Shownotes
We explore the critical world of housing assistance with our special guests, Jennifer Tiedt and Brittany Kunkler, who are coordinators of the COAAA Housing Assistance Program.
Jennifer and Brittany will discuss the challenges, successes, and operational insights of the program, including the daily intake and processing of emergency rental assistance requests, the significant impact of community referrals, and the regulatory landscape affecting both landlords and tenants.
Top Takeaways
1. **Comprehensive Assistance**: The COAAA Housing Assistance Program serves as a crucial resource providing extensive support.
2. **Diverse Funding Sources**: The program utilizes a variety of funding streams.
3. **Community Collaboration**: Strong partnerships with community organizations and reliance on community referrals enhance the outreach and effectiveness of the program.
4. **One-Time Assistance Limitation**: While the program offers significant immediate help, it is limited to one-time financial assistance.
5. **Documentation and Verification**: Applicants must provide thorough documentation, such as identification and proof of income, which is crucial for ensuring that assistance is delivered to those who truly need it.
6. **Short to Long Processing Times**: The timeline for processing applications can vary significantly—from a day up to two months—depending on various factors like apartment acceptance and documentation verification.
7. **Legislative Support for Rent Payments**: Recent legislation in Columbus that mandates landlords to accept third-party rent payments (with some exceptions) is a significant step towards reducing obstacles.
8. **Challenges with Affordability and Rent Burden**: Increasing rental rates and the scarcity of affordable housing particularly impact seniors and individuals with disabilities, highlighting an urgent need for more inclusive and affordable housing solutions.
9. **Advocacy for Expanded Funding and Policy Changes**: There is a pressing need for advocacy to secure more funding and to push for policy changes.
10. **Necessity for a Multifaceted Approach to Housing Crisis**: The episode stresses the importance of a multifaceted approach that includes building more affordable housing, enhancing support networks, and fostering community awareness and involvement.
Memorable Moments
03:33 Rental rates rise, fixed incomes struggle, housing shortage.
07:30 Assisting struggling individuals with housing challenges is difficult.
10:18 Criteria: age, income, and location specified.
15:44 Variable timeline depending on internal or external referral.
18:03 Limited options for utility payment without agreement.
20:59 Connect people with resources, and take referrals daily.
25:46 Tracking housing assistance and collaborating with community organizations.
31:31 Expand funding to reach all clients, everywhere.
34:04 Columbus has disparities in meeting community needs.
Let me know what you think of this podcast, as well as any ideas you have for an episode. Email me at kwhite@coaaa.org!
Copyright 2024 Central Ohio Area Agency On Aging
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Transcripts
Welcome to Pretend I Know Nothing About. I'm Katie White, your host, Administrator of COAAA. On today's episode, we'll learn from Jennifer Tiedt and Brittany Kunkler about the COAAA Housing Assistance Program. Let's get into it. Alright. Welcome, Jennifer Teede and Brittany Kunkeler, our Housing Assistance Program coordinators at COAAA. Thanks for coming. Thanks for having us.
Brittany Kunkler [:Thanks for having us.
Katie White [:Yeah. Jennifer, let's start with you. If you can tell us a little bit about your role, your program, and a little history about what you do here and how you got here?
Jennifer Tiedt [:Yeah. So I started here in 2013. I was subbing at the front desk and they decided to hire me full time into the community education outreach department. I was in information and assistance for a long time. And then, in 2019, we were granted some funds from City of Columbus to create a rental assistance program. So myself and Pat Scott, who was the other housing coordinator at that time, created the housing assistance program. We started off with about 18 or 19,000 and, spent that very quickly because there was a huge need for rental assistance. And so on that time period, when COVID hit, we were given, ARP funds, American Rescue Plan funds and CARES Act funds, and we had this infrastructure already built to begin kind of moving that out into the community to keep people in their homes.
Jennifer Tiedt [:So, we've been doing that for 5 years now Aging the rental assistance program and it's only grown and we've been able to help so many people and I'm very excited about, what we've done and what we can continue to do.
Katie White [:So you were on the original team when you got that initial small lump sum of money and have seen it grow all the way, to where we are today. That's awesome.
Jennifer Tiedt [:Yeah. Yeah.
