A Columbus group helped hundreds of families avoid eviction this year. Hear from 2 of them
Across Columbus, hundreds of families have received rental assistance throughout the pandemic from St. Anne Community Outreach to avoid becoming part of the thousands in the city who have faced eviction this year.
Vinyetta Copeland and Jenell Nash are two working mothers who reached out for help after unexpected hardships meant they fell months behind on rent.
The community outreach program has helped over 200 families in 2021 with rental assistance, amounting in hundreds of thousands of dollars. Preventing evictions has been one of the top priorities of local advocates as the latest federal eviction moratorium was recently blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Despite available assistance renters and landlords can receive, hundreds of evictions have been executed in Columbus this year.
Advocates like Katie Byers, director of St. Anne Community Outreach, say more education about the resources available to help those who fall behind in rental payments is needed to prevent eviction, a sentiment Crawford and Nash both agreed with.
How COVID-19 complicated job search
Nash moved to Columbus three years ago without knowing anyone in the community. She provided at-home care as a certified nursing assistant in the Columbus area, a profession in which she had more than a decade of experience. However, after filing a complaint about her former supervisor last September, all of her hours were cut, Nash said.
Finding new clients or another job in her profession was difficult because of the pandemic. Some companies had clients but weren’t able to place Nash with them due to COVID-19 restrictions. Others didn’t want to give clients away during an uncertain time.
“Due to COVID, you’ve got people holding on to these clients,” she said. “So it’s hard to just walk in there and say, ‘I need a client,’ because everybody is holding on to their job.”
Nash filed for unemployment benefits in September, but was unable to receive them until March, six months later, because she was still on the books as an employee, she said.
In the meantime, she got funds from the state-administered Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The stimulus check she received through the American Rescue Plan also helped pay off a couple months worth of rent.
The money made a difference, but Nash was still behind and facing eviction. One of her friends told her about reaching out to St. Anne to get help with rent.
St. Anne helped a friend of Nash’s apply for the Georgia Rental Assistance Program that could pay up to a year’s worth of rent. The program is run by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and is charged with distributing $552 million of federal funds to assist tenants and landlords affected by the pandemic.
Nash took her friend’s advice and applied for assistance from St. Anne in June. But since Nash’s housing was subsidized through Section 8, she did not qualify for the Georgia Rental Assistance Program. However, funds from the United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley were used to pay six months of her rent, wiping out her debt.
“The United Way has been providing these funds over the last several years to our ministry to help with eviction prevention,” Byers said in an email. “Our local United Way has been a consistent supporter of helping to prevent evictions and reduce homelessness in our community.”
From providing assistance to needing it
Vinyetta and John Copeland initially came to Columbus to help provide relief for the families affected by the tornado that ripped through Beauregard, Alabama, in 2019 as part of their faith’s ministry. Once here, God told them to stay, Vinyetta said.
She began working for Aflac, while John worked as a contractor, providing maintenance for local apartment complexes. Their organization, Warming Hearts of GA Ministry, provides food and clothing assistance to Columbus residents in need. The program was funded through donations. When COVID-19 began spreading, they had to close their physical store.
While working from home full-time, Vinyetta soon realized that the couple’s four teenage children were struggling with virtual learning. When she received concerning emails from their teachers, Vinyetta realized that she needed to create more time to focus on her kids’ education.
“I knew I needed money, but they were struggling in school,” Vinyetta said. “So, we had to make a drastic decision. But that decision came with not being able to pay rent on time.”
She moved from full-time to part-time hours at Aflac to be more hands-on with her kids. But the couple didn’t expect to fall further behind — layoffs and cutbacks at the apartment complex John previously worked for led to him working less hours. Not long after that, he lost his job.
The couple’s income dropped to about a quarter of what it was before the pandemic, and they began falling behind in rent payments in September.
Due to their ministry work, Vinyetta was already familiar with rental assistance resources in the Columbus area. So when they fell behind, she went to the Salvation Army first to apply for assistance.
The process was slow and while their landlord was understanding, Vinyetta struggled to progress through the long waiting list. Unsure of how long that wait would be, Vinyetta reached out to St. Anne.
She finally made progress around the holidays, and the family received funds in January. They were four months behind on rent.
St. Anne was able to assist Vinyetta’s family through a grant provided by the Columbus Consolidated Government Designated Block Grant, Byers said. The grant was funded by the CARES Act to help prevent evictions of families directly impacted by COVID-19.
“Through that particular grant, $153,409 was spent to keep 124 households (352 individuals) in their homes,” Byers said.
Byers said she’s thankful that the Community Reinvestment Department prioritized eviction prevention in Columbus early, and helped find a solution.
By February, Vinyetta and John used money they’d saved to move out of the home they were living in to another house that they could more easily afford with their decreased income.
Getting back on their feet
Both families have begun to move on from the financial instability that 2020 brought.
In June, the same month Nash received funding from St. Anne, she began her new job with the Internal Revenue Service. She prides herself on being smart with her money despite her struggles that lasted almost a year.
A proud mom, she recently took pictures of all of her boys as they prepared to go off to school. Romeo, her “chicken nugget,” exasperatedly frowns at the camera, but she doesn’t care.
Vinyetta and John are getting their ministry back into full swing, preparing for a back-to-school event where they will give out backpacks filled with necessities. The couple is saving money and plans on buying their next home instead of renting.
Both families say they are thankful to the landlords who were understanding and supportive during a difficult time. The landlords waived late fees and were compassionate about the tenants’ situations, Byers said.
“Our ultimate goal is for families to become self-sufficient, productive members of our community,” Byers said. “No one wants to rely on the help of others, but sometimes all of us need that little bit of assistance.”
Preventing evictions is more challenging now that the Supreme Court has blocked the federal eviction moratorium. She urges people who may need assistance to be proactive and call 211 to find resources for utility and rent assistance, homeless shelters and other programs.
Rental assistance from St. Anne is available to residents of Columbus and Phenix City. To enroll, residents may call 706-568-1592 beginning at 11 a.m. on the third Tuesday of the month. The program prioritizes families with eviction notices.
“Families that are behind in their rent need to anticipate the likely reality that they will be evicted,” Byers said. “There is a severe shortage of affordable housing, so do not wait until the last minute to begin thinking about where you and your family will seek shelter.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
