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Show Housing remains slim across region Vernal Express Wednesday, April 23. 2008 A9 By Preston McComqe Uintah Basin News Service With regional unemployment just over 1 percent and average wages climbing, homelessness around the Uintah Basin is ... increasing? That was the unexpected message handed out at a Regional Homeless Coordinating Committee Com-mittee meeting held last month in Vernal. Since then mayors, county officials and social workers work-ers around the Basin have been repeatingthe message that, while a rising tide of employment has lifted the rental market right now the ship is too small for all the passengers. In 2007, one-third more people in the Basin became homeless than in 2006, according accord-ing to statistics reported by the Uintah Basin Homelessness Coordinating Committee. This comes as chronic homelessness declined 15 percent overall in Utah, according to a recent news advisory from the Utah Division of Housing and Community Development. De-velopment. According to the state report, there are 38 chronically homeless people in Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah counties, while 121 people are classified as simply "homeless." "For someone to say our city doesn't have low income people, that is wrong," said Cindy Warren, War-ren, director of the Roosevelt Housing Authority. "It's just they're not visible like in Salt Lake where they're sleeping in parks, or in Las Vegas where they're sleeping along the freeway. free-way. Here they are couch surfing or doubling up, two and three families in a unit." Chronically homeless means having nowhere to stay and being be-ing forced to sleep in a vehicle or outdoors. If an individual or a family is forced to share space with another family rather than renting or owning their own dwelling unit, they are classified as homeless, but not chronically homeless. If such families are also poor, they likely qualify for housing vouchers that would pay their rent, though in today's market not of it. With oil field and other workers pouring into the area, sometimes housing isn't available avail-able at any price - and those few homes and apartments that bbbdme' aVailable'-'usually cost more than relief agencies are authorized to pay. Jolene Daniels, director of the Housing Authority of the Uintah Basin, said she is not allowed to place clients in rentals they won't be able to afford even with help. Guidelines from the federal department de-partment of Housing and Urban Development, which funds local housing authorities, say clients can't be left owing more than 40 percent of their income for rent. There are even more formulas the housing authorities must juggle. The amount of a family's voucher depends on the family size, income, and dwelling size. A three-member family with no income might qualify for a $789 rental voucher, but only if they're getting a three-bedroom home; if the dwelling has only two bedrooms, the maximum amount is $555. It's possible for housing directors direc-tors to get price cap waivers from their governing boards, but then two other restrictions come into play: the maximum number of clients a housing authority can serve and the maximum total amount it can spend. Right now, no matter how directors toss the salad, it doesn't fill all the bowls at the table. But despite more people being without with-out housing, Warren's client list has dropped from her maximum of 91 down to 68 families, while Daniels now helps 27 families instead of the allowed 33. The good news is that help is on the way, though not until October. Vouchers are priced according ac-cording to average local prices, and in March Warren learned HUD was performing a market value survey in the Basin. "The study has been done," Utah HUD Field Office Director Direc-tor Dwight Peterson said last week. "However, it's going to take maybe 60 days to review it and publish it in the Federal Register. But the economist in Denver thinks it will facilitate about a 20 percent increase." While HUD normally waits for the new fiscal year on Oct. 1 before changing rent support formulas, Peterson said, "I'm going to push to get it in place immediately." Warren welcomed the news. "Right now HUD's fair market rate for a two-bedroom unit is $555, and 20 percent more means we could pay $666," Warren War-ren said, calculating the change in her head. "That doesn't