Tenant Resource Center In Danger Of Shutting Down
Officials Say Loss Of Funds, Grants Impacting Service
A nonprofit group dedicated solely to helping local renters is in danger of shutting its doors.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportFor 30 years, the Tenant Resource Center has offered free rental housing counseling and legal advice to thousands of people across the state.In April, the center lost $55,000 of its funding from the University of Wisconsin student government. A phone message at the TRC revealed that the group has again lost funds, but this time from the federal government, WISC-TV reported.A recorded message on the TRC phone line said, "Due to a cut in funding from the Housing and Urban Development of $40,000, we are forced to temporarily shut down this line."That line is the toll free phone line for people living outside of Dane County. TRC officials said that up to 50 calls a day were received on the toll free line, which counselors will no longer answer. Officials said the significant cuts could force the center to shut down completely."Year after year, we don't get really any increase in our funding while our health care costs and everything else go up and we need to decide if we're going to be able to continue our services at the level that they're at," said center director Brenda Konkel.Another noticeable change is a cut in hours through the end of the year. The TRC will close its doors now at 4 p.m., except for Wednesdays, WISC-TV reported.Konkel also said e-mails wouldn't be answered because it would take too long to reply.HUD officials said that the center did apply for HUD's nationwide competitive Super-Nofa grant, but didn't qualify."All applications submitted are evaluated according to a scoring system under a competitive process," said local HUD Director Del Reynolds. "Unfortunately, their application for 2007 did not score well enough to receive a grant."HUD officials wanted to clarify that the federal government didn't cut funds to the center, rather the center wasn't approved for the grant this year. They said three other Wisconsin agencies did receive grant funding through HUD.TRC officials said that they're hopeful donations and an upcoming charity event will help financially.They will decide by Nov. 1 whether to permanently shut down, WISC-TV reported.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportFor 30 years, the Tenant Resource Center has offered free rental housing counseling and legal advice to thousands of people across the state.In April, the center lost $55,000 of its funding from the University of Wisconsin student government. A phone message at the TRC revealed that the group has again lost funds, but this time from the federal government, WISC-TV reported.A recorded message on the TRC phone line said, "Due to a cut in funding from the Housing and Urban Development of $40,000, we are forced to temporarily shut down this line."That line is the toll free phone line for people living outside of Dane County. TRC officials said that up to 50 calls a day were received on the toll free line, which counselors will no longer answer. Officials said the significant cuts could force the center to shut down completely."Year after year, we don't get really any increase in our funding while our health care costs and everything else go up and we need to decide if we're going to be able to continue our services at the level that they're at," said center director Brenda Konkel.Another noticeable change is a cut in hours through the end of the year. The TRC will close its doors now at 4 p.m., except for Wednesdays, WISC-TV reported.Konkel also said e-mails wouldn't be answered because it would take too long to reply.HUD officials said that the center did apply for HUD's nationwide competitive Super-Nofa grant, but didn't qualify."All applications submitted are evaluated according to a scoring system under a competitive process," said local HUD Director Del Reynolds. "Unfortunately, their application for 2007 did not score well enough to receive a grant."HUD officials wanted to clarify that the federal government didn't cut funds to the center, rather the center wasn't approved for the grant this year. They said three other Wisconsin agencies did receive grant funding through HUD.TRC officials said that they're hopeful donations and an upcoming charity event will help financially.They will decide by Nov. 1 whether to permanently shut down, WISC-TV reported.
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- April 3, 2007: Funds Slashed For Tenant Resource Center
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