La’Trell Smith Owens was working the front desk at a hotel when
the coronavirus blew into Virginia last March. As states started putting
restrictions in place to slow the spread of the virus, the travel industry was
one of the hardest hit.
“My hours got cut short, and my husband, who worked at the same
hotel, got laid off,” said Smith Owens, who was pregnant at the time with baby
Amarah, now 4 months, and has an older daughter, Anaeja, age 14. She and her
husband, Larry Owens, rent a house in Winchester.
He applied for unemployment but before it came through he found
another job, though “nowhere near full time,” she said. In September, she also
found a new job, as a front-of-the-house manager at a steakhouse. But her hours
have fluctuated from 40 or 45 a week down to sometimes just 30 or 25. Often it
has been hard to make ends meet.
“With my husband laid off and my reduced hours, we just couldn’t
keep up with the bills,” she said. “If I could stay on top of the rent, the
utilities would get behind. … Thank God, Catholic Charities helped us with
rent, and food as well.”
Smith Owens’ experience illustrates the kinds of rental and
utility emergencies that are becoming increasingly common during the
coronavirus pandemic, according to Catholic Charities and other nonprofits that
provide emergency assistance and help administer government relief funds.
Mary McNamee, an emergency assistance case coordinator for
diocesan Catholic Charities, hears about clients’ struggles firsthand as she
conducts the intake for emergency rent and utility assistance.
“There’s an overwhelming amount of stories, to be honest,”
McNamee said. “It used to be about 20 intakes a month. Now I’m not even
counting any more. It seems like a never-ending thing.”
Due to coronavirus precautions, visiting an aid office to apply
in person is a thing of the past; intake interviews now must be conducted by
phone or email, which makes applying especially complicated for families
struggling with language, lack of access to technology or other hurdles. With
schools and many jobs moving online, the internet is quickly becoming an
essential utility that competes with rent, heat and food. “There are a lot of
services out there but unless you have access to the internet you’re in
trouble,” McNamee said.
Catherine Hassinger, diocesan Catholic Charities’ Director of
Community Services, said the agency provided $1.2 million in rent and utility
assistance between March and December to nearly 1,000 households throughout the
diocese. Some 55 percent was funded by donations and private foundation grants
to Catholic Charities while 45 percent came from the CARES Act or other federal
funding. While most of the funding was administered through Catholic Charities’
Emergency Assistance Program, $62,000 went to 35 refugee families through
Migration and Refugee Services.
Government relief funds have been a huge help and are
supplementing nonprofits’ budgets. But government assistance also has been a
moving target because, as Hassinger notes, how a program is administered may
affect eligibility, with different income guidelines and rules for different
jurisdictions. Applicants from Northern Virginia, for example, may not qualify
for state programs because guidelines may be based on a lower area median
income, or AMI, than county programs in Northern Virginia, even though housing
costs are higher in the suburbs than in rural parts of the state.
Hassinger worries that the rising number of new COVID-19 cases
may lead to more government restrictions and “lockdowns,” which could lead to
more job cuts. “We’re still seeing companies close their doors and people’s
hours being cut,” she said. “We’ve not seen a drop-off at all in the number of
people needing assistance.”
All this has led to unprecedented levels of stress, anxiety and
depression, along with an increase in substance abuse as people struggle to
cope with “the helplessness they feel during this pandemic,” she added.
Local governments and nonprofits everywhere are dealing with
similar emergencies. More than 11 million households nationwide are behind on
rent or won’t be able to pay next month, according to Census Bureau estimates,
creating a backlog estimated at $70 billion. Landlords have responded by filing
hundreds of thousands of eviction notices, cases that currently are on hold
thanks to state and federal moratoriums on coronavirus-related evictions.
Moratoriums have been extended several times, and now go through the end of
January.
David Levine, president of Good Shepherd Housing in Alexandria,
said his low-income population has been especially hard-hit by both COVID-19
and its ripple effects on jobs and housing. “It’s a thin line and they don’t
have big financial cushions,” he said. The organization was founded in 1974 by
members of Good Shepherd Church in Alexandria after they found a Vietnamese
refugee family living in a shack along Richmond Highway. Now an independent
nonprofit, it manages about 100 affordable housing units in Fairfax County
south of Alexandria.
When eviction moratoriums eventually end, Levine said, “renters
will still have to pay all the back rent. They are not exonerating you from the
debt. A lot of people are going to have big amounts to pay and a lot will end
up getting evicted.”
“If that happens, we are facing a significant crisis,” Hassinger
added. “Some of these individuals will be able to move in with families or
friends temporarily, but we could be looking at a massive housing crisis.”
McNamee agrees. “The gap is getting wider as time goes on, but
thanks to support from many people, we’ve been able to string it together.
There are so many people out there that have been so generous,” from donors to
landlords who are doing what they can to help people. “We hear stories all the
time, of people saying ‘Pay me when you can. We’ll work it out.’ ”
Smith Owens says her family’s back rent is now paid, thanks to
Catholic Charities and another organization that provided assistance. And the
$600 government stimulus check she just received has helped catch up with
utilities.
With a young teen and new baby to support, she and her husband
are trying to keep it together and avoid eviction. “We definitely didn’t want
it to get to that point,” she said. “I’m doing the best I can.”
Find out more
For links to a wide range of rental and utility assistance
resources for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, go to
Stayhomevirginia.com.