Despite pleas from state and county leaders, a bipartisan bill to extend the deadline has been stuck in a Senate committee since August. State officials disagreed with their local counterparts, and lawmakers at all levels found themselves at odds. Some confusion stemmed from the Treasury Department’s recommendation that states “should” give 45 percent of their funds to local governments. Officials spent five weeks developing a “homeless prevention index” to target neighborhoods where low-income minority residents were most at risk of becoming homeless. Sitting in his apartment one recent afternoon, he thought about what he would say to the government officials overseeing the federal relief.

Source: Washington Post November 15, 2020 23:47 UTC