Poverty Activists Worry Social Services Funding in Jeopardy

Feb 21, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Activists for programs serving low-income Utahns gathered at Capitol Hill Wednesday to urge lawmakers to continue funding low-income housing, homeless shelters, Medicaid dental and vision benefits, disability services, food pantries and early childhood education. Heather Tritten, the executive director for the Utah Community Action Partnership, or U-CAP, says this message is more important than ever, with state revenues below expectations and economic forecasts looking grim.

"We want to remind the Legislature that Utah's economy starts with people," Tritten says. "And investing in families is the first investment we need to make when creating the state budget."

U-CAP is concerned several programs will suffer because the state has less money to spend. These include a request for $700,000 to enroll an additional 100 low-income preschoolers in the Head Start program, a request for additional funding to help support food pantries, and funding for the Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund and the Pamela Atkinson Homeless Trust Fund. U-CAP's Shawn Teigen says the funding request for these low-income housing programs was already slashed in a key Legislative committee, and now he worries they will be cut further.

"Even though the additional funds are not necessarily enough to tackle the problem, they will keep both of these funds on par with increasing development costs," Teigen says, "and will help keep both of these funds from slipping farther and farther behind in the whole picture of funding housing for homeless people and low-income people."

Teigen says the Olene Walker and Pamela Atkinson housing requests are fairly low on the appropriations request list. Each is asking for half a million dollars in one-time funds, and about $300,000 in ongoing funds. Their low priority puts them in the same situation as several other social services for low-income Utahns - at risk.

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