Columbus won nearly $7 million in federal grant funds to help aid migrants and asylum seekers in finding services in the city.
Columbus applied for $20 million in grant funds after the evacuation last year of the Colonial Village apartment complex.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency Shelter and Services Program awarded $6.6 million in grant funds just months after Columbus officials helped hundreds of families, many from Haiti, that were forced to find new homes after the condemned complex was shut down.
Hannah Jones, deputy director for the Columbus Department of Development, said the funds will help ease the burden of helping this vulnerable population. She also said the funds can't be used to reimburse the costs of Colonial Village, but can alleviate the broader situation and bolster city funds in case a similar situation happens again.
"We want to ensure that every person who comes here has the best opportunity to work, live and thrive in our community. And as many chances as we have to bolster our resources and our infrastructure to do that, we're going to do that," Jones said.
The funds will only be used to help legal immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees and can be used for things like housing and food.
The city said in a press release the funding will build upon the partnerships developed with the Community Shelter Board and community partners to expand capacity to provide shelter and material assistance to vulnerable migrants who face unique barriers to gaining stability.
“This new federal funding aligns with what we are already experiencing here in Columbus-- an increasing number of refugees and immigrants arriving in our community in search of safe harbor and a new start," Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said in a statement.
Ginther said the grant ensures that the city will be able to address the immediate humanitarian needs of these families without placing additional pressure on our existing shelter system.
The funds come as nearby Springfield is in the national spotlight as the town sees an influx of immigrants. The town of 60,000 saw more than 10,000 Haitian immigrants come to the city as asylum seekers.
Now the town is taking center stage nationally in the immigration debate.
U.S. Senator and Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance claimed in August the town is an example of "unchecked immigration."
Vance and other Republicans in Ohio and the U.S. have spread false claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were killing people's household pets and eating them, according to the The Springfield News-Sun, which fact checked the claims.
Vance, U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz all posted the false claim on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The newspaper reported that many social media posts were confusing the claims in Springfield with a situation dealt with by police in Canton, Ohio.
Police in Canton recently charged a woman with cruelty to companion animals for allegedly killing and eating a cat in front of multiple people. The city of Canton is 175 miles northeast of Springfield.
The @springfieldnews reports this is not true based on a lack of any reports of this happening https://t.co/4qUl5clHo1 https://t.co/rqm42Nx98V
— Karen Kasler (@karenkasler) September 9, 2024
Jones said she can't speak to the situation in Springfield, but said an influx of migrants is what many communities are seeing.
"If you look at the national landscape, we're seeing an influx of individuals and unfortunately, it does get politicized. When really municipalities are just figuring out how to serve the most vulnerable in their community, regardless of their status," Jones said.
The city statement said if Columbus didn't help the 1,300 displaced individuals find temporary housing in nine hotels, central Ohio’s regional shelter system would have been overwhelmed.