mean we'll pay that much, becauseyou 1 have to take into'cowsiderafcion 2 a person's income. But if they qualified for a two-bedroom unit and had absolutely no income, that's the most we'd pay." Although the increase will allow al-low housing authorities to help a few more families, another problem prob-lem still looms large: too many bodies and not enough homes. Warren said the two reasons she turns away qualified clients is because either they can't find a rental within the price guidelines, guide-lines, "or they can't find anything at all." For this reason, both the Uintah Uin-tah Basin and Roosevelt housing authorities are buying property and building apartments that will only be rented to low-income families. Daniels said her agency is working for approval of an apartment complex in Vernal that will have at least 20 units. Meanwhile Warren is beating the bushes for money to build a 24-unit complex in Roosevelt. Warren said she is examining the advantages of getting a loan through the Utah Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund, as well as seeking grants through the federal fed-eral Community Development Block Grant program, and seeking seek-ing private investors who could receive lucrative tax credits. Not all Basin communities are willing to consider low-income housing projects, though. A recent re-cent change in state law required housing authorities, which for years have served whole counties, coun-ties, to get signed agreements from municipal governments to continue giving vouchers to their residents. The Roosevelt, Myton and Uintah Basin housing hous-ing authorities all have clients in multiple areas. In March and April the Duchesne Duch-esne City Council signed agreements agree-ments with each agency, but only after stipulating the agencies could not build projects in town without the council's approval. "We don't want to be everybody every-body else's flush hole," Duchesne Duch-esne City Councilwoman Nancy Wager said at the March 11 city meeting. The Altamont Town Council is also deliberating about whether to sign an agreement with the Roosevelt Housing Authority. n CLASSIFIED O Work' M 54 North Vernal Avenue Vernal, Utah -435-789-3511 www.vernal.com yX--'' HI ii:L M q " &i EI f ; ASPHALT MAINTENANCE u REPAIR PROFESSIONALS Protect your fispltalt Investment! Home or business For Estimates Call: Lamar -435-781-4999 mm Cvl pTTV7 State and Locally Licensed and Insured County conventions set for Wednesday By Ctoff Lisa Uintah Basin News Service The Republican and Democratic Demo-cratic parties in Duchesne County and the Republican Party in Uintah County will hold their conventions Wednesday night to hear from candidates and elect state delegates. Uintah County Republicans will hold their convention at 6 p.m. at Uintah High School. Delegates Del-egates will have an opportunity to hear from Republican candidates running for state or federal office, or their representatives. They will also hear from and then vote on the party's candidate for the Uintah County Commission Commis-sion seat currently held by Dave Haslem. Haslem is not running for reelection. Anthony Paul Byron and Mark D. Raymond are the Republican candidates for the seat. If either man garners at least 60 percent of the delegate vote, he will move on to the general gen-eral election. A primary election would be necessary if neither man reaches the 60 percent mark. Republicans in Duchesne County will hold their convention conven-tion at Duchesne High School beginning at 7:30 p.m. The later start time is intended to allow candidates to address delegates in Uintah and Duchesne counties. coun-ties. Duchesne County delegates will also seek to narrow down their choice of candidates for county commissioner during the convention. Incumbent W.R. "Rod" Harrison is being challenged chal-lenged by Ronald Winterton. In addition to hearing from commission candidates, delegates del-egates in both co.unties are expected to be addressed by Republicans Re-publicans running for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state treasurer, state auditor, and Utah House of Representatives Rep-resentatives districts 54 and 55, as well as candidates for the U.S. Congress in the 2nd District. While Republicans are likely to hear a full slate of campaign speeches, Duchesne County Democrats are meeting Wednesday Wednes-day night largely to elect delegates del-egates to the state