COMMENTARY: Vashon Rent Assistance Program needs your help

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 16, 2022

The Vashon Rent Assistance Program, a project of Vashon Interfaith Council to Prevent Homelessness (IFCH), started in January, granting families $500 a month for a year in rental assistance.

This program — as did IFCH’s Virus Rent Fund, which ended in December — takes the words “Prevent Homelessness” seriously, honoring the true mission of the organization.

At IFCH, we work hard to keep people housed, helping with rent and utilities but also making sure people can get to work. We strongly believe that our island workers and people on fixed incomes should be able to live here, in their community.

Upon launching, IFCH’s Rental Assistance Program received 54 pre-applications that met our qualifications: having household income 250% or less of the poverty level, and paying 50% or more of household income in rent. In order to be fair, we devised the program as a lottery, with each applicant given a number determining the order they would progress through the system.

The subsidy is fixed at $500 per month or $6,000 per year for each applicant, in order to make a real difference to these families. No household would start until the full $6,000 had been donated.

The purpose of this program was yes, to help with the rising rental costs on the island, but also to give these families some breathing room for a year. To let them know that for one year, every month, $500 of rent would be taken care of. Studies have shown that the Federal Advanced Child Tax Credit, which parents received from July to December 2021, helped reduce child hunger. IFCH is trying to do our part as well.

By the end of December, IFCH had enough money ($108,000) to start 18 families with January rental assistance. In March, we were able to increase that number by another 16 families, to a total of 34 households.

Yes, Vashon: you have donated more than $200,000 to help make housing more affordable for 34 families. I thank you, and these families are very grateful as well.

This month Patte Wagner, a longtime Vashon resident who has worked in the banking industry and is now a loan consultant with Evergreen Home Loans, is offering a budgeting class for our recipients.

This class will focus on managing money, paying down debt and putting money aside for emergencies. We understand that recipients of this assistance are adept at budgeting, but this voluntary class may offer additional ideas for them on how to allocate an unexpected $6000.

Once the person’s lottery number comes up, documentation of income and expenses are requested. Through this process, some told us they were now employed and were doing fine. Others, after submitting their paperwork, no longer met the qualifications. This accounted for 10 households who are no longer in the program. We now have 10 applicants remaining.

IFCH needs $60,000 for these next 10 people. This will allow 44 Vashon families, in total, to receive this grant. In Tacoma, 110 households are getting $500 a month for a year. Here on Vashon, we’re doing great in comparison.

So I am asking for more donations to meet this goal. Send what you are comfortable with. There are people who donate $10 a month and others who donate once. Know that this money stays on Vashon. Know that your donation will make it a little easier for our workers and seniors to remain members of our vibrant community.

Send donations by check to IFCH, P.O. Box 330, Vashon, WA 98070, or donate online at ifchvashon.org/donate-2. Write “Rent Program” on checks, or, if paying online, under “special instructions.”

— Hilary Emmer, a longtime community activist and organizer, is a program coordinator for the Interfaith Council to Prevent Homelessness.