Sam Gurwitt Photo
Ruiz on the steps of his apartment building, for now.
The state has turned off the tap on an emergency pandemic rental assistance program — leaving even “lucky” applicants like Jonathan Ruiz unsure if they’ll get any of the promised money.
In July, the state announced the $10 million pot of CARES Act funding called the Temporary Rental Housing Assistance Program (TRHAP). It would provide assistance to renters who fall behind on rent payments because of the pandemic.
At the time, housing advocates said they were concerned the fund would not be large enough to meet the demand in the mid to long term.
Advocates’ fears have come true. The Department of Housing (DOH) recently posted a notice on the TRHAP website announcing that the program is now closed to new applicants.
“Due to the overwhelming number of submissions for assistance received, the THRAP will be closed effective immediately,” the notice on the website reads. “Please be aware that should Congress and the Federal Administration approve funding appropriate to restart this program, the State is prepared to do so.”
DOH spokesperson Aaron Turner said the department stopped intake at 5 p.m. on Aug. 28.
“We are currently evaluating more than 7,000 submissions which have been received since the program opened on July 15th,” he wrote in an email to the Independent. “It is the intention of the Department to reopen intake after we have had an opportunity to address a significant portion of these submissions.”
Luckily, Ruiz applied for the program before the state shut it off. He is one of those “lucky” first 7,000 whose applications are still being processed. He may still get help from the state in making the rental payments he could not make starting in May. But it’s been about two months, and he still has not gotten any word about whether assistance is on its way.
In fact, statewide, the program has cut checks for a grand total of … two (not a typo) applicants in the six months since it launched. (Click here for a story about that by the CT Mirror’s Jacqueline Rabe Thomas.)
Up until the end of September, Ruiz will remain with his fiancé and their two kids in the apartment just off of Mix Avenue in Hamden where they have been living for a year. But with a rental assistance application still pending months after he first applied and with mounting debt, Ruiz said he could not renew the lease.
Until he and his family can find more permanent housing, he will move in with his mother in Milford. His fiancé and their kids will move in with her mother in Hamden.
“A Home Of Their Own”
When the pandemic hit, Ruiz was working at a storage facility. He worked through March and for part of April. He then took the two weeks of paid leave he was allowed.
Ruiz said he is in remission from a condition similar to bone marrow cancer. When he took time off, he went to see his doctors. He said they told him he should not go back to work because it was too risky.
“I’d either pass immediately or be in the hospital for a long time,” he said.
Ruiz then continued his leave, unpaid, for two months. His employer, he said, told him that it could not hold his position anymore, and he had to forfeit it.
He said he managed to get unemployment benefits through the early part of the summer, but they ran out because he had already used up part of his unemployment allotment before the pandemic. His fiancé was also unemployed, and was taking care of the kids. Once the unemployment benefits ran out, he had no source of income.
Ruiz said he managed to pay rent in March and April, but has not been able to since. He got behind on rent payments by $7,000, of which he has managed to pay $1,000 so far.
He recently took a part-time job at Bev Max in Hamden which will help cover some of the family’s expenses, but he is still waiting to see if he can get rental assistance.
Ruiz said he applied for TRHAP assistance soon after the program became available in July. He said he submitted all the paperwork as fast as he could. He was told that he was eligible, and was assigned a case worker.
Since he submitted his paperwork, though, he has not heard anything. He said he has called his case worker and left messages, and has sent emails, but still has not gotten any word.
Renewing his lease was not an option, he said, because it would just heap more rent payments on top of those he and his family have already been unable to meet. So, he will have to live separately from his family until he and his fiancé can find a steadier stream of income and a place to live together.
“Right now it’s more of my kids come first,” he said. “My worry is them being happy, them being safe, and them having a home. A home of their own.”
Ruiz said his kids are taking the move OK. His son is too young to understand what’s happening. His daughter is currently at the Shepherd Glen School, though she is doing school completely online. For now, she can continue at the school. If the family has to move permanently to a new place, she might have to leave her friends and start at a new school.
Despite the circumstances, Ruiz said, he is trying to stay positive. He still has his sights set on his dream of working fulltime in fitness competitions and as a personal trainer, and starting a meal-prep business. In the long run, he said, that will be more lucrative than his previous jobs, but first he has to make the investment in his own training.
Ruiz also reached out to the Keefe Community Center for help. The Keefe Center, which is run by the town, has a more limited pot of money it can use to help with rental assistance. But that money also has to fund its utility and other emergency assistance programs.
Workers at the Keefe Center told Ruiz that he should continue trying to get assistance from the state. The Keefe Center can help if he does not manage to get money from TRHAP. But if he gets any local rental assistance, it would make him ineligible for TRHAP, which can give him more funding than the Keefe Center can.
Y’Isaiah Lopes, community services coordinator at the Keefe Center, said that if Ruiz ends up unable to get help from the state, the Keefe Center will be able to pitch in some money.
In July and August, Lopes said, the Keefe Center was getting eight to ten clients a week asking for rental assistance. He said workers would let them know about TRHAP, if they were eligible, and would help with Keefe funds if not.
He said he has encountered a number of clients who did not realize that Gov. Ned Lamont’s eviction moratorium did not mean they were off the hook on paying rent, and had not paid rent for months.
Rental assistance is just one of the programs Lopes administers with Keefe Center funds. As the weather gets colder, he said he is worried there will be a large wave of people seeking help paying for oil to heat their homes. The Keefe Center can usually give 100 free gallons of oil to those who need it. If the funding runs low, he contacts clergy who also have a fund that can help in emergencies. He said he is anticipating the wave of people looking for help, and is ready.
For now, Ruiz has a plan, and must continue to wait for help from the state. No matter what, he still has $6,000 to go on rent.
“With or without the program, it’s got to get done regardless,” he said.