PLAINFIELD — It's been just over two-weeks since the eviction moratorium put in place at the start of the pandemic expired, and some local organizations are beginning to see the impact of that from families in serious need of help.
Hendricks County resident Alem Gebru is behind on her mortgage and utilities and lacks money for food. She worked at the Omni Hotel for 26-years, but was laid off in March when downtown hotel business dried up.
On top of that, there's a problem with her unemployment benefits and she hasn't gotten a payment in nearly three months.
"If I get that paid I would not be stressing out, I would not be behind, I would pay my mortgage, I would pay my utilities," Gebru said. Needing help, she came to Family Promise of Hendricks County.
The organization provides housing if a family is evicted, and they help those in need find new permanent housing. But Family Promise is finding that certain programs that began in the early months of the pandemic are ending. And the state closed its rental assistance application portal.
"Two months ago, we were in a place where we were scared, but at least we had a home, food utility," said Julie Randall of Family Promise. "Now we're seeing those same people with the same struggles but we don't have that safety net anymore, so we've got to pull together as a community to be able to help these families get through this hard time. And it will end, it will get better, but it is going to take all of us working together."
Randall said Family Promise has teamed up with other organizations in the area—working together to help families as the need continues to grow. "Do you know how many people are stressing out at home? We don't know what's going to go, we don't know which way to go. It's not only me, there's a lot of people," said Gebru.
On Monday alone, according to Family Promise, 28 eviction notices were filed in Hendricks County.
Here is a link to Family Promise with information on how you can help: https://familypromisehendrickscounty.org/
