Federal money for heating and housing assistance is available through the Emergency Food and Shelter Committee for any Haywood County 501(c) 3 nonprofits that qualify.

Committee Chairman Tom Posey said they were fortunate to get any funds this year because initially none were allocated to Haywood County.

“The money is allocated based on unemployment in the county, so we didn’t get any last year or this year,” he said, explaining that the county’s unemployment rate is lower than in other areas. “But they had holdover money that wasn’t spent that they will give to communities that don’t qualify for allocation.”

In total, Haywood County received $17,245 in reallocated Emergency Food and Shelter funding, and this year, the committee decided to use that money to aid nonprofits helping people ...