Let me tell you, friends, I have been at FID for more than 11 years, and I have never seen such a stressful time for the people we serve. The eviction moratorium has been lifted, as has the utilities shutoff hold. Federal COVID relief programs have ended.
And locally, our county housing assistance clearinghouse – Housing Access of Washtenaw County (HAWC) – is undergoing a major transition that has caused severe disruptions in the delivery of housing assistance to county residents. The housing market is tight, tight, tight, and affordable housing units are getting harder and harder to find. People are hurting and at a loss of where to turn.
Friends In Deed has experienced a 30% increase in call volume in the last two months, mostly due to housing issues. People are panicked about whether they will be able to remain in their homes. FID would normally refer those callers to HAWC for case management, but we are having to take that on ourselves. This has caused a great deal of stress for our HelpLine staff, and we are struggling to meet that need.
We have helped 59 clients with emergency financial assistance since our last newsletter in August. We were unable to help 69 people, mostly because the requests were either outside of our program area or greatly exceeded available resources.
As you have no doubt experienced, the results of the prolonged COVID pandemic are everywhere in the economy, causing high inflation and supply chain issues. As always, these effects are felt most acutely by financially vulnerable individuals. For example, the cost of transportation has skyrocketed with the cost of car parts and repairs. Community members are coming to us routinely with repair bills that are triple what they were before the pandemic. Many hard-working families are one unexpected bill away from losing it all.
When you don’t work daily with people experiencing poverty, you might not be aware of some of these issues, but we see them every day. We need your support more than ever. If you have ever thought about volunteering on the HelpLine or the Furniture Line, now is the time to do it! We need help to handle the increased call volume. Your financial support is also needed as we face the significant increases in need in our community.
We are all in this together.
By Sarah Thornburg – Executive Director