Republic file photo Columbus City Hall.
COLUMBUS, Ind. — The city of Columbus will use about $150,000 in COVID relief funds to help with shelter renovations at Turning Point Domestic Violence Services.
The Columbus Board of Works has approved an amendment to its Program Year 2019 Annual Action Plan for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding in order to provide the allocation.
Assistant Director of Community Development Robin Hilber explained that the department receives an annual allocation from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and received additional allocations through the CARES Act to “prevent, prepare for, or respond to the coronavirus pandemic.”
The amendment reallocates $124,000 in COVID relief funding for a total of $149,000 for Public Facilities to help with renovations to Turning Point’s emergency residential shelter.
Hilber wrote in a memo to the board that Turning Point has seen an increase in domestic violence amid the pandemic. The allocation is aimed at helping the increase their shelter’s capacity.
The organization has also purchased a 19,000-square-foot downtown building for new administrative offices, non-residential services and possible partner agencies space.
“They’re intending to transfer their offices to that building,” Hilber told the board. “And then they’ll continue to make their current building completely a shelter. So they’re going to be expanding capacity there.”
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
