An organization that aims to help the homeless is taking a step back from a federal grant that was holding up a project to create a women’s shelter in Carbon County.

On Thursday, the Carbon County Commissioners acknowledged correspondence from Aggie Schoenberger, director/founder of Peaceful Knights.

The email states that Schoenberger and the board of directors have decided that they “will no longer be attempting to obtain this grant money.”

“Our accountant cannot confirm that the grant money will not be taxable,” the correspondence said. “We simply do not have the funds to cover that.”

Schoenberger continued that she would like to get working on completing the project, but the guidelines that come with the grant have increased the price.

“We believe it can be done for a lot less and we will trust God to provide,” she wrote.

She thanked the county for everything they did to try and complete this women’s emergency shelter and hopes that “our strong relationship with the commissioners and Carbon County Planning and Carbon Engineering remains unaffected by our decision.”

The commissioners voiced their frustrations, not on Schoenberger’s decision, but over the stringent guidelines that come with the grant, mainly the need for prevailing wages, which increase the cost of the project.

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich said that more than likely, the county will now have to return the $163,000 grant to the state, which will then return it to the federal government if not reallocated for another project in Pennsylvania.

He added that with grant money the county receives, there are always certain requirements, such as prevailing wages “that make projects much more expensive than maybe would be acceptable at other times.”

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that it is a shame that the government makes it harder with the restrictions on some grants.

“It really knocks off a lot of our local tradespeople and doing projects here because of the aggravation of all the paperwork,” he said.

Lukasevich said the delays for the women’s shelter is disappointing since the project started in 2019 after the need was identified.

However, he noted that Schoenberger plans to continue working on the women’s shelter as part of Peaceful Knights, but instead of the grant money, the organization will need to raise money to make it happen.

The county and Peaceful Knights members worked together to try and get the project off the ground after shifting the grant money from Family Promise to Peaceful Knights.

But each time the project was bid, the contract figures came back above the grant amount, forcing the commissioners to reject the bids several times.

The site of the new women’s shelter will be 131-133 N. First St., Lehighton, a building Schoenberger purchased several years ago in the hopes of helping more people.