Duluth City Council to Vote on CARES Act Funds for Housing, Homeless Aid

DULUTH, Minn.– The CARES Act was passed last year in March as the country went into lockdown to help communities through the financial hardships from the pandemic. After already getting their first part of funds, now the city of Duluth this week will be deciding where the second round of funds will go.

At the upcoming city council meeting Monday night, the biggest item on the agenda is the approval of the nearly $2 million in additional federal aid, which will be going to organizations around the Northland.

“Two federal programs that provides money to cities and counties from programs that support low to middle income people,” said Duluth City Councilor Joel Sipress.

The Damiano Center, a non-profit focused on helping the homeless and low-income families and individuals, would get $150,000 from the relief package.

It would help the organization invest in resources like the mobile hygiene facility it bought this winter.

The city’s housing and redevelopment authority would be getting $500,000 to construct a permanent warming shelter to help give people a place to go during the colder months.

“In the winter when it’s cold, people who are living outdoors have a place to go on those cold nights,” said Sipress. “Again, something we’ve been working on for a number of years, we’ve had temporary centers each winter but we’re now going to have the money for the HRA to be able to fund a permanent warming center.”

Additional funds will go to providing food support, technology access, and other long-term projects the city wouldn’t have been able to help fund due to the pandemic.

Councilor Sipress says he hopes those in Washington D.C. will see the need to send more federal support to cities like Duluth to help tackle long-term issues.

“Even before the pandemic, we in Duluth were struggling to meet the needs of all members of our community,” said Sipress. “So in the context of the pandemic we’ve received the supplemental funding, which is absolutely vital to help us get through the pandemic. But also i think a sign of how much we can do and how much better we can do in Duluth when our federal partners step up to the plate.”

If the funding proposals are approved by the Duluth City Council Monday night, the money will be sent as soon as possible.