No open enrollment for rental assistance

Huge demand for low-income housing and limited staffing have combined to force local humanitarian agencies that received a federal grant this fall for rental assistance to eliminate open enrollments for the program.

“We’re getting slammed,” said Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency’s Beetle Barbour. “With open enrollments, we used to say ‘just call us.’ ”
 

But now, things have changed. The seven local entities divvying up the three-year $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are recruiting families already being served by their respective social programs in one way or another.

The reasoning is many such people have already shown a willingness to better their situation, have had paperwork processed and have a demonstrated need, according to Barber. The move will also save staff time.

There’s just not enough funding available, Barbour said, for all those who need help.

The $1.6 million grant has been divided among the following entities: Tuolumne County Public Health ($240,000), Mountain Women’s Resource Center ($150,000), Calaveras Works ($240,000), Sierra Hope ($120,000), the Area 12 Agency on Aging ($125,000), and the Disability Resource Agency for Independent Living ($125,000). ATCAA itself will keep $300,000, which it will distribute in Tuolumne, Amador and Calaveras counties.

Most of the grant will be used to help keep people who are at risk of becoming homeless off the street. In all, the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program is designed to serve 597 households locally over three years. The program can be used for 18 months maximum, with the grant funds good for three years.

Just days after Barbour announced the receipt of the funds earlier this fall, her agency was slammed with calls from those seeking assistance.    

Liz Sewell, head of the Mountain Women’s Resource Center, also attested to the humanitarian need locally. She said her program sheltered more women and children in the first four months of the fiscal year than all of the prior fiscal year.

When the economy is bad, some people “tend to use violence as a way to cope,” according to Sewell.

“That’s not a good solution,” she said.

A lack of stable housing puts people especially at risk of violence, Sewell noted.

Sewell had advice for couples struggling in the down economy.

“If you start getting angry with your partner over money, you need to take a walk and some deep breaths and realize you are not the source of the problem,” she said. “Seek out help from family, church and other agencies. It’s a sign of strength to ask for help.”

Bigger forces are indeed at work. Statistics from the California Employment Development Department paint a bleak local jobs picture. In Tuolumne County, the unemployment rate is 13.5 percent. In Calaveras County, meanwhile, the rate is 14.7 percent. Such rates haven’t been seen in the two counties since the early 1990s.

Recent business closures, including the bankruptcy of two large retailers that had stores in Tuolumne County and the progressive closure of Sierra Pacific Industries’ Standard Mill, have had a big impact on the county’s unemployment rate.

In addition, local governments have been forced to cut various programs due to losses in local tax revenue and pass-through funds from the state. 

Barbour pointed out that all is not lost for those who need help but are not yet partaking in one social program or another. Barbour pointed out that the SOS-Tuolumne County Families in Crisis program, a Sonora Area Foundation-led effort to help struggling families, is accepting open enrollments for rental assistance. ATCAA is one of the agencies distributing the funds.

In order to get the SOS rental assistance, the applicant has to demonstrate a loss in income or housing due to the recession.