The city is soliciting proposals from nonprofits interested in administering a public feeding program funded by federal coronavirus relief money.
The $50,284 the Hot Springs Board of Directors allocated to the program will shore up local food banks that have seen a rise in demand during the pandemic, according to the request for proposals the city issued earlier this week.
"Some have depleted all funds and others are in danger of running out of resources in the very near future," the RFP said. "Also of concern is the additional need for nutritional food during the months of November, December and January when children are on school breaks and seniors and other low-to-moderate-income households experience higher heating bills that may force choices that exacerbate food insecurity."
Deputy City Manager Lance Spicer said the pandemic has stressed local food banks. According to the RFP, more than half the 17,000 people in Garland County that Feeding America, the nonprofit hunger and poverty organization, classified as food insecure in 2018 didn't qualify for food stamps.
"That's what we're hearing from all of our nonprofits, even some of our faith-based organizations," he said. "They're saying that their calls for service have increased quite a bit. That's one of the things we've been mindful of in having these funds, making sure we got them in the hands of those who need them the most."
The city received $254,473 in U.S. Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant funding to prevent, prepare and respond to the pandemic. In the spring, the board allocated $50,284 to feeding low-to-moderate income people. It directed the balance to expenses related to quarantining the homeless population and personal protective equipment.
Spicer said some of the funds were spent on the shower trailer the city purchased for the homeless population. It debuted at the free COVID-19 testing event the city helped organize earlier this month at the Hot Springs Farmers & Artisans Market.
The board will consider a resolution next week reallocating the $126,825 it earmarked for personal protective equipment, testing and medical supplies for low-to-moderate income residents to a rental and utility assistance program. The resolution directs $100,000 to three months of emergency rent subsistence payments and $26,825 for utility assistance for city residents with financial and medical hardships caused by COVID-19.
"The (Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention) eviction moratorium is likely to end at the end of this year," Spicer said. "We're also getting lots of calls from the agencies that provide utility assistance that they're having a large number of people calling in and looking for utility assistance."
The city said applicants will be required to provide proof of income and hardship to qualify. The payments will go directly to landlords and utility providers. The city said it will issue an RFP for a nonprofit, third-party provider to administer the program.