To give you some clarity, here’s a list of things you can do to fix your housing situation today and in the short and long term.
Even though it’s been well over a year since it first appeared, we still feel the coronavirus’s effects. Some people feel those effects in terms of health, while others feel them financially. If you’re in the second group, a financial issue you may be facing is that you’ve lost your housing via eviction or foreclosure. While that’s a challenging problem to solve, here are multiple solutions that can help you today and well into the future.
How To Find Temporary Shelter
It can be impossible to fix your finances or even think if you don’t have a roof over your head. That’s why your number one move should be to find temporary shelter so you don’t have to worry about where you’ll sleep tonight.
What’s the quickest way to find temporary shelter? Moving in with friends or family, and not only is it the quickest solution, but it’s probably also the safest and most needed, as being around loved ones can give you much-needed peace of mind.
Unfortunately, all of us don’t have family or friends to fall back on. If that’s your case, you’ll need to find a shelter where you can sleep. If you don’t want to share a homeless shelter with perfect strangers, contact your local services agency or do an online search for a safe place to park. Some cities have parking havens where people can safely sleep in their cars, and there may also be showering facilities, bathrooms, and places to stay warm nearby.
If you’re okay with staying in a shelter, here are places where you can find one:
- Call 211 and ask the operator for a nearby shelter
- Salvation Army
- Catholic Charities
- Visit your public library and ask one of the workers
- Find a shelter via the HUD
How To Find Emergency Rental Assistance
A temporary shelter can give you a place to sleep at night. But to truly fix your housing situation, you’ll probably need emergency rental assistance.
There are emergency rental assistance programs in each state that can offer tons of housing help, especially in response to the coronavirus pandemic. With billions in funding distributed between states, you could find help with paying rent that you owe, overdue utility bills, moving expenses, security deposits, application fees, and more. In short, if you have expenses you incurred due to not being able to pay the rent, these programs can help.
To find your nearest emergency rental assistance program, go here.
How To Find Subsidized Housing
If you don’t want to run into a similar situation in the future, finding subsidized housing can help you achieve that goal. Perhaps the best way to find such housing is to apply for a Section 8 voucher that pays most of your monthly rent. To learn more about Section 8, contact your Public Housing Agency.
Section 8 Assist