Starting July 15, 2021, most families with children will receive monthly Child Tax Credit payments of at least $250 per child from the IRS
Families that have not filed taxes can qualify for this payment by going to this page on the IRS website and following the instructions:
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/child-tax-credit-non-filer-sign-up-tool

The Child Tax Credit monthly assistance program was created this year in the American Rescue Plan Act and is available for twelve months.  The full credit is $300 per month for children aged five and younger and $250 per month for children aged six to seventeen.  To be eligible for the full credit a family's income must be less than: 

• $150,000 if married and filing a joint return or if filing as a qualifying widow or widower;
• $112,500 if filing as head of household; or
• $75,000 if you are a single filer or are married and filing a separate return.

You can learn more about who is eligible for this program on the IRS website.

The Coalition of Religious Communities is asking the leaders of Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah County to dedicate ten percent of the federal funding they receive through the American Rescue Plan Act to ending homelessness.  How much is each county getting?

• Weber County:  $50.4 million
• Davis County:  $68.9 million
• Salt Lake County:  $225 million
• Utah County:  $123.4 million

Ten percent of this money would be $46.7 million.  If these funds were used in a smart and coordinated way we could give hundreds of people who  will be sleeping outdoors tonight a place indoors to sleep.
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Can you take a few minutes to reach out to the leaders of the County where you live and ask them to dedicate ten percent of the American Rescue Plan Act funding they receive to ending homelessness?  

Weber County:  Weber County is governed by a three member County Commission.

Davis County:  Davis County is governed by  a three member County Commission

Salt Lake County:  Salt Lake County is governed by a nine member County Council and a County Mayor

Utah County:  Utah County is governed by a three member County Commission

If you have questions about this issue, or ideas for ways we can reach more people, send and email to Bill Tibbitts.

On April 28, 2021, Ann Oliva from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shared her perspective on how Utah could use new federal funding to reduce homelessness in big ways.   Ms. Oliva challenged us to look at the data on where help is most needed, look at all the new resources available, and then set big goals, such as ending unsheltered homelessness in Salt Lake County.  In recent years Utah has been a state that is willing to set big, ambitious goals in this area.  It is exciting to be at a moment where we can think big again.

We promised the people who logged into the webinar that we would post the following things here, along with a recording of the presentation:
The Power Point presentapresentation-slides-4-28-2021.pdftion that accompanied the webinar,
The framework for an equitable response to homelessness that Ms. Oliva helped to produce.
The New Deal on Housing Justice, which Ms. Oliva also helped to produce.
The most recent analysis of racial disparities and homelessness for Salt Lake County,