ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0It\u2019s the first of the month, and rent is due for many families. But with the government shutdown still dragging on, some federal workers across Central Florida are struggling to pay up. Nonprofits in the area say calls for help are already climbing.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The ongoing government shutdown is leaving some federal workers in Central Florida unable to pay rent<\/p>\n
Family Promise of Brevard reports a surge in calls for housing assistance and eviction prevention<\/p>\n
The nonprofit partners with churches for pop-up shelters and provides housing, job training, and childcare support<\/p>\n
Seminole County leaders say their rental and utility assistance program is ready to handle increased demand<\/p>\n
For some families in Central Florida, paying rent this month is harder than usual.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne out of every two households are paycheck to paycheck. So when we have these crises, the pandemic, the government shutdown, we are just cycling constantly. The root issue is that people are not earning enough to afford the housing that we have,\u201d Executive Director of Family Promise Brevard Tara Pagliarini said.<\/p>\n
Pagliarini said they\u2019re seeing the ripple effect of the shutdown. The organization partners with churches to create pop-up shelters and runs a one-stop hub for housing, job training, and childcare.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at how to staff up so we can make sure and continue to meet the volume of calls that we\u2019re receiving. When people are in crisis, people don\u2019t want to wait \u2014 they really would like to talk to someone as soon as they can. Even if it\u2019s helping them navigate their options, so that\u2019s one way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The group also offers eviction prevention, helping families catch up on rent or utilities before they lose their homes.<\/p>\n
In Seminole County, leaders expect a rise in need too.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe county allocates about $450,000 annually for rental and mortgage assistance as well as utilities,\u201d Community Assistance Division Manager for Seminole County Carrie Longsworth said.<\/p>\n
Longsworth says they\u2019ve offered this program for about 20 years and anticipate more requests in the coming days.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt assists residents that have had an unexpected financial hardship that has occurred in the last 90 days or so,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Residents can apply online or make an appointment through the county\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
As the shutdown continues, both Family Promise and Seminole County expect demand to grow \u2014 and say they\u2019re ready to help.<\/p>\n
If you or someone you know needs assistance, resources for Family Promise of Brevard, Seminole County\u2019s programs, and other local services are below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0It\u2019s the first of the month, and rent is due for many families. But with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1011,3140,274,6507,1190,2287,115,1335,139,141,140,278,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-29523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-human-interest","9":"tag-app-local-state-politics","10":"tag-app-top-stories","11":"tag-ashley-engle","12":"tag-human-interest","13":"tag-local-politics","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-orange-county","16":"tag-orlando","17":"tag-orlando-headlines","18":"tag-orlando-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}