What could be more frightening than not having a place to sleep or to be able to provide a home for your family? In 2020 many more individuals than ever before had to face this dreadful possibility.
For over 40 years St. Anne Community Outreach (SACO) in Columbus, Georgia has focused primarily on providing families in crisis with groceries and clothing. Since 2015, they also dedicated their efforts towards helping those facing the loss of their housing.
SACO is a ministry of St. Anne Catholic Church located in Muscogee County, Georgia providing solutions and hope to many families in crisis. In Muscogee County, the poverty rate hovers around 21%, meaning over 20,000 individuals struggle to obtain basic shelter, food and clothing.
According to The Princeton Eviction Lab, which has been collecting data on evictions over the past 20 years, each year more than 6% of renters in the United States are evicted. This is a significant number of families that find themselves evicted from their homes. For example, in Muscogee County, Georgia, with a population of 190,000, this translates to 1200 families a year receiving eviction notices. Commonly evictions are filed for just one month of missed rent. Most of those evicted are single women with children living in poverty.
The SACO Rental Clinic was established to provide lasting solutions to this problem by assisting families either facing eviction or in eminent danger of being evicted. The goal of the program is not only to prevent an eviction but also to help families figure out how to sustain their housing. The program does this by providing education, advocacy and planning in addition to financial assistance.
Each month as many as twenty-five families enroll in the clinic. Families are required to complete a budgeting class prior to meeting with an advocate. These classes are offered both in person and on-line. An advocate meets with the family and together a plan is made to not only avert the eviction crisis if possible, but also to maintain housing over the next year. Landlords are included in the decision-making process and the rental advocate follows up with the family to monitor their progress on their housing stability plan.
A place to call Home
Sister Mary Anne Plaskon, one of five volunteer Rental Clinic advocates, feels that the ministry is essential. “It is important for the respect and dignity of the individual. Their life is dependent on having shelter; it’s a basic human need. They can’t become better person without that need being met.”
Over the last five years, advocates have helped over 600 families avoid eviction by participating in SACO’s Rental Clinic. In addition, 88 percent of these families have successfully maintained their housing for at least six months after intervention. This is remarkable given that many of them were on the brink of losing their housing and having to consider alternative living situations including temporary shelter, a car or a friend’s sofa.
In 2020, with the addition of the COVID-19 pandemic, many more families living in poverty were sure to face additional challenges. Many have struggled with reduced or no employment, no child care, and often dealing with illness. Calls to secure a place on a rental assistance waiting list quickly doubled and despite a national “moratorium” on evictions, local courts continue to issue and files eviction notices.
The building blocks of success
Since May 2020, fifty-nine families (164 individuals) have participated in advocacy sessions and received rental assistance, which is a pivotal component in the process. Landlords and families are willing to work through a housing issue, but being able to provide a month’s rent helps ease the strain. Without intervention, each of these fifty-nine families would face dire circumstances.
“Marissa” is an example of one of the families that reached out to SACO for assistance. A single mother of two, she came to the Rental Clinic after receiving notice to pay up or vacate her residence. Marissa had been furloughed from her employer two months into the pandemic. By May she had fallen several months behind and her landlord gave notice that he was getting ready to file for an eviction.
After attending the Consumer Credit Counseling class, she formed a plan to help stabilize her housing situation. The landlord was also involved in the plan and agreed to allow her to stay thirty days if a payment was made. A month of rental assistance was provided to her allowing her to assist with other pressing budgeting needs, mainly food and utilities. Thirty-five days later, Marissa paid her own rent. Although she has returned to work, the cost of her rent is more than 50% of her income. Therefore, she continues to work on her long-term plan to maintain her housing.
Serving others during a pandemic has especially had challenges. All the advocate interventions are completed on the phone. There is little to no face to face transaction. Despite this, advocates feel they still are forming connections with the individuals in crisis. Sister Mary Anne Plaskon notes that “even though the person isn’t sitting in front of you, you can tell through their expression of gratitude that they feel it. The voice to voice contact has become essential. The person knows you are listening and your caring comes through.”
In some ways, Sister Mary Anne remarks, “the remote method of intervention has become more efficient, finding the flexibility of communicating with the client and the landlord outside of a set time has allowed for more efficiency in the process. Communicating on the phone forces the session to be focused on solving the problem, while treating each person with dignity and respect”.
Helping others achieve success in maintaining housing is more than a financial issue; it’s also about the communion of ministering to someone in need and the nurturing of the Christ’s spirit in each other. St. Anne Community Outreach continues its important mission of helping the most vulnerable joining with the Anthonian Association in support of those most in need.
In 2020, thanks to the support of St Anthony’s followers and devotees, a grant in the amount of $ 15,000 was awarded to St Anne Community Outreach – Rental Assistance Program to keep 164 impoverished women and their children in their homes during their moment of crisis.
