Rental Assistance Update – Stable Home continues to provide a safety net for families in need

Our Stable Home eviction prevention program has rolled with the punches during the pandemic and has continued to evolve along with the rest of the post-eviction moratorium landscape. Stable Home advocate Jesse Perrell says providing information and clearing up confusion is a large part of the service provided to families who are at risk of losing their housing.

“Landlords are starting to give out lots of 14-day notices and we’re talking to a lot of tenants who have never been in this situation before and aren’t really sure what that means and what their legal protections are,” Jesse said. “Many landlords and property management companies have had a lot staff turnover and chaos internally, which can lead to further confusion between tenants and landlords.”

A key part of Stable Home’s holistic approach to helping families avoid homelessness is simply clear communication and connecting families with the correct resources.

“There’s a lot of need for tenants and landlords to obtain the knowledge of how to proceed legally and what services and protections are available to them,” Jesse said. “So our staff is spending a lot of quality time on the phone and in email with clients to help them figure out how they can move forward and calming their fears about losing their home.”

During this strange, in-between time for tenants, Stable Home’s flexibilty to evolve as a program is a major strength.

“It’s a weird time, but we’re just starting to figure out this feast or famine cycle we’ve been in,” Director of Programs Greg McLeod said. “All the moratoriums have ended and there are no proposals for new ones.”

Greg said that Stable Home has assisted 22 families in 2022 so far.

We’d like to share a recent story of a client named Doug, a single dad with two kids, who received guidance and funding from our Stable Home program.

Doug’s work stopped giving him hours entirely after two incidents of his kids having COVID exposure at their preschool and Doug needing to stay home with them. He wasn’t able to work during January and February. We connected him with DSHS to get childcare arranged, which will allow him to return to normal work hours at his existing job. He was panicked having received a 14-day pay or vacate notice, but our team talked him through it, prompted him to call the Bellevue Resolution Center, and are providing assistance with his February rent.

As anyone with small kids these last two years of the pandemic can relate to, it’s a thin line between staying afloat and drowning. When tragedy strikes and your safety net fails or runs out, that’s when Stable Home is there to help families out.