Katie White [:Okay. Great. Britney, how
Brittany Kunkler [:about you? Yep. So I have been with COAAA since 2011. I started as a passport case manager in the waiver, passport waiver program, transitioned to a supervisor overseeing the waiver program. So at that in 2014, so at that time, my the Ohio waiver program started, and I transitioned to supervise, MyCareOhio with one of our contracts, passport and assisted living and the self directed service through Passport. A few years later, I just needed a little bit of a transition, and I wanted to be back with direct client care. So I transitioned and was a senior options case manager and served, within that role as a service coordinator in one of our senior buildings. And then, in February of 2023, I joined the communication education outreach team with, the housing assistance program, and have been working in this role, since then. Had the opportunity to have a lot of changes, get to know a lot of different programs and processes, and, now work a little bit more intimately with the community members and individuals who are needing, rental and utility assistance.
Katie White [:Okay. Interesting. So you've seen a lot of the clinical side, and you've seen a lot of the community education and outreach side. Excellent. Well, no wonder you're both so good at your job. That makes sense then. Okay. So we could talk about housing forever and ever and ever.
Katie White [:There's a lot going on in housing. But let's just kinda kick off and and talk a little bit about the state of housing in Central Ohio right now. So, you know, what are some of the trends? What are some of the challenges that are going on out there?
Brittany Kunkler [:So, you know, one of the biggest things that we're seeing is just the the rates of rentals increasing or properties increasing at at a pretty dramatic rate, especially when you're talking about working with individuals that are seniors or have disabilities who are on fixed incomes. So we're seeing people essentially getting priced out of their out of their residences because their their lease ends, the property is is looking to increase that rent, just based on the trends that are happening in the community, and that individual can no longer afford to stay where they're at. Which leads into another problem of lack of available, housing because then they're on, you know, on the hunt or the search for a new residence, and they're not able to afford, anything else that's that's currently available and on the market. A third problem that kind of all ties together with that is there are subsidized senior buildings and senior properties, but the wait list for those buildings and properties is very long as well. So rents are increasing, income is staying fixed, and find finding alternative housing when people can no longer, continue to afford to live where they're at, is just a huge problem.
Jennifer Tiedt [:One thing I do wanna add is that one of the issues that a lot of the seniors and people on, disability are facing is that even if they can't afford the rent at an apartment, a lot of times these properties will have policies that they have to have 3 times the rent and income to be able to be approved for the apartment. So if they're not making if the rent is $600 a month and their income is, you know, 1200, we would say that that's, you know, they're still rent burden, but they would likely be able to afford that. But they're not gonna be eligible because they're about $600 short of monthly income to be able
Katie White [:to meet the policy of the property to be able to move in. So policy that is on top of, you know, what I would consider standard to say that you have to have 3 months.
Brittany Kunkler [:Or 3 times the amount of.
Katie White [:3 times the amount of the monthly income. In income. Okay. Wow. So then that's Aging. Because, yeah, like you said, if somebody is paying 600 and their income's 1200, we'd be like, okay, we can, you know, work with this. Mhmm. You mentioned housing cost burden.
Katie White [:Can you tell me a little bit about what that means?
Jennifer Tiedt [:Yeah. So, the federal policy, I believe, is that if someone is paying more than 30% of their income to their rent, they are considered rent burdened. So their rent is too high, in proportion to their income, and they're likely to, see issues with long term sustainability White being able to afford not just their regular monthly cost, but if a car breaks down, if there's some kind of an emergency, if there's a water leak COAAA they have a very high water bill 1 month, they're unlikely to be able to afford those things easily, without issue to be able to absorb that cost. Generally, I think the federal guideline of 30% is a bit outdated. I think a lot of people are paying less than 30% of their income and are are still somewhat rent burdened. Most people are paying, I think, 15, 18, maybe even 20%. And that's a really good percentage for people that feels comfortable. Anything over 30 percent though is considered rent burden.
Jennifer Tiedt [:Okay.
Katie White [:And what about over 50%?
Jennifer Tiedt [:I don't know what the Central policy is on that, but I would consider that on one hand extremely rent burden and yet for a lot of our people, oh, that's a great deal. When they call us and they say we need help with rent, one of the things that we're looking for is sustainability going forward. And if someone is saying that their rent is only 50% of their income, I'm like, oh, that's great. That's gonna be sustainable for you because that's the length that people have been pushed to now.
Katie White [:So that's such an interesting take on it because that 30% marker, like, you are White. That is, housing cost burden and then the 50% is extremely housing cost burden. And yet, that is basically good news for us when we see that someone's only paying 50%. So the housing prices are going up. There isn't enough affordable housing available. We can't build enough to keep up with the demand. And so White is that like to talk to people day in and day out that are in this circumstance where they know they can't afford their current rent or they're, you know, close to being evicted?
