County approves money for struggling High Desert families
For about 300 families in the High Desert, help is on the way to keep their utilities running or relieve some past-due rent.
San Bernardino County supervisors approved just over $1 million in federal stimulus funds for the High Desert Domestic Violence Program, which is charged with administering the money to prevent locals from winding up homeless.
About $50,000 of the grant must be spent on case management, including a case manager who will oversee those getting help and their plans for getting back on track financially.
“We work with them to help them come up with a budget and a plan, so they don’t get in this situation again,” said Darryl Evey, executive director of the High Desert Domestic Violence Program.
Half of the remaining $984,000 must be spent on homeless prevention, including paying utility bills, back-rent and up to 50 percent of the next few rent checks.
The other half must be spent on rapid re-housing, which focuses on getting domestic-violence victims or transitional housing residents into a stable living situation.
The effort is geared toward families in Adelanto, Lucerne Valley, Barstow and unincorporated areas who badly need a little extra help to stay afloat.
“We’re talking about families who without this are going to be sleeping in their car,” Evey said, “or where the children can’t go to school because they don’t know where they’re going to sleep at night.”
For help identifying those in need and operating satellite offices, Evey is partnering with Adelanto Community Tool Box, Boys and Girls Club of the Victor Valley, the City of Barstow and local churches and social service organizations.
Evey said his domestic violence center will spend $10,000 to $20,000 of its own funds on the program by operating a mobile office in Barstow, hiring an extra worker, funding travel expenses and paying interest before he receives the federal reimbursements.
But the only major drawback to the program, according to Evey, is that he can’t help residents seeking to live in Apple Valley, Hesperia and Victorville, since those cities didn’t apply for the funding.
