Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Leaders of two Utah homeless shelters are facing uncertainty due to federal funding freezes and possible cuts.
- In response, Lantern House and Youth Futures are eying increased public donations as a way to offset the potential losses.
- Funding jitters are impacting shelters across Utah and beyond.
OGDEN — Possible cuts in federal funding to Utah homeless shelters has the operators of at least two facilities worried about how to keep their agencies running and pursuing increased donations from the public as a way to keep afloat.
"Our fundraising and grant-writing efforts are going to have to ramp up pretty significantly," said Lauren Navidomskis, executive director of Lantern House, a 330-bed homeless shelter in Ogden that serves individuals and families.
Kristen Mitchell, founder and executive director of Youth Futures Utah, which operates shelters for homeless youth in Ogden, Cedar City and St. George, worries about the future of some $750,000 in funding that comes through the federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act. Like Navidomskis, she also worries about the future of funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which amounts to $25,000 to $50,000 a year for Youth Futures.
"We have some pretty intense uncertainty about our federal funding," Mitchell said.
The funding hasn't been cut — not yet, anyway. The administration of President Donald Trump, though, has frozen distribution of the money as it reviews spending. This has spurred jitters and calls by Mitchell for the public to donate and to reach out to Utah's federal delegation to urge approval of Runaway and Homeless Youth Act funding.
Runaway and Homeless Youth Act funding alone accounts for around 17% of Youth Futures' annual budget of $4.5 million, and the potential loss of the money, if not offset by other revenue, worries Mitchell. Services could be trimmed, meaning some homeless kids would potentially have to fend for themselves.
Before Youth Futures opened its first facility in 2015, Mitchell said, homeless kids would seek shelter in caves, abandoned buildings, sheds, parks or homes of drug dealers. "It's tragic the things that these kids have to turn to to survive," she said.
Lantern House and Youth Futures, both privately operated nonprofit agencies, aren't alone in their unease about future funding under Trump, whose administration is focused on slashing government spending. In conversations with leaders from other Utah organizations that aid the homeless, Mitchell also senses uncertainty.
"They're calling me, going, 'Have you heard anything? What have you heard? What are you seeing?'" she said.
Likewise, the funding freeze is causing concern among organizations around the country that aid the homeless and others in need. Nearly 50 U.S. House Democrats signed a letter sent Monday to FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, calling on them to restore FEMA's Emergency Food and Shelter Program funding.
"EFSP plays a critical role in combatting hunger and homelessness in our country, working to lift children and families out of desperate circumstances. We demand that you take immediate action to ensure that full funding for EFSP, as appropriated by Congress, resumes without further disruption," reads the letter, sent by Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio.
The FEMA program "provides critical support to local organizations, filling gaps to respond to urgent needs or where other sources of funding fall short," the letter continues.
Navidomskis said about half of Lantern House's annual $3 million budget comes from federal and state funds. If federal funding is cut, though, that could reduce money coming from the state, as well, as state leaders reallocate funds to recipient agencies to help them contend with the loss of support from Washington, D.C.
Lantern House, the largest shelter in Utah in terms of bed count, provided 3,300 people with 97,000 shelter nights between them in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2024. It served around 120,000 free meals to 4,200 people.
Mitchell describes Youth Futures as "sitting in a sort of limbo position" as federal authorities review spending. The agency has 53 beds for homeless youth at its three locations and serves around 700 people per year. "We just don't have answers. We don't know," she said.
That uncertainty is prompting the turn to the public for donations to help offset any federal funding cuts. "I'm trying to get ahead of possible concerns. I'm trying to diversify my funding, receive more just unrestricted funding to help us cover any possible delays or cuts or freezes," Mitchell said.
Meantime, Navidomskis said the number of people Lantern House serves and the severity of issues many of them face continue to rise.
"I don't think the homeless issue is getting better. I think there's more awareness and there seems to be a little bit more investment from our higher-level philanthropic giving that can drive some evidence-based change," she said. "But from the day-to-day perspective, it still feels like a very, very heavy task and load to lift."
