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Stephanie Wiechmann
The Muncie mayor's office says the Muncie Inn on Madison Street was tagged as an unsafe building last week for multiple code violations, safety risks and fire hazards. In an interview on the city's Facebook page, Muncie Mission’s Frank Baldwin talks with Mayor Dan Ridenour and says the inspection came from a resident complaint.

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Frank Baldwin
Your office called and said that there had been a very serious complaint that there were residents at the Muncie Inn without heat.

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Stephanie Wiechmann
With a ten day notice to vacate the Muncie Inn, the Muncie Folk Collective has been working with the 44 families it says live there, some for many years. Volunteers say some residents can't afford current rents and down payment requirements in Muncie, or have recent evictions that would prohibit them from being approved for some housing. Interviewed by a volunteer on TikTok over the weekend, a Muncie and resident says the city's help focuses on shelters.

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Stephanie Wiechmann
But many don't want to enter the shelter system.

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Muncie Inn Resident
For wife and maybe your children have to go to this place, which they're full and you have to go to this place which they’re full.

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Stephanie Wiechmann
Baldwin says the response was put together in a crisis.

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Frank Baldwin
It's not always an ideal solution, but it's just a temporary solution.

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Stephanie Wiechmann
On Wednesday, the Muncie Board of Works approved a request to use $125,000 in federal American Rescue Plan money to help those at the motel and others with an immediate risk of homelessness. Community development planner Allen Wiseley says it will be used to find permanent shelter.

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Allen Wiseley
And those costs can include rental application fees, security deposits, utility deposits, utility payments, moving costs, and first and last month’s rent.

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Stephanie Wiechmann
A Better Way Services will manage the money. An extra $10,000 was approved for the Muncie Mission to buy equipment to treat belongings with bedbugs. Wiseley says the Muncie Inn has an infestation, and local landlords are worried about the bugs being transferred to their properties for community members still wanting to help. The Collective is collecting money to help Muncie and families.

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Stephanie Wiechmann
It will also collect physical item donations on Thursday and Saturday at the Patterson Building in downtown Muncie. The organization says this can be anything from furniture to diapers to shelf stable food. In Muncie. Stephanie Wiechmann, IPR news.