After Melanie Smith was furloughed from her job in March, she lay on her couch for two days, shedding tears on and off.
Since then, the single mother of three has struggled to manage paying the rent for her Sugar Land home as well as other household bills.
Smith was called back to work to her job as a senior sales manager at an indoor entertainment venue in the Katy area, but business is slow. She’s concerned about finances as two of her children prepare to start college for the first time, in the fall.
“That worries me a lot because of course I want to be able to make sure they have everything that they need,” said Smith, 50, who planned to apply for rental assistance from Fort Bend County through a newly launched program and was also looking for a second source of income.
Paying the rent has become a struggle for thousands of area residents who have been furloughed or thrown out of work amid the coronavirus pandemic. In Fort Bend, for example, churches and nonprofits have been overwhelmed with calls seeking rental assistance.
County officials hope that a rental assistance program that went live last week will help fill some of the gaps. The county has earmarked $19.5 million in funds that it received through the federal CARES Act for rental assistance. Residents can apply on the county website.
Fort Bend plans to make $6.5 million available for rental assistance in each of three phases through November. The application period for the first phase ended this week with more than 7,500 people applying for rental assistance, though the number included some duplicates. The next application round will be in late summer.
The city of Houston allocated $15 million in rental relief for people affected by the coronavirus. The dollars were spoken for in 90 minutes.
The rollout of the Fort Bend program comes as local officials scramble to prevent mass evictions.
An eviction moratorium mandated by the Texas Supreme Court ended May 19, and justices of the peace there say they aren’t able to delay evictions except in cases where it’s been ordered by the federal government. Harris County leaders on Thursday announced an eviction prevention task force.
The economic fears are not limited to urban centers like Houston. In Fort Bend, a diverse suburb of more than 810,000 residents, the county’s social services division has received more than 15,000 calls and assisted 2,500 residents, according Anna Gonzales, the agency’s director.
“Families are in fear of becoming homeless,” said Renee Teel, the missions director at Christ United Methodist Church in Sugar Land, during a recent commissioners court meeting.
Smith had only been working at the newly opened entertainment venue for a few days when the pandemic hit.
She saw novel coronavirus cases taking off in other countries, but never imagined it would come to the United States. Then people started canceling events at the venue because of the coronavirus. The Houston Rodeo was cut short on March 11.
A few days later, on March 16, Smith learned that her company would be closing for two weeks. The closure, however, stretched until mid-May.
Smith, who has lived in her Sugar Land home for two years, filed for unemployment and wondered how she would pay her bills.
It took three weeks to receive her first unemployment payment. She used a tax refund to help pay her rent and said her stimulus check — payments went as high as $1,200 — also helped with finances.
The federal stimulus program that Congress passed to cushion the blow of businesses shutdowns also included an extra $600 a week for unemployed workers, but that payment is set to expire at the end of July
While Smith was relieved to see her company reopen, business is still not what it was.
Some companies are still not booking events because of coronavirus fears. Smith relies on commission from booking events.
“Even though we are open now, things could change. We could be closed again,” said Smith. “That scares me, too, because there’s such an uncertainty as to whether or not or how long we’ll actually be able to stay open.”
At a special commissioners court meeting last month, leaders of different faiths called on the county to provide rental assistance to those in need in Fort Bend.
“It was very engaging and very encouraging to see all the different faith leaders make their plea for trying to help the least of these, because that’s what we are called to do — to help the folks that need the most help,” Teel said.
Smith said some might assume residents of the Houston suburb are well-off and not in need of financial help.
“That’s not the case at all. Just because somebody lives in a big house or has nice cars doesn’t mean that they are not struggling, trying to figure out how they’re going to pay the mortgage this month,” Smith said.
During the May commissioners court meeting, Shariq Ghani, director of the Minaret Foundation, cited a recent United Way report that found more than 1 in 5 county households include working people who still cannot afford housing, child care, health care and transportation.
Eight percent of households in Fort Bend County are in poverty, the report found.
David Sincere, pastor at Fort Bend Transformation Church, said it has received 20 to 30 calls from members asking for rental assistance.
Sincere described how there were Fort Bend residents already struggling financially before COVID-19.
“We believe that covid has impacted them and exacerbated their socioeconomic situation and job situation,” Sincere said.
Smith feels grateful to be working again, given that so many remain unemployed.
“I just have to keep praying and having faith that it’s gonna get better,” Smith said.
brooke.lewis@chron.com
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