and 2nd Coalition's budget request was included in the proposal with notes indicating that the coalition was willing to staff the efforts that weekend if funding was provided. The coalition's involvement in the plan would have been from Thursday to Sunday, with day and night services.
The coalition's involvement carried the largest portion of the budget with over $21,000 being specifically dedicated toward the "movie nights" effort.
Homeless advocates say the funding proposal was offered during a recent meeting of state, Salt Lake County and Salt Lake City officials, as well as homeless providers and advocates. State and city officials have confirmed that funding was discussed among the entities for the NBA-All Star Game weekend.
Advocates asserted that it was initially the city that had approached the group regarding the funding, which Salt Lake City officials deny. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall released a video on Twitter regarding the controversy.
"There's been a lot of talk about the upcoming All-Star game and allegations that the city has asked anyone to hide unsheltered people in this city. That could not be farther from the truth," Mendenhall said in her video.
Salt Lake City homeless policy director Andrew Johnston had confirmed that the city had been involved in discussions regarding the proposal. He cited safety concerns because there will be many extra people downtown during the NBA events, including near Vivint Arena and nearby resource centers for homeless people. He also said there will be several shuttles transporting people to homeless resource centers in the same areas where there will be a lot of traffic from visitors attending the NBA All-Star events.
But Johnson denied that any city funding would be used. The sentiment was affirmed by Mendenhall during a Utah Homeless Council meeting on Thursday.
"At no point was the city offering funding or was actually included in this potential funding dialogues. I believe that happened at the county and the state level. So it is especially astonishing to me and my team this allegation has been launched at the city, both for beginning the conversation and for soliciting hiding of people, which we never do under any circumstances," Mendenhall said.
There was no clear answer on who had made the initial offer during the discussions regarding the NBA All-Star Weekend.
"A lot of people perceive what happened differently," Niederhauser told KSL.com.
While the coalition's "movie nights" will no longer be funded that weekend, other services for those experiencing homelessness that were outlined in the proposal will still be operating during the NBA All-Star Weekend.
The Central City Rec Center will be open Sunday afternoon and operate until Monday, to provide additional shelter and daytime services for unsheltered people. Other permanent resource centers will also be open during the day and plan to host "watch parties" with refreshments during the weekend. The preliminary budget proposal outlined additional shuttles being provided during the weekend, hiring additional staff and staffing incentives for overtime shifts.
Funding for the services includes contributions from the hosts and the use of existing funds within the Office of Homeless Services approved by the Utah Homelessness Council, according to a joint statement by the council.
"There's a balance of safety that needs to take place, and that was the purpose of our getting together is to make sure people had a place to go with all the additional people that are going to be out there," Niederhauser said. "We went into this process not anticipating there'd be a controversy."