Brittany Kunkler [:I mean, it can be pretty heart wrenching. You know, you're working with individuals who are coming to you for assistance, and they, you know, they are, you know, trying to get ahead of the game and saying, I I understand You know, how can you help me or who can help me? And even just with the, you know, the guidelines that we have for our program, if somebody doesn't meet what we call what we call sustainability, which is the ability to pay ongoing after our on time assistance, then we we have to turn them away, unfortunately. And so to know that the need is so great and we're not able to help, you know, certain individuals bridge those gaps is is really difficult because you're you're dealing with people's lives, you know, their livelihood. They're you know, they don't have anywhere to go. They're, they're concerned about what's gonna happen, and you're concerned for them as well. We're seeing the trend of multi generational, you know, home sharing and living now as well. You're seeing more individuals that aren't just living alone in their residence, but they're Aging with their their children, their grandchildren, whatever that may look like for them and their family because the same reasonings, the the lack of being able to afford, a residence on their own. So kind of pooling that income to, to be able to to live, in the community.
Katie White [:And so if someone doesn't meet our criteria of being able to sustainably afford their housing after our on time help and we have to turn them away, tell me, Jennifer, about, that sustainability income
Jennifer Tiedt [:and criteria, where it comes from. So because our program is one time only, it is not ongoing assistance. On of the big things that we look at is, as you said, sustainability. So can they pay the rent ongoing? So if they have been off work because they've been sick, our is our funding enough to bridge the gap until they're gonna be able to get another paycheck, until they're gonna be able to take over the rent? So usually, that's what we're looking for. If it's something like a car payment or something like that, we're looking at, you know, again, can they can they pay for it after our assistance? And if they can't, we do have to turn them away. We do like to turn people to other resources that may be available in the community. Right now, the ERA program still has some funding. A lot of what we hear about funding availability from other agencies, we hear from the people calling us because they'll say, well, they said they're out of money.
Jennifer Tiedt [:They said they don't have anything more. They said they're no longer at eviction court. And so a lot of it is through the grapevine, but it usually does turn out to be true.
Katie White [:And it's not necessarily, like, we don't want to be able to help everyone, but it's that our funding is limited and our need is huge. Mhmm. And so when we think about the housing assistance program and the different criteria, it's really about stratifying to make sure we're helping those that are in a high level of need and then making sure that we don't deplete our resources too quickly. Mhmm. So what are the other criteria to be eligible for the housing assistance program that we provide?
Jennifer Tiedt [:The general criteria are age, income, and, for certain funding streams, location. Okay. So we have some money from the city of Columbus. The age range is 50 plus, a 138% of the federal poverty guideline, and they have to be located within the city of Columbus because those funds are city funds. For some of the other funding that we have that is ARP North 3 b funding, they have to be 60 plus, 200% of the federal poverty guideline, and living in one of the counties that we serve. We occasionally get some of the more rural counties calling us, but it's generally Franklin County. Okay. So that we look at all of those things.
Jennifer Tiedt [:We look at sustainability. We look at what's the other one.
Brittany Kunkler [:On unforeseeable hardships.
Katie White [:Okay. Yeah. That would that would make it the one time
Jennifer Tiedt [:Yeah. Issue. So, it's an unforeseeable financial hardship. It's not, you know, a poor choice. It's not an ongoing issue. It could be, again, as I've mentioned before, their car broke down. They had a very high utility bill that it was unexpected. There was a death in the family, and they had to, use some of their money to go travel to a funeral.
Jennifer Tiedt [:It can be a lot of things. I mean, there's no limit as to what it can be. We do ask that it is documented, that we have documentation to support the hardship in all of our cases.
Katie White [:Okay. And what other documentation, Britney, are we collecting, or what does that process look like if someone's applying for HAP?
Brittany Kunkler [:Yep. So we are collecting identification of all the household members, collecting proof of income for for all for the household members. We do have an application agreement, that kind of outlines the stipulations of our programs that we, ask the applicant to sign and date just agreeing to those terms. We also have them sign a release of information, which allows us to outreach to their landlord or property manager on the request that they're, asking deposit and 1st month's rent. So in that situation, somebody wouldn't have to give us some kind of written proof of hardship because the move in and of itself is the hardship because the the
Katie White [:Area tell me about referral numbers. Are So tell me about referral numbers. Are we helping more of the clients that we case manage? So internal referrals? Are we helping more external referrals? What what's that kind of breakdown like?
