A family entered our Shelter Program with a very bizarre predicament—there had been a payment error on their rental agreement that had gone on for years. As new management took over, this error was found and the family was charged the back rent in lieu of an eviction. The amount was too high for the family to pay out of pocket, and management assured them that everything could be settled in court.

One missed court date later, and this mother and father and their two kids were now facing an eviction. With the judgment having already been made, there was little that could be done to stop this process.

Knowing that there was nothing that could be done to save their current lease, Family Promise of Blount County brought this family into the Shelter program. In this time, Family Promise was able to assist the family by providing them a safe place to stay at no cost so they could focus exclusively on their finances, as well as providing food, basic necessities, and clothing.

The family worked alongside a Case Manager, as well as one of our partners, Operation Hope, to revise their budget and get their credit back on track. They set goals to eliminate their biggest barriers to finding housing—eliminating previous debts, the eviction, and getting their credit back on track. Through months of budgeting and saving, this family was able to successfully graduate to the Transitional Housing program with ease.

In Shelter, they began working towards paying off debts they had accrued before any of this began, being able to completely pay off every single one throughout the duration of their Shelter stay. They worked with their former apartment complex to make an agreement, and even were sent letters of recommendation from their previous renters to assist them towards housing in the future.