Rental assistance: Concerns will continue in the coming months | United Good Neighbors

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INSIDE ST. VINCENT DE PAUL

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of East Jefferson County provides money for emergency situations, typically helping 20 to
25 families a week pay rent, mortgages and utility bills.

And since the COVID pandemic began, not only have the number of requests for assistance almost doubled, so has the average financial contribution to help them out.

In light of the economic recession we’re now in, St. Vincent has also had to broaden its definition of “emergency,” said president John Cantlon, who has worked for 13 years alongside others at the faith-based nonprofit in Port Townsend.

“If you can’t pay your rent, that’s obviously an emergency,” he said. 

“If you can’t pay your utilities, that’s obviously an emergency. But what if you’re driving to work and your tires are showing thread through the tread — the tires become an emergency.”

Another example is cellphone minutes, which was debated among the members for a while. They ultimately decided minutes would qualify, because not having any minutes on a phone could further disenfranchise people — most of whom are the working poor, Cantlon said.

About two-thirds of the nonprofit’s annual budget is provided by the congregation of St. Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church.
St. Vincent used to distribute about $100 per family on its $2,000 weekly budget. But since COVID debuted, it was running out of money within days.

Through donations and grants, however, the organization has been able to increase the amount of money it gives to people — on average $250 — particularly those whose debt is snowballing and threatening to put them on the streets.

“A lot of people work constantly,” Cantlon said. “But they don’t make enough money (to pay a full bill), so they pay as much as they can in the spring to catch the bill up. But this spring, all the jobs went away.”

The under-the-table economy has dried up, as well.

“The general casualty is odd jobs, side jobs, to pay for that little extra in people’s lives,” he said. “It’s just not there. Artists, musicians are starving to death. There’s no lessons, no gigs.” 

A JCF grant of $67,500 and another from FEMA for $12,800 helped them with that problem.

“Without that money …” he said. “And the parishioners keep up, writing grants.”

He admitted he is “absolutely” scared about the coming winter. The statewide rent moratorium extends to the end of the year. And utility bills will definitely increase.

“There will be an increase in homelessness,” Cantlon said. “There’s not any kind of adequate solution.”

He is not without hope.

“Most of the people in the faith-based community all read the same book, and in that book, Jesus Christ, over and over and over again, tells us it is our responsibility to help people in need,” Cantlon said. 

“So we try to live up to that just like every other faith-based group in Jefferson County. We’ll just continue doing what we do: serving the people who need help.”

HELP FOR IMMIGRANTS

It’s one thing to get rental assistance funds to people who need them, but when those people are immigrants, it sometimes borders on impossible.

“There’s a lot of fear in the immigration community — and justifiably so,” said Jean Walat, co-chair of Jefferson County Immigrant Rights Advocates (JCIRA). “They’ve been told by many people that if they take any public money, they will not have the opportunity to become a citizen.”

We mostly work with people in the North Olympic Peninsula. When society went into lockdown, the folks who usually work in the shadows of the U.S. economy came out of the woodwork seeking help with their everyday expenses.

Funds are also used to help immigrants get legal assistance, a now-online ESL class, and provide help with immigration applications, DACA and the citizenship process. JCIRA has also obtained host homes for two asylum seekers while they wait for their case to be processed.

Right now, it’s daily living expenses: rent, electricity, gas money.

“What was small before COVID that has become huge, is (requests for) legal assistance and family support,” Walat said. 

“We gave out less than $15,000 before (COVID). And we had 20 applications — total, before mid-March — and that went to 70 in one week after COVID.”

They were ready, Walat said.

“It really was incredible for us,” she said. “We had the fund in place, the policies in place, the volunteers were there, we were eligible for funds and knew where they would go; we were ready.”

Donations came from the Jefferson Community Foundation, about 600 on JCIRA’s mailing list and a GoFundMe social media page.

“People stepped up,” Walat said. “We’re lucky to live in a community where people have money and are willing to share it with other people. That’s really made the difference.”

It was needed.

“The most requests were from people in essential services or in jobs with no benefits: restaurant workers, housekeepers, caretakers, salal workers for the floral industry. They just shut down, totally. A lot on the west side (of the county) didn’t have any job prospects. They really needed help with rent.

“So many people were cut out of the stimulus money and are essential workers,” she added. “Or they work in the gig economy and don’t get benefits.”

In all of 2019, when the fund was substantially smaller, JCIRA distributed a little more than $10,000 to help families with rent. 

Since COVID brought the economy to a screeching halt, that expenditure has leaped to $180,000.

“We’ll keep going as long as we can,” Walat said. 

“We hope between the two funds and what people continue to give, that we’ll be able to keep up with demand. We just have to see.”