The Johnson County Board of Supervisors is set to ask the Iowa City City Council for $100,000 in emergency funding for Shelter House.
On Wednesday, the board agreed to fund any extra money needed with the board’s emergency fund.
Crissy Canganelli, executive director at Shelter House, inquired about a request for emergency funding in response to being asked to open its winter shelter two weeks early. This comes just weeks after a man intentionally drove a car into an encampment outside of Shelter House.
Prior to the meeting, Jon Green, chair of the Board of Supervisors and vice-chair V Fixmer-Oraiz, were called to meet with representatives from Shelter House and Iowa City City Council members to discuss ways to alleviate strain from the shelter.
Canganelli expressed some of her frustrations to the board.
“We’re not interested in warehousing people, and that is what you are getting with the winter shelter. There’s no funding for additional supportive services to help people then move beyond homelessness,” Canganelli said.
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The board was presented with the option of using money from a request for proposal, or RFP, set to come out Sept. 22 to fund Shelter House’s emergency request. The board ultimately decided against the decision after extensive debate.The RFP would allocate about $20,000 to its recipient and is intended to be split 50-50 between food insecurity and housing.
Supervisor Mandi Remington brought up several concerns and points of opposition, primarily relating to equity.
“I’m struggling, partly because we have had at least two other agencies that also provide supportive housing, that have been told for months that this RFP would be coming out, and they have been waiting on it,” Remington said.
All members of the board agreed and commended the Shelter House for its hard work and community support.
The board also explored potentially dipping into the $50,000 they have set aside for community emergencies, but struggled to make the call so early into fiscal year 2026, which began July 1.