A cost of rent climbs, where can people seek help?

Renting a home in Cleveland County has become increasingly expensive.

With homeownership out of reach for many people and the cost of renting a home in Cleveland County nearly doubled in price from pre-COVID times, many families are seeking help.

Nicole Elmore, director of community impact and marketing for United Way, said she receives around 10 to 20 phone calls every day from people seeking assistance with rent.

She said inflation and lack of affordable housing in addition to many landlords selling off properties because of the housing market, has led to an increase in need.

Elmore said United Way of Cleveland County releases emergency assistance funds, which are used for rental and utility assistance, to two local agencies - Salvation Army and Kings Mountain Crisis Ministry.

Agencies present needs and requests for funding to United Way, and a community impact panel makes the decision on who gets funding.

Elmore said funding was increased this year, and Kings Mountain Crisis Ministry received $40,000 and Salvation Army received $57,576.

Elmore said even with increased funding, agencies are helping around the same amount of people as previously because of the higher costs.

“Utility bills and rent are so overwhelmingly high,” she said.

The United Way is also responsible for allocating emergency food and shelter funds from FEMA. Elmore said counties get funding based on unemployment numbers, and those funds go to agencies providing food and shelter.

Cleveland County received nearly $42,000, and 11 agencies applied for those funds with three being used for rental assistance. She said Cleveland County Community Development Corporation, Salvation Army and Shoal Creek Baptist each received several thousand for mortgage or rent assistance. Funds also went to the Abuse Prevention Council, which provides shelter for women and children, and a department of social services program that helps pay for emergency hotel rooms. The remainder went to help with food assistance.

Elmore said there are far fewer agencies helping with rental assistance because of how expensive it’s gotten. She said just helping 10 families a month quickly extinguishes funds.

“It’s barely scratching the surface,” she said.

Rick Clark, a landlord of many years who owns multiple properties, said the pandemic was a dark time for landlords and tenants.

“I’m a retired school social worker, and I have compassion for my clients and we had people who were stuck,” he said.

He said when there was a moratorium on evictions, some people appreciated it and others took advantage of it.

Now, everyone is dealing with the fallout.

“We’re all in survival mode right now. I know there are landlords who are trying to recover from the pandemic,” Clark said. “I was able to sit down with my tenants since I have social worker experience and helped them apply for government housing. We sat down as a team and worked through it so I got through it better than most. A lot of landlords won't do that. They won't go the extra mile.”

He said up until recently, he owned close to 100 rental properties but has been selling them off in hopes of retiring.

“Right now I'm down to only a few houses, some mobile homes and commercial buildings,” Clark said.

He said he attempts to be fair and charge a fair price but that isn’t the case for many landlords in the county.

“I know there's inflation there, but there's some major price gouging going on,” Clark said. “If you're going to do that you're going to increase the homeless. It's not productive. I’ve seen the spike in rentals. I rent for what I think is fair and a reasonable amount people can afford.”

He said he’s seen his tenants struggling to afford not only higher housing costs but higher food and grocery prices and he tries to work with them.

He said many people are now sharing homes with relatives in order to split the cost.

Others are just doing what they can to survive.

“One woman is raising her two grandkids. It's just her. It's everything she can do to feed those two little boys,” he said.

Beverly Murdock, social worker with the Salvation Army, said the agency has a financial assistant program that provides grants for people needing help with rent, among other things. It is one of the few agencies in the county to offer such a program.

“Our program is set up on a first come, first serve basis as long as we have funds,” Murdock said. “Clients qualify for assistance. It's supposed to be an emergency assistance program. It has to have been at least one year since the last time you received any kind of financial assistance.”

She said they are funded through the United Way, and they serve the entire county.

“Our only other restriction is if you are already receiving assistance through HUD or Section 8 then we can’t help you.”

She said since both funding comes from the government, it is considered “double dipping.”

The Salvation Army only pays a portion of the amount due, and the landlord has to agree to work with them. On average, they pay around $200 to $300 per client.

People must visit the Salvation Army office located at 310 W. Dixon Blvd. in advance to get a form their landlord will have to fill out and bring that form back in. They must provide a photo ID, and the bill should be in the name of the person providing the ID.

“They have to also provide some kind of documentation that helps them qualify for assistance,” Murdock said. “Anything that would help explain why you are asking for help.”

She said things such as being out of work, health issues, unexpected expenses such as car repairs can help them qualify.

She said the Salvation Army receives a stipend from the United Way grant on the first business day of each month and that is when they can start helping with payments.

The agency’s bookkeeper determines how much of that grant is designated for rental assistance each month.

Murdock said the need for assistance has only grown over the past few years, and they have seen a huge increase in demand.

“I know the pandemic is over, but there are still a lot of people in the process of trying to recover from that,” she said. “The landlords have increased rent. I understand everybody is trying to recover from when the country was closed down, but some of the increases have been really really high in neighborhoods you would not expect it.”

In addition to rental assistance, they also help with utility bills.

“The money is just not designated for one thing, it’s anything I can do to help you to keep your power on and to keep you from being evicted from your home,” Murdock said.

For more information or to get help, people can call The Salvation Army at 704-482-9502 or come in to the location at 310 W. Dixon Blvd. during the week.

Reporter Rebecca Sitzes can be reached at rsitzes@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: A cost of rent climbs, where can people seek help?