HUTCHINSON, Kan. – They’ve been a big part of several large renovation projects in the city, 
including the Wiley Building project. But a little help from the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation made a big difference recently. After the KHRC initially turned down a grant to New Beginnings for its Noel Homeless shelter, the group came forward and provided a $17,500 grant to reopen the facility.
During Tuesday’s Hutchinson City Council meeting, Mayor Jade Piros de Carvalho took time to praise the KHRC for the funds. KHRC originally turned down the grant for the Noel shelter after funding it for several years because it felt the grant application did not meet the necessary criteria. But after hearing of Noel’s closing, the KHRC approached the city and provided a stop gap grant to keep the shelter running in the short term. They also invited New Beginnings to reapply for the grant next year.
The grants from New Beginnings and other entities like the Sexual Assault Domestic Violence Center are proposed to the city, which in turn sends them on to the KHRC. They in turn distribute the federal funds. Juan Gonzalez, with the Noel shelter, says they aren’t sure if they will apply for the grant next year, or try to rely on private funding to keep the shelter open. So far the shelter has about $58,000 in donations, which includes the grant. They say they need about $30,000 more to make it to the end of the year.
City Manager John Deardoff noted that the KHRC approached the city about the funding with few strings attached, noting that the grant application simply did not meet the requirements of the KHRC. He also noted that coverage of the Noel closing made it sound like the KHRC simply turned their backs on New Beginnings. Deardoff wanted to stress that was simply not true.