LEWISBURG — Cuts in funding from the federal Housing and Urban Development office have left the Greenbrier County Housing Authority in dire straits, imperiling 650 people the agency assists.

GCHA Executive Director Susan Rosshirt appealed to the Greenbrier County Commission for assistance Tuesday, saying she has already cut staffing and salaries in an effort to keep the agency afloat.

HUD provides the GCHA with approximately $1.3 million annually to subsidize housing for low-income individuals and families, but funding for administrative costs falls below what is needed, according to Rosshirt. Rural counties, like Greenbrier, are now being excluded from some HUD programs to allow more federal dollars to flow to urban areas where the government owns housing projects.

By contrast, the GCHA deals with 175 landlords in a three-county area that includes Pocahontas and Monroe in addition to Greenbrier. There are no state-owned apartment buildings in the region.

“We are out of HUD money now,” Rosshirt said, noting no new clients can be added to the subsidized housing rolls until more funding is secured.

GCHA’s waiting list of clients who need assistance with housing costs contains 400 names, and each can expect to wait from two to three years before receiving help.

GCHA board member Ron Miller noted if the agency folds, regulations call for the nearest urban agency to pick up the “units,” or allocation of HUD funds. Greenbrier’s allocation would go to Raleigh County, Miller said, and that would ultimately mean a shifting of assistance from Greenbrier families to Raleigh families.

“We’re talking about 650 people (who could be left homeless),” Miller said. “They aren’t going to make it to Raleigh County.”

Rosshirt emphasized that many of the families helped by the GCHA receive wages, just not enough to be able to afford housing costs. “This is the working poor,” she said.

The average income of a GCHA rent subsidized household is $8,517, Rosshirt said. The rolls include 54 elderly people, 148 disabled adults and 258 children.

GCHA board president Rick Richter asked the commission to commit $50,000 per year to prop up the housing agency, but only pay half of that amount this year.

Commissioner Karen Lobban said, “It would be a disgrace if we cannot support you all.”

The issue was tabled until November, however, to allow the commission to consider the budgetary ramifications of ongoing assistance to the housing authority.

In other financial business:

The commission approved an expenditure of up to $2,000 for the purchase of a storage building for disaster relief supplies owned by the county’s Office of Emergency Services. The wooden structure will be placed near the 911 center in Maxwelton.

The commission appropriated $1,200 from coal severance funds for each of the county’s volunteer fire departments and emergency service squads, contingent upon the units providing financial reports and a list of authorized drivers of emergency vehicles.

The commission voted to pay Sharp Productions $400 a month to broadcast videos of county commission meetings on the local public access television station.

The commission voted to spend not more than $1,000 to enlarge the concrete pad that surrounds the veterans’ memorial in front of the courthouse.