Iowa Rental Help provides quick aid to prevent homelessness

CEDAR RAPIDS - Going on two years after high water swept her comfortable, middle-class life down the river, Denise Burgin is starting to allow herself some hope.

“I hear, ‘The people are recovering from the flood,' and I'm like, ‘Where?' ” Burgin said.

Burgin, 48, was sitting one afternoon last week in the living room of her family's rented home in southwest Cedar Rapids - a home they hope to be in a while, with credit to Iowa Rental Help, the state's $11 million share of $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money earmarked to prevent homelessness.

“I never in a million years thought I'd be homeless,” said Burgin, “and it's a scary thing, because you think of that being way, way out there.”

The Burgins - Denise, husband Steve, son Dane and daughter Brianna - stared homelessness in the face this winter. Steve Burgin had just returned to work after losing his previous job after the June 2008 flood, but they were three months behind on rent and facing foreclosure on a $40,000 mortgage on what had been their home in Palo, now a vacant lot assessed at $6,000.

“They keep telling me, ‘Remove yourself from the stress,' ” said Burgin, who requires hundreds of dollars' worth of prescriptions each month to treat uncontrolled Type 1 diabetes. “Well, tell me how to do that.”

Staff at the Community Recovery Center referred Burgin to Waypoint Services for Women, Children and Families, the non-profit that administers Iowa Rental Help in Cedar Rapids. The Hawkeye Area Community Action Program runs the program in the rest of Linn County, all of Johnson County and 11 other counties in the state's southeast corner.

“Without those people, we wouldn't have survived,” said Burgin.

Fortunately for the Burgins, their situation matched the goals of the program, officially “homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing.” The focus is on those at risk of losing the home they have but are good candidates to maintain a residence with a little help.

In today's rough economy, that's often those who have recently lost a job or are between jobs, but the flood's aftermath is also felt.

“Not a lot, but we have had some” flood-affected families, said Carrie Slagle, Waypoint's director of homeless and housing services. “We're seeing economic issues, job loss, medical issues where individuals missed work.”

Said Al Axeen, HACAP's program director: “Their jobs are usually without health insurance, and so when people get sick they may get a little sicker. They're making an effort like everybody else is.”

The Bergins' decision to rent a home just a few weeks after the flood backfired, leaving them ineligible for housing provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Steve Bergin's job with a local company, selling and repairing worksite cranes, was lost to downsizing shortly after.

Iowa Rental Help is open to households earning 50 percent or less of the area's median income - $23,650 for a single and $33,800 for a family of four in Cedar Rapids, $26,600 and $38,000, respectively, in Iowa City. Participants must show proof of income and show evidence they're at risk of homelessness - an eviction notice, in most cases.

“(Rules) are pretty specific when people come in that they have exhausted other means of income,” said Axeen.

The money goes directly to landlords or utilities - $1,500 maximum per household in Cedar Rapids, while HACAP will cover up to a year's rent.

Since October, Iowa Rental Help has spent $1.7 million on 6,978 clients statewide, according to the Iowa Finance Authority. That includes 890 in Johnson County and 361 in Linn County, where the program didn't launch until January.

“I'm not going to guarantee we're not going to struggle, but he just started a new job,” said Burgin of her husband, who travels for a company setting up convention-floor displays and booths. “I didn't think I'd be homeless. I didn't think I'd be asking anybody for help, because I'm the type that wants to help anyone else.”

Plans call for the program to run three years.

“If you get ahold of the right people, they'll get you the information,” said Burgin, “but a lot of people don't know that.”