Some good news
We hope you're enjoying the warm summer months so far. Things certainly haven't slowed down for Jesse Tree. We continue to support as many households as we can with rental assistance and supportive services. As during last month, we are hearing from many who are still without jobs and connections to unemployment help. Others are being summoned to eviction court - just this past week, there were 20 eviction hearings in the Treasure Valley. We're doing all that we can - during the month of May, we provided 81 households with supportive services and 41 with rental assistance, and fielded 445 voicemails and emails on our housing crisis line. Our numbers for June are looking similar.
Some good news - the Governor's Office has invested $15 million of CARES Act funding into rental assistance, which will be accessible statewide through the end of the year. The application and FAQs on that funding can be found here. We are working with IHFA to determine how we can better partner to administer funding to our clients who are heading to eviction court or vulnerable in other ways.
What we are doing at Jesse Tree - In line with many nonprofits and businesses, we've been using this time to take a step back and think about how to make our programs more efficient and effective. Our aim is to provide resources to renters who need them the most. For example, we have been working closely with eviction court for some time now and continue to deepen our partnership with the courts. Eviction is costly, traumatizing, and stays on a renter's record for years, preventing them from finding new housing and employment. The experience is expensive and time-consuming for landlords as well. Our dream is to ensure every tenant going to court has access to social, financial, and legal support.
To make this happen - we are working on advocating for system and process changes within the court. As a temporary work-around, we are pulling court records every week to find clients' and landlords' contact information, and are reaching out to them affirmatively before their court dates to see if they are willing to work with our team. We have been able to support more tenants during court through this process, and we are making plans and working towards a more streamlined partnership with the courts in the future. Targeting our efforts at keeping evictions from happening to people will benefit landlords and tenants, as well as our community in the years to come.
Thank you for staying engaged with our mission and for your ongoing support. We have been able to grow our mission to meet the community's need for what we do during this difficult time because of our partners, funders, and volunteers. Let's continue keeping the traumatic, life-altering experience of eviction and homelessness from happening to our neighbors, and to our community.