Local housing provider Beacon, Inc., felt the effects of uncertainty that surrounded a federal aid freeze order by President Donald Trump.
A federal judge stopped the order minutes before it was supposed to start Tuesday. On Wednesday, the administration rescinded the order.
Beacon provides a day and overnight shelter and other related social services to low-income residents. Some of its services are funded through grant-reimbursement programs with the federal government.
Executive Director Rev. Forrest Gilmore said the website used for reimbursement for rehousing programs went down Tuesday afternoon.
“All the communication we received is a website page that basically says you're trying to access this page outside of normal operating hours, that doesn't even say that it's closed. It just says you're here at the wrong time,” he said. “Apparently, it's been the wrong time for at least 24 hours, if not more.”
The site is back up as of Wednesday afternoon — it’s unclear if it’s back online due to the federal judge who temporarily blocked the order, or from the sudden reversal of the order reported by the Washington Post Wednesday afternoon.
Gilmore said rescinding the order is a huge relief for Beacon.
But that day of uncertainty put services in limbo.
“Yesterday, I was asked whether we could move forward on housing a person who has multiple amputations and is living in a nursing home, and they were next up on our housing list to house and help move into a new home, and we had to say no, that we can't do it right now,” Gilmore said.
Gilmore said they will continue to support people as much as they can but said big government decisions like this put organizations like Beacon in a challenging position.
“The unpredictability of this makes it very nerve-wracking for all of us,” he said.
