Next Saturday, the last national eviction moratorium will expire and an unknown number of Nashville residents will lose protections.
In Nashville, the Metro Action Commission and a special housing diversion court are the main government resources trying to keep people in their homes. But some nonprofits and people who need help are still running into hurdles.
For months, Bellevue dad Jason Hughes has had days full of running errands and helping with his church’s camp. That’s been keeping him sane since he and his wife were laid off from their jobs in October 2019.
They initially thought they’d be able to re-apply for a different department with the same company.
“I was ready to go on my second interview and then a pandemic hit and then they stopped all hiring,” he says.
The Metro Action Commission covered his past-due rent and paid a couple months forward.
But rent increasing to $1,700 and no income still has Hughes looking for a three-bedroom unit for his family of seven. His children range from 3 to 18 years old.
“We want to leave,” he says. “We want to do the right thing, and we want to get our kids somewhere where they’re stable. But we don’t know where to turn.”
As it stands, Hughes isn’t sure if his move-out date is in September or in December. Landlords who accept federal money through the Metro Action program can’t evict tenants for at least 90 days after rent is paid.
“My wife told them we’re going to have to start packing,” he recalls. “And they say, ‘Well, where are we going?’ And we don’t know yet. ‘Well, how are you going to move if we don’t have a place to go?’ ”
Trying to explain their housing situation to their kids has been challenging since Hughes and his wife are still trying to wrap their heads around everything as well.
They’re on the the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency wait lists and have reached out to United Way, so far without luck.
Aid has shifted
Since the pandemic began a lot of city agencies and outside nonprofits have had a hand in helping.
But on rent relief, the effort has mostly shifted to the Metro Action Commission.
Heather Mencke is the program director for short term services and disaster management at Catholic Charities. She says she could only imagine how busy the commission is in handling a housing crises that people of various socioeconomic levels are feeling. And she says it would be helpful if Metro Action did technical assistance trainings so organizations on the frontlines could act as a support.
“This is how your clients can come get help. This is how you can walk your clients through an application or they’re telling us what to do because, again, community members come to our organizations for help,” she says.
Since there are more rules with the latest pandemic housing aid, Metro officials have defended the decision to keep Metro Action in charge of it, even if it has been slower and caused frustration for some of the people who need it most.
“It was important for MAC to establish a database and user portal that could handle the volume of applications that we anticipated receiving,” Metro Deputy Finance Director Mary Jo Wiggins says. “MAC wanted to ensure that all eligibility and reporting requirements could be met using the new database.”
Metro Action has recently staffed up to meet the unprecedented demand. And Wiggins says nonprofits can apply until Aug. 2 to disperse some of the federal funds.
For people needing assistance staying in their homes, leaders recommend reaching out to Metro Action, United Way’s 211 phone number, or visiting Catholic Charities.
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