KETTERING, Ohio (WDTN) — As rent prices and eviction cases have increase since the pandemic, two agencies are providing renters with assistance to keep residents in their homes.
On Tuesday, the Kettering City Council approved $200,000 from Montgomery County toward the “Stay Put” program, the city’s emergency evictions fund.
The “Stay Put” program accepts applications from renters with pending eviction cases in the Kettering Municipal Court. That can include residents in Kettering, Centerville, Moraine and Washington Township.
The program began in 2021 and since then the city has helped 1,500 people avoid eviction.
“It is critical that whenever we can help our residents, we should,” Kettering Community Development Manager Angela Rahman said.
Currently, there are approximately 130 people in the queue for the program and the city receives five to 10 eviction walk-ins a week. As of Aug. 18, the city is no longer receiving new applications. If you have an eviction court date, the city will be taking those appointments.
Rahman estimates that they will have the funds to cover those with applications already in at least, but are worried what will happen when the funds run out.
“I stay up at night wondering what’s going to happen when all of these funds are gone,” Rahman said. “As everyone’s been reporting, evictions are increasing, and we’ve seen people that we’ve assisted in the past that have had another unfortunate incident. We weren’t able to help them and now there are families and elderly people in the shelter system.”
Once Kettering’s funds run out, residents will be referred to other programs in the Miami Valley such as Homefull and the Miami Valley Community Action Partnership (MVCAP) .
MVCAP also has a rental and utility assistance program for people who live in Montgomery, Greene, Darke and Preble counties.
To qualify, a person must verify that they make 50% or less than the area median income and faced a financial hardship during the pandemic.
On average, MVCAP provides a customer $6,000 in assistance through this program.
“Not being able to afford housing, not being able to find affordable housing, staying in housing that is substandard because you can’t afford to move elsewhere. These are all extremely destabilizing scenarios.”
MVCAP’s program will be available through December of 2024.
