Many ways to get help with housing, utilities: 'Pick up the phone and call'

Photo from United Way of Greater Kansas City

In a virtual gathering Thursday of help providers and people in need, the chat filled with missives people feeling this year’s uncommon pain:

“I was evicted during the moratorium due to job loss from C-19. I have steady income now, however having trouble finding a property manager or landlord willing to rent to me.”

“(I am a) senior about to be displaced. I am 2 months past due.”

The United Way’s 2-1-1 hotline can connect you to help throughout the KC area.

One after the other the messages for help came, and one truth was clear: The strain on families — many of whom are experiencing severe need for the first time — has become overwhelming during the pandemic.

LINC provides information on resources at kclinc.org/help.

But area providers who joined the virtual summit said this is also true: A rising wave of financial help and services is just as strong.

“Just pick up the phone,” said Celeste Tucker with Kansas City’s Water Department, one of the summit’s speakers, “and call.”

The United Way of Greater Kansas City and the Kansas City Regional Housing Alliance gathered a host of service providers and help agencies to share ideas and resources with each other and the communities they are trying to help.

Rent. Utility bills. Mortgages. Cut-off notices. Evictions.

Calls for help with these pressures have more than doubled this fall as many of the government stimulus funds and protective moratoriums have expired, several of the agency administrators said.

“A powerful set of forces has eclipsed the resources” that the community can offer, said Jim MacDonald of the United Way as he opened the hour-and-a-half summit. And often the referrals give callers “false hope” when overwhelmed agencies can’t meet the need.

But the giving community continues to grow, and the resources are many, MacDonald said.

The United Way has a hotline for seeking help — 2-1-1. And case managers who take the calls are determined to match the people in need with the services that can help them.

Pleas for help continued in the chat.

“I'm fleeing from threats & physical violence but now we are back at the house the police asked me to leave because our time in a hotel was exhausted. so now we're stuck here in fear & no way to transition or funds. Unemployment only $133 a week. My baby and I have lost everything.”

“My felonies holding me back even though they were/are wrongful. Just anything to try to hold me back!”

Some of the agencies offering help during the call were Reconciliation Services at 31st and Troost, the Community Assistance Council in South Kansas City, Kansas City’s Neighborhoods and Housing Services, the Veterans Community Project, plus representatives of utility services such as Evergy and Kansas City’s Water Department with pandemic relief payment programs like Save Inc.

Throughout the session a message was repeated: Anyone feeling financial strain should make phone calls to seek help, work on payment plans or other arrangements before past due bills mount.

“I implore — I ask — that you speak with your landlord and make arrangements,” said Tiffany Drummer, the tenant advisor with Kansas City’s Neighborhoods and Housing Services. “Don’t wait until the moratorium (on evictions) is over.”

Be persistent, the speakers at the summit said, because there are people who want to help.

“I will do my best to try and get assistance,” wrote one of the listeners in chat. “Very discouraged before because I work, but we are not getting very many hours. So I’m still in the hole. Needed this webinar for some hope to help move forward.”

By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer