Countywide : Agency Flooded by Calls From ‘Motel Homeless’

A community agency that opened its phone lines last week to low-income people living in motels has been flooded with calls for no-interest loans.

Since Friday, the Community Development Council has received 230 requests for applications, spokesman Jim Hamlett said.

The majority of calls poured in from people who can’t amass enough money to pay the first and last month’s rent plus various deposits needed to move from a motel to permanent homes, said Joe Caux, a housing advocate for the council.

Council workers also are hearing from people “who are still in their cars,” he said.

The council already has scheduled 70 appointments for those who are eligible to apply for the program, which will lend up to $1,500 to the county’s “motel homeless.”

Of the 100 who are chosen to apply, about 45 will receive loans from a $60,000 federal grant, Caux said.

“Everybody we’re getting calls from is deserving, but there is a small pool of money,” Caux said.

“There is a definite need and demand for this kind of program,” said Hamlett

He said housing is the No. 1 problem residents have complained about at public hearings of the council over the past two years.

To be eligible for the 18-month loans, applicants either must be 62 or older or be disabled or have a dependent child, Caux said.

To qualify, an applicant’s income cannot exceed half of the county’s median income, or $11,800 for a single person to $22,250 for a family of eight, Caux said.