Our St. Vincent de Paul TPHS program has continued to provide assistance to people in need during 2023. Since we started the program at the end of 2018, TPHS has helped 413 people in 151 households with expenditures to help them in the amount of $190,126.50. Assistance has been possible this year by a grant given to TPHS by the Sacramento Association of Realtors Charitable Fund, which has supported the program since its inception, and two grants given to TPHS by the Sacramento County Transient Occupancy Tax Program. Here are the stories of some of the people TPHS has helped in the last 60 days.
A single woman and her 4-year-old grandson had been homeless. She obtained a voucher from SHRA that would pay a large share of her rent and found a duplex but needed the security deposit of $2,500. The owner allowed them to move in after the unit passed inspection, but they were in danger of being evicted for inability to pay the deposit. The woman was able to pay $1,700 of the deposit so TPHS paid the balance of $800.
A single mother of two kids, ages 15 and 17, was unable to pay the full amount of June rent because her daughter was hospitalized because of mental health problems and the mother was unable to work because of her own health problems and need to be present for her daughter. She paid $400 but owed $1625. She had applied for disability, and it was reasonably certain she would be able to pay her rent while not working so TPHS paid the balance of $1625.
A grandfather of two children, ages three years and nine months, had to quit his job to care for the children after his daughter became incapable of caring for them. He got a month and a half behind on his rent and had been served with a 3-day notice to pay or quit in the amount of $2,213.50. We confirmed that he had gotten a job with a cell phone company at which he could earn as much as $1,600 a week and his mother would watch the children while he worked. Because it was reasonably certain he would be able to pay the rent in the future, TPHS paid the amount owed.
A single woman who had taken guardianship of a 9-year old boy after his prior guardian, his grandfather, died. The woman had gotten behind on rent in 2022 and signed a stipulation and order by which she was to pay her monthly rent and a percentage of the arrears. If she did not pay, the court would automatically order her to be evicted. Also, she had been laid off from her part-time job in March. She found a full-time job and was waiting for Sacramento County to start paying support for the boy, but she knew her paycheck in July and the support payment would not come soon enough for her to be able to pay the rent and arrears of $2,606. It was reasonably certain that she would be able to pay her rent and the arrears after July so TPHS paid the amount owed for July so that she and the boy would not be evicted.
Without the assistance of TPHS, these people and others we have helped would have become homeless or remained homeless. We thank all foundations, organizations and individual donors for their support and generosity.