HANCOCK COUNTY — With Gov. Eric Holcomb’s restrictions on evictions, foreclosures and utility shutoffs ending today and the economy still struggling under the weight of the pandemic, some leaders of local nonprofits are seeing a potential crisis on the horizon.
“There’s not a lot of housing available. If someone did end up being evicted, they’re probably not going to be able to find another place to stay,” said Karla Whisenand, the director of Love INC, a faith-based group that helps families in need.
The state has been providing assistance to affected renters and homeowners with funds from the CARES Act, the federal law enacted to combat the impact of the coronavirus. According to the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, a total of 27,799 applications for rent assistance have been received. (That total does not include Marion County, which has its own program). A total of 183 of those have come from Hancock County.
Despite the relatively low number of requests for state aid, local charitable organizations have been working harder, and they are concerned about what might happen after Friday, Aug. 14, the date the moratoriums expire.
A recent executive order on evictions from President Donald Trump might offer some help, but it is not an immediate ban on evictions. Instead, it directs federal agencies to consider whether halting evictions is a necessary health precaution and to identify any available funds that could be used to help. While many states do have their own eviction moratoriums still in place, any federal assistance would likely come too late for Indiana renters being evicted as early as next week.
Love INC operates through connecting people in need with resources available at local churches. Throughout the pandemic, Whisenand has been working with churches, organizations and individuals to help find assistance for those struggling to pay rent and bills. She advises the people who come to her to work something out with their landlords and stay where they are if at all possible.
“I think communication is just really important right now,” she said.
If people are not able to stay in their homes, Whisenand said, they may end up living in their cars or with friends due to what she described as the low availability of affordable housing in the county.
Whisenand said stimulus checks and extra unemployment have helped people pay their bills. So has the rental assistance program.
Individual people have also stepped up: one donor wrote six blank checks for Whisenand to give to families in need. But her biggest source of assistance has been other nonprofits. While organizations are not generally able to pay a person’s full bills with their funds, they may be able to do so by coming together.
Katie Ottinger, the community investment and grants officer at the Hancock County Community Foundation, has been hosting Zoom meetings for leaders of nonprofits that are involved with helping those affected by COVID-19. The foundation’s Heart for Hancock Fund is also assisting.
“There’s a lot of anxiety in what’s going on,” Ottinger said.
Despite that, she said, both charitable organizations and the township trustees — which provide relief funds for those in need — have worked hard to meet the need and have handled it well, she said. There is uncertainty about what will happen when the moratorium ends, but she thinks they will continue to step up.
“We have full faith in the leaders in our community who oversee those programs,” Ottinger said.
The Interlocal Community Action Program, a nonprofit that serves several central Indiana counties, has been helping with rent and utility payments throughout the pandemic. When the moratorium ends, it will continue to do so, partially using Community Service Block Grant funds.
Chris Heywood, ICAP’s acting energy assistance program director, said he is expecting an increase in requests for help.
“We anticipate, starting Monday, that it will probably just be crazy,” Heywood said.
Heywood said ICAP will likely have enough money to provide some assistance to most people who apply for it, in addition to referring them to other organizations and state programs.
The Hancock County Salvation Army is another group that has been helping those in need, though it has limited funding that mostly comes from its Christmastime red kettle campaign.
Volunteer Jill Null said the number of calls she receives has not changed much since the pandemic began, but the amount of help they need has dramatically increased. Now, instead of needing help finding free diapers or navigating a state program, callers might be hundreds or thousands of dollars behind on their bills. The issue, she said, is “challenging and frightening.”
Null said about 80% of the requests for help she’s received have been from single women, and about half of those are single mothers. If they have to leave their homes, they often end up staying in motels, an expensive substitute for permanent housing that makes it harder to save money.
“During a pandemic, it’s harder to find friends who are willing to open their homes,” she said.
Null said she tries to help every person who needs it and to help them find other resources as well.
“We cannot help to the extent to solve the problem,” she said.
Township trustees are also providing rental assistance with money they receive from the Department of Local Government Finance each year for that purpose.
