Helping homeless

Several Southeast Missouri agencies received grants last month, totaling almost $1 million, to help the homeless. The grants are part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Continuum of Care effort to alleviate and end homelessness. Let's hope this sizable infusion of federal dollars is noted by another federal agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is tasked with making a determination on the request by the Rev. Larry Rice's New Life Evangelistic Center to turn the old federal building on Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau into a homeless shelter.

Rice argues that the needs of the homeless in Southeast Missouri aren't being addressed. But the programs funded by the HUD grants are ongoing programs that have been serving the homeless for some time.

A federal judge recently ordered HSS to reconsider its decision denying approval of the transfer of the federal building to Rice's group. By law, abandoned federal buildings must be turned over to homeless programs where the need exists.

The HUD grants range from helping the homeless find permanent housing to emergency assistance to safe-haven programs for those with nowhere else to go. A great deal is being done to help the homeless in Southeast Missouri.