Jennifer Tiedt [:I would say it feels about 5050
Katie White [:Okay. Generally. And is it like individuals in the community that hear about it or are there agencies that are referring? How do people know about our program?
Jennifer Tiedt [:It's both. 211 refers a lot of people to us. And a lot of the other agencies that also have rental assistance programs, if they can't help the individual, then they they might send them to us. And there's, sometimes they give them the numbers. Sometimes there's more of a a warm handoff situation.
Katie White [:And those internal referrals are so crucial as well because, you know, our mission is to provide home and community based services. Right? And so if somebody doesn't have a home, we cannot provide those services. In particular, some contracts that we work on. Right? They have to be in a home. So, tell me a little bit about the internal referral process and what that looks like.
Brittany Kunkler [:So that process is a little bit different White we're not having as much, direct contact with the, what we refer to as the applicant or the person verifications that we need to proceed, and the case case manager of verifications that we need to proceed, and the case manager generally assist in gathering that verification and kind of acting as the the middleman, between us and the individual, to to assist with that, process. Sometimes there, you know, there are clients that we're outreach directly to if we have specific questions or concerns about the request or the need. But the the case manager essentially submits the application, and then we're communicating and sending the case manager the documents that that are needed to proceed for that request. Whereas individuals that call call from the community, we're doing that application with them over the phone and then getting the paperwork to them directly to to get back to us.
Katie White [:And sometimes I see people in the lobby or in our meeting room and you guys are chatting with them. Are those just walk ins for people that are looking for housing assistance? Or are those sometimes clients you're already helping in your in your verifying documents with them?
Jennifer Tiedt [:Usually, those are just people who have, seen our sign or heard about us and wanna stop in and and talk about the housing crisis that they're experiencing. Okay. Oftentimes, those do turn into HAP cases if they fit our eligibility criteria.
Brittany Kunkler [:I have had individuals that I'm working with for for HAP on when we were doing the emergency rental assistance applications as well through the city, drop off verifications. If they're not if they don't have an email address or they're not able to, effectively communicate or send or receive information electronically, they will come in. If they have transportation Agency it's not a barrier to come down here, you know, I've had people say, you know, it's just easier. I've offered, you know, alternative methods to get the information to them and have them get it back to me, and they're like, no. I'll just I'll be there tomorrow, you know, because the need is is there. The need was there yesterday, and they've found an organization that can help help, you know, fill that need. Yesterday, and they
Katie White [:found an organization that can
Brittany Kunkler [:help help, you know, fill that need or or that gap, bridge that gap for them. So I've I've had individuals that will
Katie White [:come, to bring their verifications as well. And how do you think about that? I think that's a good question. I think that's a
Brittany Kunkler [:good question. I think that's a good question. I think
Jennifer Tiedt [:typical timeline, There's not really a typical timeline depending on whether it's an internal or external referral. If the person who's doing an internal referral has done this before and knows the documents to get to us, they might give it all to us at one time, in which case it's usually a pretty quick application process. I've had applications that I've done in a day or 2 turnaround, for, like, real real Agency. And I've had applications that have taken sometimes 2 months to get everything finalized. Sometimes, what'll happen is they'll have an apartment in mind that they're moving to and then that apartment complex doesn't on take a third party payment. So then they have to find another on. If I'm just waiting on them to submit their documentation, there's no real set timeline, and we don't generally time people out. So there's no time limit on how long it can take them to get us our documentation.
Katie White [:Oh, that's good. Okay. You mentioned that some landlords won't accept third party payment. In Columbus, we recently passed legislation that they have to. Right? So we must be talking about landlords outside of Columbus that can still refuse.
Jennifer Tiedt [:So my understanding of that legislation, and
Katie White [:I I could be wrong,
Jennifer Tiedt [:but my understanding is that that Okay.
Katie White [:Okay.
Jennifer Tiedt [:If the person is behind on rent, which is probably 90% of the cases that we get, they are not required to accept a third party, payment. It also depends on how many properties that landlord has. So if it's a private landlord who only has, you know, 1 or 2 properties, I don't think it it applies to them. I think much like a lot of federal guidelines, that apply to, like, bigger companies, bigger things like that. A lot of the private landlords, if they don't meet that threshold, don't have to accept third party payments.