The Vernon Township trustee’s office recently became a provider for the state’s rental assistance program, helping to process applications for Hancock County.
Trustee Florence May said almost all of the applicants she has assisted so far have been from Greenfield. She, too, is anticipating a potential increase but encouraged people who qualify to seek assistance.
“You need to apply for the state programs and you need to do it immediately,” May said.
May said Hancock County currently seems to be less impacted than some neighboring counties, but she said she is keeping a close eye on what nonprofits are experiencing. An increase in traffic at a food pantry, for example, may indicate rental assistance requests are about to spike as well, she said.
But even that may not capture the true need.
“The vast majority of people don’t want to come and ask for help,” she said.
Ron Horning, the trustee for Center Township, said his office was not able to provide assistance while county offices were closed in March and April. Since then, he has been accepting applications for up to $480 in rental assistance. Recently, the office began allowing people who have received funds once this year to apply for a second payment of up to $250.
“We’re still getting pretty much daily requests,” Horning said.
Horning said what he’s needed to pay out so far has been within his budget. However, he, too, is concerned about what will happen when the moratorium ends.
‘I think that’s when the trustees will get hit pretty hard,” he said.
Whisenand said many of the people she talks to did lose their jobs because of COVID-19, but those who were previously unemployed or who are on disability are still struggling. The pandemic has simply made everyone’s circumstances worse, and Whisenand said she has received an uptick in calls seeking assistance just before each time the governor extended the moratorium. When it finally ends, she is concerned about what will happen to those people.
“There’s going to be a day of reckoning coming soon,” she said.
For Mark Dudley, a Hancock County Realtor who owns or is the property manager for numerous rental houses, apartment buildings and office spaces around the county, the economic effects of COVID-19 have been less harsh than he expected.
Dudley said he has seen only about 3% of his tenants fall behind in their rent since March, and most of those have since caught up. He does not anticipate needing to evict anyone once the moratorium ends.
“We try to work with people if they do have any kind of difficulty,” he said.
More than a dozen other rental property owners who were contacted for this story did not respond to phone calls.
Utilities
In June, Greenfield Utilities set up a payment plan for customers who had fallen behind on their bills to allow them to pay back the amount they owed over four months. At the time, the moratorium on shutoffs was set to expire June 30.
Now that it is finally expiring, Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell said customers who are still behind on their bills and have not kept up with the plan can expect to see shutoffs starting the week of Aug. 17.
NineStar Connect provides electric, wastewater and water services to thousands of customers in the county. Regina Bever, vice president of administration at NineStar, said past-due amounts that a customer owes will be listed on a separate line item on bills and customers will not be immediately disconnected for not paying them. Instead, they can set up a payment plan across the next six months.
Customers will be disconnected if they fail to keep up with current bills after Friday. NineStar’s customer service number is 317-326-3131.
Bever said that of about 15,000 customers, only 300 have fallen behind on payments.
Duke Energy also serves many utility customers in central Indiana. A spokesman for the company, Lew Middleton, said it has suspended shutoffs in the state until Sept. 15 to give customers additional time to pay back what they owe.
Customers have the option to request an extension or set up a payment plan. The company’s Indiana customer service number is 800-521-2232.
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If you need help paying your rent or mortgage due to the impact of COVID-19, you may be eligible for assistance, CARES Act funding through the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. To apply, visit indianahousingnow.org.
Township trustees may also be able to help with housing.
Blue River Township: Daniel R. Engleking — 317-467-4366
Brandywine Township: Kevin Bates — 317-847-9149
Brown Township: Theresa Ebbert — 765-686-9240
Buck Creek Township: Melvin Branson — 317-335-1401
Center Township: Ron Horning — 317-477-1176
Green Township: Lisa Mohr — 317-326-4148
Jackson Township: Matthew Heath — 317-625-5401
Sugar Creek Township: Robert Boyer — 317-861-6148
Vernon Township: Florence May — 317-485-7327 Ext. 4
To reach the Interlocal Community Action Program for Hancock County, call 317-462-2557 extension 281 For the Salvation Army, call 317- 649-5774. For Love INC, call 317-468-6300.
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