Sunflower House — a program providing affordable, transitional housing for formerly incarcerated individuals — was granted 45,000 dollars per year for three years from the Tompkins County budget at the legislature’s Thursday meeting, despite receiving initial recommendations denying further funding.
Sunflower House offers services for formerly incarcerated or court-involved men including case management services for addiction and mental health challenges, medical needs, transportation and employment services.
The project is a collaboration between Ultimate Reentry Opportunity, Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services and Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources.
For the past three years, the Tompkins County Legislature has provided funding for the Sunflower Houses as part of a three-year pilot program. This year, the organizations requested a follow-up one-time request of $77,680 to pay for the salary and benefits for a full-time housing manager, cleaning and maintenance costs and support for vacancies.
County Administrator Lisa Holmes recommended that the funding should not be granted this fiscal year in her suggested Tompkins County Budget while the county experiences a five percent budget cut.
In response to the recommendation, local advocates rallied outside the Tompkins County Legislature Chambers on Sept. 30 to advocate for the Sunflower Houses. Additionally, advocates sent emails to legislators, as obtained by The Sun, which contained an assessment report outlining the benefits of the Sunflower Houses, including a 61 percent decrease in homelessness among program members and a low in-program recidivism rate.
“If you’re serious about not wanting to be homeless, [the Sunflower Houses give you] privacy, respectability, security [and] humanity,” said Legislator Veronica Pillar (2nd District) during the budget presentation. “So, I think it would be good for us to have this program continue and not see a lapse.”
Instead of denying funding, Legislator Travis Brooks (1st District) suggested granting Sunflower House $45,000 rather than $77,680 to fit the fiscal year budget and extend support for three years.
Brooks labeled Sunflower Houses’ current model for funding as “not sustainable,” as he expected that they would return the next year with another one-time request.
Therefore, a three-year extension would give the Sunflower House more time to seek out more funding for the future, Brooks said.
“I do think we should be prepared to fund this for another three years while they figure out a different model or a different partnership, because we’re going to be right back here every year,” Brooks said. “I do think [the Sunflower Houses] need[ed] to know that the county supports them, that we’re behind this, and then we’re going to give them a few more years to figure it out.”
While $45,000 was significantly lower than the requested amount of $77,680, it prevented the program from shutting down while they look for different funding sources, according to David Sanders Jr., the executive director of OAR.
“If we had more reserves, we could ask for less,” Sanders said. “But with Travis’s amendment of $45,000, we’ll make it work.”