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Wendell Longshore faced eviction when he didn't receive his disability money in September.
Times-News
Rachel Berry, Times-News
For more than a year, Wendell Longshore and his wife, Karen, have lived at a rental home on Flushing Street in Burlington.
Both Longshore and his wife are unable to work and receive disability money from the government each month, which goes toward paying their bills and buying basic necessities.
In September the debit card, where they receive disability payments, got stuck in an ATM, causing them to miss rent.
It took a couple of payments before the issue with the funding was resolved, and Longshore had no other way to pay his bills.
Shortly after missing the payment, he received a letter he was being evicted. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the CDC temporarily halted evictions from Sept. 4 to Dec. 31, 2020, for those unable to pay rent. Similar to the CDC order, Gov. Roy Cooper also issued an executive order on Oct. 28 that protects renters from eviction if they're unable to pay rent.
An attorney helped the Longshores, and due to the moratorium, they were safe from eviction through the end of the year. That still doesn't help him with his bills, though.
He was advised to apply for the N.C. Housing Opportunities and Prevention of Evictions program, which was established by Cooper to provide rent and utility assistance during the pandemic.
A lot of people have suffered economic hardships during the pandemic, and it's safer if people remain at home instead of moving in with family or into a shelter where they're surrounded by more people, said Haley Pfeiffer Haynes, chief of external affairs for the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency.
The N.C. HOPE program began accepting applications on Oct. 15. Longshore applied soon after applications opened, and he was accepted not long after that.
The program is open to low- and median- income households, which is defined by those who make less than 80% their county's median income. People must also have been affected economically by the pandemic and be behind on rent or utility payments.
The program stopped accepting applications on Nov. 11 due to the influx of people applying, but anyone who applied before that date and meets the requirements will receive funding.
As of Dec. 4, 2,300 households across the state had been helped through the program. On average, households are receiving $3,600, although that number has fluctuated throughout the span of the program, Pfeiffer Haynes said.
In Alamance County, 1,037 applicants are eligible for assistance. Fifty-seven households have received that money so far, and 195 others were in the process of signing agreements at the beginning of December. The total amount awarded thus far in Alamance County is $856,000.
Across the state, $8.2 million had been allocated to families in need as of the beginning of the month. The work is not nearly over, and Pfeiffer Haynes says people are working seven days a week to process people's applications and get them the assistance they need.
People who've applied and haven't heard back yet should expect a call soon, she said.
In Alamance County, the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency is partnering with Family and Abuse Services of Alamance to help process applications.
The N.C. HOPE program is funded through the U.S. Treasury's Coronavirus Relief Funds and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The CRF money currently has a deadline of Dec. 31 for when it must be given out, so Pfeiffer Haynes said they're trying to allocate that money by the end of the month. She expects the rest of the funds to be distributed through the early part of next year.
For anyone who may have missed the application deadline for the N.C. HOPE program, there are still other resources available. The city of Burlington is dedicating its CARES act funding to help residents with rent and utilities.
The city also gave money to local nonprofits who are helping people with rent and utilities.
Allied Churches of Alamance County can offer rental assistance. Call 336-229-0881 for more information.
The Women’s Resource Center in Alamance County and CityGate Dream Center can offer rental, mortgage and electric or natural gas utility payment assistance. Call 336-227-6900 (Women’s Resource Center) or 336-438-1463 (CityGate) for more information.
People can also call 211 to speak with a state representative who may be aware of other agencies who are helping.
For Longshore and his wife, the N.C. HOPE money helped him pay off his outstanding utility payments. For now, he's safe from eviction, as the moratorium lasts until the end of the year.
