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St. Mary
St. Vincent DePaul Society
Sometimes our volunteers are confronted with a situation that seems hopeless on the surface. We met a neighbor recently who was more than three years behind on paying rent and had received an eviction notice from her landlord.
Two of our volunteers visited her in her apartment and learned she had a full-time job and was raising two adolescent children. Her employer reduced her work hours dramatically during COVID, and she missed time with her children out of school. She could keep up with most of her bills but could not pay the rent. We were impressed with her stability in that she had worked for the same employer for more than six years and lived in the same apartment for more than six years. Even though she had a full-time job with benefits, the cost of caring for herself and two growing children was more than she could manage during the pandemic.
We learned that the SVDP main office had received some COVID relief funds from the City, and these monies were intended for situations like hers. We worked with our neighbor in filling out the application for this assistance. We contacted the landlord’s attorney, who expressed willingness to work with her and postpone her eviction. Still, he wanted her to produce a budget that showed she could pay her ongoing expenses and catch up on the remaining rent. We worked with our neighbor to create a budget she could live with and submitted it to the landlord.
The result is that we were able to access the COVID relief funds to pay 15 months of back rent, and the landlord accepted her rent repayment plan and withdrew the eviction.
Our SVDP volunteers encounter situations every day where our neighbors need the necessities of food, clothing, shelter…..and a kind helping hand. We don’t turn anyone away and try our best to meet their needs as best we can with available resources.
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