convention. Their meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the Duchesne County Administration building in conference con-ference room No. 1. Alma T. Richens is the lone Democrat running for elected office locally. Richens, the party chairman in Duchesne County, will challenge either Harrison or Winterton for a seat on the county commission. Invitations to address the Duchesne County Democratic Convention have been extended to U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson; gubernatorial candidates Matt Frandsen, Monty "Millionaire" Nafoosi, and Bob Springmeyer; lieutenant governor candidate James A. Sander; attorney general gen-eral candidate Jean Welch Hill; state treasurer candidate Dick Clark; state auditor candidate Clare Collard; and Utah House District 54 candidate Neil G. Anderton. It is unknown whether any of the state or federal candidates will attend the convention, especially es-pecially because Democrats in Uintah County already held their convention on April 8 and there is no need to narrow the field in most races. Matheson has $1M in re-election fund SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson has $1 million to spend against a Republican opponent. The latest campaign-finance reports show the Salt Lake City Democrat added $218,000 to his account from January through March. His fall Republican opponent will be determined at a state party convention or during the GOP primary election in June. Republican Bill Dew says he had$203,500attheendofMarch. Another Republican, Merrill Cook, had $10,000 available. In Utah's 3rd District, David Leavitt says he's put in at least $141,000 of his own money. He wants to get the Republican nomination for a seat now held by another Republican, Chris Cannon. ! thujas Z ' :. -'v ;n (Civ- JUSt Listed! Great Business Opportunity - Includes Home! Must see commercial location. Superb back yards & many amenities! Please call us today for your appointments x r : -4-1. ASPEN BROOK REALTY INC. , - "Expect the Best 2 AmarSfc-. Jennifer Hawkins, Angela Walker,! lAtnt.SIIUIOt inent.XJX.U7t) Freida Parker, Agent 828-2770 1340 West Highway 40, Vernal, UT 84078 Office: (435) 789-7555 Fax: 781-2913 Today's Weather Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun 423 424 4725 426 427 A 6839 6032 6435 . 7141 7644 Slight chance of a Occasional showers Mostly sunny. Highs Mix of sun and Mix of sun and thunderstorm. possible. Highs in in the mid 60s and clouds. Highs in the clouds. Highs in the the low 60s and lows lows in the mid 30s. low 70s and lows in mid 70s and lows in in the low 30s. the low 40s. the mid 40s. Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset 6:27 AM 8:04 PM 6:25 AM 8 05 PM 6:24 AM 8 06 PM 6 22 AM 8:07 PM 6:21 AM 8 08 PM : il We Celebrate Hometown Life j . 'l!ivH 1 Scories for and about hometowns ours look fr us gv. wr---!-- & ( ; : r 1 .a a.---,-, j s a - - ...... - -- ,- - -a Utah At A Glance Logan , . 5435 "V" C Ogden 5637 Salt Lake City "v,rrO 5941 i . Provo cr1 5940 Vernal - Cedar City 6734 j 71 Moon Phases o Full Last Apr 20 Apr 28 O O New First May 5 May 12 UV Index Wed 423 Thu 424 Fri 425 Sat 426 Sun 427 High Very High Very High Very High Very High The UV Index I measured on 0-1 1 number ic.ala, witti higher UV Index thowing trie need for grenter skin protection pro-tection 0 1 1 Area Cities Beaver Blanding Brigham City Cedar City Delta Elko, NV Evanston, WY Farmlngton, NM Fillmore Flagstaff, AZ j4 t-slorm 42 pt sunny 37 t-storm 34 t-storm 37 t-storm 29 mixed 27 mixed 36 windy 39 t-storm 27 pt sunny National Cities AtlMiitd bO 6b msl sunny Boston 74 51 pt tunny Chicago 65 50 pt sunny Dallas 87 67 t-storm Denver 72 43 windy Uiand Jet, CO Green River Heber City Kanab Logan Moab Mt. Pleasant Ogden Park City Preston, ID LIZ Houston Los Angeles Miami Minneapolis New York 45 75 44 49 29 67 38 54 35 76 44 60 34 56 37 45 31 49 32 l-stoim t-storm mixed t-storm t-storm t-storm t-storm t-storm mixed mixed 3 bo 68 81 68 72 52 pt sunny 70 pt sunny 55 pt sunny 55 pt sunny rice Provo Richfield Roosevelt Salt Lake City Sandy St. George Tooele Vernal Wendover rTr -'hoenix San Francisco Seattle St. Louis 4bTJT 59 40 65 35 49 33 59 41 56 41 78 51 54 39 68 39 60 42 60 49 79 mixed t-storm t-storm mixed t-storm t-storm pt sunny t-storm t-storm t-storm nibt sunny cloudy rain pt sunny Washington, DC 77 59 pt sunny d?O05 Amerimn Profile Hometown Content Service |