At last night’s Greensboro City Council meeting, Housing and Community Development Director Andy Scott said his department was looking at three “specific types of activities” regarding a proposed $1 million housing bond: workforce housing for families that make 80-120 percent of the median income, which the “fastest growing segment of the rental market,” housing for the disabled and people with other special needs and refinancing to help maintain Greensboro’s “substantial portfolio” of multi-family public housing developments.

That said, Scott added that HCD didn’t have a “segmented plan” in place yet. Council member Mike Barber praised Scott’s word as HCD director, but added that he wasn’t down with a housing bond, saying it confuses him considering the fact that the council “routinely turns down private sector development in the community.”

As for funding for the proposed daytime shelter, the council signed off with a 9-0 vote with no discussion except for Dianne Bellamy-Small’s request that services offered by the shelter being more closely monitored because she’s heard that services currently being offered to the homeless haven’t been “as compassionate or caring as they should be.”

The N&R also signs off on the shelter:

A proposed daytime shelter for homeless people in Greensboro won’t come cheaply. But if it does the job backers envision, it will be well worth the cost.

….The costliest option, however, is to do nothing at all. A daytime shelter will be expensive, but its cost pales in comparison with providing indigent medical care or incarceration. In the long run, paying for services on the front end is the cost-effective choice.

As part of a federal initiative, Guilford County has undertaken an ambitious plan to end homelessness in 10 years. A daytime service center fits nicely into meeting that lofty goal.

By the way, the details of the $50 million bond for War Memorial Auditorium weren’t discussed. They should be hashed out at next week’s council briefing.