Economic Hardships of Pandemic Continue to Impact Neighbors

“It’s been hard. But… I was blessed to have them around.”

Alfreda is generous in her gratitude for St. Vincent de Paul. When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in March 2020, the discount store where Alfreda was employed part-time was forced to shut down. Alfreda was temporarily laid off, as store management monitored state and federal guidelines and made plans to safely bring people back to work.

The loss of hours at work quickly made an impact on Alfreda’s finances. She was unsure how she would be able to make the payments for her monthly rent and utility bills and worried that she could lose her apartment. That’s when she made a phone call to St. Vincent de Paul.

“When you’re down, you don’t want to be bothering people. But I was blessed. I called them and they reached back out to me,” she says. “You know when you call St. Vincent de Paul they will call you back.” Alfreda was then connected with Vincentians at St. Cecilia Conference, who were able to provide Alfreda with financial assistance to cover several months of utilities bills over last spring and summer.

Unfortunately, the pandemic continues to take a toll on neighbors’ finances, especially for those like Alfreda, who work in the retail and service industries. According to Sunnie Johnson-Lain, Director of Services at St. Vincent de Paul, neighbors have reported ongoing challenges with securing childcare, missing work due to COVID-19 exposure, and simply being offered fewer hours at work. “COVID is definitely still wreaking havoc,” Johnson-Lain says.

A year after the pandemic started, nearly one in five adult renters nationwide report that they are still not caught up on their rent, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, using data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. At St. Vincent de Paul, from October 2020-February 2021, requests for assistance with rent were up nearly 78% over the same time period the year before.

The good news, according to Johnson-Lain, is that St. Vincent de Paul has been able to offer help to many through its Homelessness Prevention Program. “Not only have we been able to help more people, but we have also been able to help with more [resources],” Johnson-Lain says.

Excluding March (for which totals were still being tabulated at time of publication), nearly half a million dollars in rent assistance has been extended to neighbors in 463 households during the first half of Fiscal Year 2021 – a dollar value over four times more than what was provided in the first half of Fiscal Year 2020. Another $114,000 was extended to 264 households in utilities assistance – six times more than the year prior.