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A half-million-dollar grant aimed at keeping families from becoming homeless has been approved for the city.

The money from the federal Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program, or HPRP, will be available to people who are in danger of losing their home or apartment, and whose income has unexpectedly fallen below 50 percent of the local average.

The funding and its impact on the city's housing "action plan" will be discussed at a public hearing at 10 a.m. Friday in council chambers at the Public Safety Building (the old municipal building), 201 Lysle Blvd. at Market Street.

"With the economy the way it is, this provides another avenue for people to get help," says Bethany Budd Bauer, city director of community development. "It's something like the Dollar Energy Fund or LIHEAP."

The money will be disbursed in the form of grants for rent, utilities and other necessities, and is designed to prevent families without any other form of assistance from becoming homeless.

According to officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Human Development, grants will be subject to approval by a case manager and will become available only after the applicants have exhausted all other options.

HPRP was created as part of the federal stimulus package approved in February. The city's share --- $500,957 over three years --- was automatic and based on its demographics, Bauer says.

A local social-services provider will have to be selected to administer the funding, and because city council will have to approve their appointment, Bauer says the money will probably not be available until September.

The program is intended to help renters, not homeowners. "It's not a mortgage program," Bauer says.

. . .

In Other Business: Bids for the reconstruction of J. Clarence Kelly Park on Walnut Street will be opened Friday, Bauer says.

City officials will decide how to proceed with renovations based on those bids, she says.

The park is home to Downtown's last remaining railroad crossing tower. When the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's tracks crossed through the city, the towers were manned by watchmen who raised and lowered the crossing gates.