Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
DAVENPORT — Families who were already struggling to pay rent haven’t been dealt any favors with the COVID-19 pandemic effectively shutting down much of the economy. Rent assistance, affordable housing and shelter needs have all risen in Lincoln County in 2020.
Rural Resources in Lincoln County said they have seen an uptick in community need for housing and housing assistance. Rural Resources Housing Case Manager Alita Crosby said Rural Resources has received two grants during the pandemic to further assist these people with housing needs.
The first grant, called the COVID-19 Outbreak Emergency Housing Grant, allows counties to provide “emergency shelter for those who have been exposed to COVID-19 and cannot self-quarantine,” according to Crosby. This could include the homeless population or those that live with individuals at high risk of suffering severe symptoms as a result of contracting the coronavirus.
Lincoln County would not have been able to move from Phase 2 to Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s state re-opening plan without this grant, Crosby noted.
“Our agency applied for this grant and are working with Lincoln County officials, including the health department and local hospitals to implement this service,” Crosby said. “Without this service, Lincoln County would not have been able to move to Phase 2 or 3.”
Inslee and the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) mandated that counties offer this service in order to start re-opening. Crosby said about $75,000 of this grant money has been spent.
The second grant Lincoln County’s Rural Resources division obtained was called Innovia. Innovia helps with different needs caused by the pandemic and Rural Resources applied to help people trying to pay overdue rent. So far only one household has been helped with this grant.
“Because it is a limited amount, we save this grant as a last resort if our other grants cannot assist,” Crosby said.
Overdue utility bills are common
Crosby said overdue utility bills are also an issue for struggling families. Rural Resources has grant monies available to help with this need and have helped almost 300 households in Lincoln County, according to Crosby.
To be exact, Rural Resources has helped 162 households with energy assistance, 109 households with emergency energy assistance and 11 households with Avista senior energy assistance. Three households were also helped with furnace repair/replacement and five households have received shelter assistance since October 1. Combined, the assistance cost $158,904 in grant money.
In addition, 30 households have been assisted with emergency hotel stays, first month’s rent or on-going rental assistance in 2020.
“About half of these were directly related to COVID-19, and we expect many more as the eviction moratorium comes to a close,” Crosby said.
Crosby added that the eviction moratorium Inslee put in place in March has helped prevent the number of households in need of some type of assistance from growing even more.
She also noted that the delays in advances to different re-opening phases has affected families with housing needs.
Inslee and Secretary of Health John Wiesman announced that the DOH is “putting a pause on counties moving to Phase 4” on June 27, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
“Phase 4 would mean a return to normal activity and we can’t do that now due to the continued rise in cases across the state,” Inslee said in the press release.
Wiesman added in the press release that Washingtonians should continue to wear masks and practice physical distancing and good hygiene in order to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
State re-opening guidelines previously stated that counties needed to be in a phase for three weeks without a spike in cases. Lincoln County entered Phase 3 on June 5 and would’ve been eligible on June 26 before the DOH’s ruling.
Jolene Ericksen, communications health director for Lincoln County, told The Times that the state had yet to even provide the template for application before the June 27 announcement.
“Until we get that, we can’t even apply,” Ericksen said. “We’d love to submit, but it’s not even available.”
Ed Dzedzy, Lincoln County health department administrator, wrote the county’s applications to move from Phase 1 to Phase 2 and from Phase 2 to Phase 3, but won’t be able to write a Phase 4 application until it’s approved by the state and the state provides the template.
“I predict we will not see a plan for Phase 4 until the state settles down,” Ericksen said, referring to the rising number of positive COVID-19 tests statewide.
Prior to the DOH’s June 27 ruling, eight counties in Washington were eligible to move to Phase 4 of Inslee’s re-opening plan.
Drew Lawson is the former managing editor of the Davenport Times and a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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