As the coronavirus pandemic took thousands of Minnesotans out of the workforce beginning in March, it became clear that new financial assistance was necessary to keep families afloat. While several new sources of public support became available, Family Housing Fund worked to identify and begin to fill assistance gaps. In early April, FHFund partnered with Communidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio (CLUES) and Hennepin County’s Tenant Resources Center to administer emergency housing assistance to support households who are ineligible for most types of public assistance, including undocumented immigrant families.
The resources were administered in a short period of time, signifying that this process was easier than CLUES’ and TRC’s experience with traditional public aid systems. Importantly, clients were not required to show that they had already missed a rent payment to be eligible for these funds. Rather, clients had to show a loss of income due to the pandemic and provide a reasonable expectation that they would have difficulty paying rent as a result. This made for a swifter process for CLUES and the TRC and provided assistance both to households attempting to remain current on their rent and those attempting to get current again. Additionally, bundling this support with other resources and services is important to efficiently and effectively providing aid during highly challenging times. It puts the onus of navigating the complex system of social services onto the providers and experts rather than on the family in crisis.
The insights gained from this work urge us to take greater action to ensure direct financial assistance with fewer eligibility requirements for the duration of the pandemic. We need a solution that works for the thousands of households left behind by the current COVID assistance system.
Key learnings: https://www.fhfund.org/covid-financial-assistance-lessons/
For more information, contact: Karyssa Scheck, karyssa@fhfund.org, (612) 274-7693.
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