Katie White [:Interesting. Okay. Well, thank you for explaining that because I definitely had the wrong understanding of it. So then White challenge
Katie White [:that must be to
Katie White [:go out, get all of the paperwork. We know we can do it. We know we can help this person, and then the landlord refuses to take it. White happens in that situation? What happens in that situation?
Jennifer Tiedt [:If they're an internal client, we send it back to the case manager. We let them know that perhaps Aging Solutions is a solution. They have a little bit more flexibility with their funds. They can, buy a money order, which we cannot do with the funding that we have, so that it looks like it's coming from the individual themselves, but that is also dependent on how much is required
Katie White [:Sure.
Jennifer Tiedt [:For the application and whether aging solution has that availability to do that, which is not always the Katie. For, an external client that is unfortunately the end of the application, we can still look at doing utilities with them because, a lot of utility providers will still take a third party payment and will even take a pledge over the phone to avoid disconnect. But, unfortunately, there's there's nothing else we can do in those cases. If the person is not wanting to switch landlords or move, and their current landlord doesn't on to accept a third party payment, there's nothing else we can do.
Katie White [:So, potentially, we can help with utilities to, again, at least ease some kind of financial burden, albeit on a different area and probably not the real solution that they're looking for, but something. So we're we're doing all the way to, you know, the edges of anything possible. And Aging Solutions is a foundation that we work with and they provide financial assistance or supplies to COAAA consumers that their insurance or other funding might not cover. And so sometimes they help with the utilities and the housing stuff too. Okay.
Brittany Kunkler [:I will just add the other thing that we might, discuss with individuals who we can assist if their landlord or property manager isn't willing to accept third party payment is to, see if they're willing to enter into, like, a payment plan with the resident, to see if that's an option for them to get caught up on what's back due to avoid that eviction Aging. We also make a lot of referrals
Jennifer Tiedt [:to community mediation services. So they're an organization here in Franklin County that acts
Brittany Kunkler [:as a neutral third party between, a tenant and a landlord to try to help resolve the disputes that are occurring. And they'll sometimes also, you know, write up, agreements between the landlord and the tenant to assist with, keeping that that person, in the residence that they're in.
Katie White [:So we talked about what the criteria are to be eligible. Is there a cap on the amount that we are able to help with?
Jennifer Tiedt [:Yes. So for the, 60 plus 3 b funding that we have, that cap is $2,000. For the 50 +138 percent of poverty living in City of Columbus, that cap is $1,000.
Katie White [:Okay. And as we're talking about, as the prices are increasing and needing to reevaluate, probably, not only our eligibility criteria, but how much we can support people with too because the rents are skyrocketing Aging we on make sure that our one time help is really gonna get people over that hump. Mhmm. So how many referrals are we typically getting? What does that look like in terms of numbers? Is Area central place where those referrals go and you kinda, farm them out to different team members?
Jennifer Tiedt [:We do have a housing voice mailbox. So that's where a lot of the community referrals are coming from. We probably get, I'd say, between 25 30 calls a day, something like that.
Brittany Kunkler [:Probably averages about 20 Yeah.
Katie White [:Calls per day into our housing line.
Katie White [:Yes.
Katie White [:Yes. Okay.
Jennifer Tiedt [:And those are split between, myself, Britney, and our housing resource specialist. Going through those, making sure we can connect people with whatever resources they need. If it's rental assistance, we screen them for our programs and do an intake. If it's, housing itself, then we would screen to the housing resource specialist. And then Britney and I usually get our own calls, every day both from people we're working with and from community members. Sometimes people go to our website and we'll do an online referral and we'll get those from the online referral process. And then those are all completely
Katie White [:thinking about the HAP impact in 2023, share some, statistics or data on that.
Jennifer Tiedt [:Yeah. So in 2023, there were 239 people that we served in the HAP program, using a combination of the city funding that we had as well as Area, ARP, and, just general 3b funds as well as some money that, COAAA put in itself.
Katie White [:So 239 individuals helped in 2023 across all of our different funding sources. And I feel like we really have to take a second to think about our funding and and discuss it. It is COAAA little I don't know. It's almost like a recipe. Right? Like, okay. If they live in this city but are this age, we have to use this. Or if they live out of county and, you know, each funding source has its own restrictions and requirements. And so utilizing the right funds and getting those people served in and of itself is pretty incredible.
Katie White [:What about the number of what was the total financial investment that we did?
