The federal government helped pause mass evictions at the start of the pandemic, when families where fighting to keep a roof over their head. Now, rental inflation and an unsteady economy could create a spike in homelessness.
One Clermont County mom said she's running into a series of unfortunate events while trying to find a safe and affordable place to live.
"They gave us another month. We'll have to be out on the 31st of December and it's the last time they can help us," Tina Heater said.
Time is ticking for Tina Heater, her boyfriend and their two children. The family's stay at a motel was limited after Heater said taking in other family members got her kicked out.
"I have nieces and nephews and their mom was homeless and they were staying on the street, so we took them in for about two weeks until they can get something and the front office kicked us out for having them there," she said.
The only program Heater was eligible for in Clermont County was James Sauls Homeless Shelter, which recently shut down and has since re-branded into Clermont Community Services, Inc. The shelter used to offer beds for men, women and children. Now, they can only give out waivers to a local motel.
Heater said when they moved in, she noticed an immediate safety issue.
"As soon as I walked in the room, I could tell the floor was cracked and really weak," she said. "I fell in the floor. I went from my ankle to all the way up to my waist and I had to stop myself, so I messed up the whole left side of my body."
Her attorneys estimate the drop was 10 to 15 feet. Heater said the fall has left her with mobility issues and she now needs a walker to get around.
"There are so many people like the woman that your stories that are obviously falling through the cracks," Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) spokesman Marcus Roth said.
Roth's organization works with the thousands of families in need of housing assistance. To put this in perspective, the most recent statistics from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) shows in 2018, the state received 76,000 unique entries for homelessness. That number outpaces its supply of beds.
When it comes to housing, only 32,362 beds were available, 28.5% of them temporary housing that people like Heater need. A study from the OHFA estimates it will take 50 years to close the affordable housing gap.
"We are perhaps on the verge of, you know, a serious increase in the overall homeless population," Roth said. "We have a severely underfunded homeless system and we also have a huge problem with affordable housing. Affordable housing just isn't affordable."
According to COHHIO's research, for families in the greater Cincinnati area to earn a living wage to afford a 2 bedroom apartment, they need to make $18.62 an hour. It's the third-most expensive housing wage.
For Heater, she's running into two major obstacles. The first is not having a permanent address. She said that's how you get notified for the waitlist with Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing. She tried securing a P.O. box but it would run her $80 a month, extra money she just doesn't have.
The other issue is the prior eviction on her record. Heater said she was very close to getting an apartment, but the complex denied her application after learning she was kicked out of her home two months ago.
"It's rough. You only can do what you can," Heater said.
Roth said COHHIO is supporting a proposal for state lawmakers to use more than $300 million in American Rescue Plan Funding to put toward affordable housing and supportive housing for struggling families. They could decide on that as soon as next week.
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