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Little help available to the rent-strapped

By Waveney Ann Moore, Times Staff Writer
In print: Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Faybian McGowan, 48, sits with an eviction notice awaiting a call from St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church, whose members are trying to help her pay her rent. McGowan has been blind since birth. 
	[DIRK SHADD | Times]

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ST. PETERSBURG

Faybian McGowan was hours away from being evicted from her Pinellas Point apartment Tuesday when her church stepped in to rescue her and paid the two months of back rent she owed. Blind from birth, McGowan, 48, said she got behind on her rent at the Reserve at Lake Pointe Apartments, off 54th Avenue S, when her Social Security check came up short in July.

Those who work in social services say the number of people facing problems paying their rent is increasing and there is little funding to help.

Some programs have already exhausted their funds for the year. Jane Trocheck Walker, executive director of Daystar Life Center, a social services agency in downtown St. Petersburg, said the agency is getting more calls for help.

"People are losing their jobs and, of course, rents are going up and it's tough. What we're hearing is a lot of people who in the past had been able to help them keep their heads above water are in the same situation, because they're barely making it,'' she said.

McGowan, who is studying for an associate's degree at St. Petersburg College, agreed. Friends who had been able to help her in the past are struggling themselves, she said. Sitting in her one-bedroom, walk-up apartment where she has lived for almost two years, her eyes filled with tears, she talked about the prospect of having to leave.

"I love it here. I'm really trying hard to get the money because I really don't want to be thrown out on the street,'' she said.

The mother of two adult children and grandmother of one said this was the first time she had gotten behind in her rent. It happened because her usual Social Security check of $607 was $67 short in July because she had received overpayments earlier this year. With $510 in rent and a water bill of $38.88 due in one lump sum to the apartment complex, she decided to pay her light, cable and phone bills instead.

"If I paid my rent and didn't have the money for the water bill, they'd send it back,'' she reasoned.

McGowan said her plan was to use what remained to pay the rent with her $450 check she'd receive from the Division of Blind Services later that month. That began a downward financial spiral that worsened to include late fees for the rent and courts fees for the eviction. Attempts to get help failed.

Boley Centers initially agreed to help, she said. "Around the first of August they told me they could help me. On Tuesday the 12th, they said they couldn't help me. I was devastated,'' she said.

Boley's Homeless Prevention Program, which had received $218,000 in contingency funding from the county since October 2007, had run out of money, spokeswoman Miriam Williams said. Additionally, Pinellas County could no longer fund the program.

Williams said the program helped 1,053 people and 426 households.

Cliff Smith, assistant director for Pinellas County Health and Human Services, said the program was a good one "but we just don't have the money for it anymore.''

"We're actually fortunate. Our commissioners are pretty compassionate. A lot of the surrounding counties have nothing for their people,'' he said.

Agencies such as Catholic Charities also offer rental help, Smith said. The federally funded emergency food and shelter program, administered by United Way, is also out of money this year, he said.

The county's own rental assistance program, specifically geared to people who are unable to work because of medical reasons, helps about 1,300 people per month.

Walker of Daystar said her agency provides limited help for people needing assistance with rent.

"What we would try to do is try to see what other sources are available. There's really not a lot of rental money out there. Most of that is family, friends, your own congregation,'' she said.

A day before the sheriff was due to evict McGowan, the property manager at the Reserve did not return calls from the St. Petersburg Times.

Though McGowan said she had a commitment from the Division of Blind Services to pay her rent, the complex's lawyer, John E. McMillan, said his office could not make a decision to stay the eviction without his client's authorization. McGowan said she was told that the apartment complex was unwilling to wait for the Division of Blind Services' check and suggested that she get her church to give her a cashier's check in the meantime.

Tuesday morning McGowan said her church, St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church, had agreed to pay the back rent of $1,098, which included $80 to stop the sheriff from showing up at 2 p.m.

Though relieved, McGowan said she has other worries.

"I have no funds left. I have 10 days left in the month. I got $100 worth of food stamps at the beginning of the month and there's no food here,'' she said.

Waveney Ann Moore can be reached at wmoore@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2283.