- The agency had 3,000 pending applications in its online portal by the time its leaders made the decision on Dec. 5 to halt the service.
- As case workers at IMPACT work daily to address and resolve those applications, agency leaders hope to once again be able to resume scheduling new appointments in mid-February.
- However, IMPACT currently anticipates having a significantly reduced budget for 2023 after the state restricted the use of federal funds for emergency rental assistance programs.
Columbus residents struggling to pay their rent have long been able to seek emergency assistance from IMPACT Community Action, but that help has been on hold for more than a month now.
After distributing $65 million in rent and utility assistance in 2022, leaders at the 15-year-old nonprofit agency — worried about funding uncertainties that could reduce their budget to $7 million this year — put a temporary pause on accepting new applications for emergency assistance starting Dec. 5.
At the time, there were 3,000 applications pending, and officials worried that more would have come in that the agency might not have the funds to support, said Jennifer Wood, IMPACT director of community engagement.
CEO Robert “Bo” Chilton said he hopes the nonprofit will be able to resume scheduling new appointments in mid-February.
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The decision comes amid what IMPACT officials say was an unanticipated change in the way federal funding is being allocated by the state for emergency rental assistance programs. Such funding became available at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and allowed IMPACT to distribute more than $100 million in rent and utility assistance to 30,000 households since 2020, Chilton said.
The agency expected that those dollars would be available through 2024, if not 2025, he said. But recent legislation by the Ohio General Assembly has leaders at IMPACT preparing for a budget as small as $7 million for 2023, even less than the overall $8 million budget it had prior to the pandemic.
And that has Chilton worried.
“We’ve been an organization people have counted on to have the resources that are necessary, but that will not be the case going forward because of a reduction in funding,” he said. “We’ve been in a little bit of limbo.”
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At issue is a measure Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law earlier this year — House Bill 45 — that appropriated nearly $6 billion in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. Housing advocates have said that language in one of its amendments restricting the use of $161 million in federal eviction prevention funds to tenants with rent and utility arrears incurred before Dec. 31, 2021 is too limiting.
Advocates like Chilton hope that legislators will revise the law in the coming session.
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John Fortney, a spokesman for Ohio Senate Republicans, said the funds were intended specifically for those struggling during the height of the pandemic, which is why legislators limited their use to the end of 2021.
“If it’s still in the pipeline, it could be applied to that,” Fortney said. “This money was specifically for pandemic-related rental and utility assistance.”
For now, IMPACT is reacting by putting a hold on assistance and appointments. The agency also eliminated 20 temporary staffing positions that were among those it added when a boost to federal funding during the pandemic allowed IMPACT to assist more people than ever, Chilton said.
IMPACT is hardly alone in facing such challenges. Many housing advocates had called on DeWine to veto that amendment to the bill, arguing that the deadline renders the funds largely unusable since tenants with debts dating back more than a year have likely moved out or been evicted.
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“(Agencies like IMPACT are) having to stop taking emergency rental assistance applications while they wait to see if they can get any more funding from the state,” Marcus Roth, a spokesman for the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, said in an email. “This is an urgent situation because people are getting unnecessarily evicted while the state has $161 million in federal funds designed specifically to prevent evictions.”
Carlie Boos, executive director of the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, said the need for the legislature to adjust the bill is dire.
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Last year, Boos said, a record number of evictions were filed in Franklin County. She cited a U.S. Census Bureau survey finding that half of all Ohio renters anticipate facing an eviction in the next two months.
“The city and county’s partnership with IMPACT Community Action has kept tens of thousands of our neighbors housed and made sure that landlords had the income they rely on to maintain safe properties,” Boos said.
In the meantime, leaders at IMPACT plan for the day when they can resume scheduling appointments. Even when that day comes, though, appointments will be much more limited and same-day appointments will no longer be an option, said Shameikia Smith, the agency’s vice president of housing.
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Leaders at IMPACT have done away with plans implement a new system that would have allowed clients to check in online or at an on-site kiosk for same-day appointments. Chilton first announced the agency’s intention to pivot to that model in October after IMPACT suspended walk-in appointments at its South Side site when a client who became frustrated while waiting in line for services made a threat of gun violence.
NAACP Columbus President Nana Watson, who raised concerns in October about that decision, said she met with IMPACT leaders that same month and hopes to meet again in February to move forward on efforts for the agency to help its staff and boost transparency with its clients.
Despite these challenges, the agency’s goal remains clear, according to Smith.
“Our goal is to continue to advocate in our community for our neighbors so folks can get the help they need,” Smith said. “It’s about ensuring families have access to resources.”
Eric Lagatta is a reporter at The Columbus Dispatch covering social justice issues and nonprofits.
@EricLagatta
