Apex mulls housing needs

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Apex Austin board members will not meet again in December after Tuesday's regularly monthly meeting.

Instead, the board members will meet in January 2003, when they will begin again to "forge ahead," as Joe Fuhrman said Tuesday.

Affordable housing may rank uppermost in the board members' minds. While progress has been made to fill some of the need, a huge void remains in at least three areas: temporary emergency housing, transitional housing for a two- or three-year period and permanent multi-family housing.

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Liliana Silvestry-Neilon, director of the Welcome Center, said, "Large families coming to Austin still need affordable housing."

Housing, more than any other issue, dominated the meeting.

Fuhrman and Lynn Koch of the Apex Austin housing committee discussed housing, when the board convened Tuesday afternoon in the town Center conference room.

Fuhrman reported on a trip to Albert Lea by a delegation, representing Apex Austin, the Austin Housing and Redevelopment Authority and Salvation Army Austin Corps.

Fuhrman and the others visited both emergency and transition housing sites in Albert Lea.

"It's basically shelter to get you on your feet," Fuhrman described the sites he saw.

Liliana Silvestry-Neilson, director of Austin's Welcome Center, reminded the board members, "We've been talking about this for two years."

According to Silvestry-Neilon, "The Salvation Army is putting up people in motels and that's very expensive for them to do. We need another solution."

The members agreed and Fuhrman challenged Apex Austin, "We've got to be ready to rock n' roll to this in 2003."

That's when Apex Austin plans to submit an application for funding for the twin emergency and transitional housing projects to meet the needs of Austin's teeming new immigrant population.

In other action Tuesday, the Apex Austin board members:

n Heard Bonnie Rietz and George Brophy report on an Oct. 30 meeting with the contributions committee of the Hormel Foundation. The outlook for funding six Apex Austin projects in 2003 for the total amount of $150,000 looks favorable, according to Brophy. Also two separate funding requests from Mower County Transit and the Welcome Center also "appear" headed for success.

n Reviewed funding documents of initiatives being supported by the Hormel Foundation.

n Discussed and proposed new funding criteria and a timetable for grants proposal.

n Heard committee reports, including Liliana Silvestry-Neilon's on the Welcome Center, the most notable focus of the Apex Austin efforts. A new tutoring/mentoring program is underway at the Center and the Rev. Karl Dalager is assisting the Center's clients with family issues. The Center is now two years old in Austin and the number of new clients it serves has fallen from an average of 56 per month in 2001 to 32 per month in 2002, according to Silvestry-Neilon. Largest growth is in the number of Sudanese refugees coming to Austin, who are, in turn, facing adjustment problems due to problems with passports and because of a low skill level.

n Scheduled another board meeting for 4 p.m. Jan. 21, 2003.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com