Jennifer Tiedt [:In 2023, it was 260,000 and change.
Katie White [:Wow. 260,000 in 1 year with 239 individuals with no guaranteed funding that we have for that. And so being able to cobble together and ask for money and and provide that service is huge. Any other data or statistics to share?
Jennifer Tiedt [:So looking at the 239 people, of those people that we serve, 49 were internal referrals. Most of those they're kind of broken down by program. Some were most were Aetna. The next step was Franklin County Senior Options. And then we had some in passport, some in Ohio home care waiver, which we had at that time, and then, a few were Molina. But the majority were probably Aetna and senior options clients.
Katie White [:So you said 49 internal? Mhmm. So then, that's a lot more external than internal in 2023. At that time. Yeah. And that was intentional, essentially, because we were able to get in more funding. And we did do a bit of, I don't know, outreach or pushing, which we don't always do. Because, again, if we don't have a lot of money, we don't wanna push it too much because we're not trying to hold some sort of big White or something. Yeah.
Brittany Kunkler [:Well, and I think that's just the power of community members and their voices too. You know, somebody had a need and they found a solution to that, and so then they're sharing that information with their friends and family and loved ones. And we get a lot of external referrals saying, hey. Cynthia told me to call you. And I'm like, who's who's Cynthia? You know? But it's somebody you previously served or a property manager. And so just the linkage, because this particular service, the need is so great, and the availability is so limited. I think word travels very fast. Particularly when it comes to funds and programs, specifically for older people.
Brittany Kunkler [:Right? And so
Katie White [:I know we've had great conversations when we're getting low on funds and we're hopeful that we're gonna get more or waiting to get more and thinking like, should we only be serving internal people right now? Are we putting a pause on the program? What's that looking like? And I just appreciate the advocacy that you both do because, generally speaking, you're saying no. We need to make sure that we continue to help external people as well. And so I just appreciate that. Tell me about, a typical day or a typical week in this role. What are you guys doing? What does it look like? Is there a lot of, you know, debriefing and conversations and problem solving? I'd say it's
Brittany Kunkler [:just it's a balance game. Just like any position where you have lots of different tasks to complete, we're balancing our time. So we're making sure that we're trying to address the calls that are coming in from community members timely, working through the HAP active HAP cases that we have to make sure that we're, you know, once we get the verification we need, we're taking the next step as soon as possible to, to get the funds to the individual or property manager as quickly as possible to secure their secure or maintain that housing for them. Okay.
Jennifer Tiedt [:At any
Brittany Kunkler [:point in time, it's kind of on not at any point in time, but at different points in time, it's fluctuated because we did have the ability to assist with the emergency rental assistance funds through the city as well. So we were doing intakes for that program, and again, kind of tracking, those referrals as well, you know, tracking those applications in addition to the HAP applications, in addition to following up and screening calls that come through, and then just general, calls or questions that come through on housing. And then also wanting to stay up to date on what's happening in housing, partnering with our, you know, community, organizations throughout the community to see what they're doing, and how we can work together on looking at at information and data and articles that are coming through to make sure we're aware of of other issues that are happening in relation to housing, at another communities throughout the nation. But, that also might be impacting our population here locally.
Katie White [:And I'll say you guys are also a great go to, whether it's community members or other staff members or me sending you emails, like all things housing related. Okay. This housing complex, just gave everybody a 60 day eviction notice. What should we do? Or this one's closing down. We need some help with, an outdoor home maintenance issue. And so it is, a broader understanding and connection and keeping the pulse on housing that you both hold and that the whole housing team does too. Alright. So when we think about the daily processes, obviously, it's quite challenging.
Katie White [:But do you have a biggest success or a favorite story that you could share? So I
Jennifer Tiedt [:think one of the biggest successes that I've had, was a woman who, she was an immigrant. She had tried to apply for Social Security retirement, which she was eligible for due to perhaps mistranslations or misunderstandings. She had gone twice to Social Security, thought she had started the process to get her or to get her retirement. It had not been started. So now she was on the line for about 2 months back to rent because she was no longer working and she hadn't gotten her retirement. So I partnered with on of our employees here who has a long history at Social Security and was able to, he was able to get her connected to some people that could get her, not only retirement benefit started, but backdated to when she first went in there to apply for them. And so we were able to pay, I think COAAA couple months Central and also some utilities to keep her in the home, keep her utilities turned on while she's waiting for what was gonna be a sustainable amount of income to pay her, her expenses going forward. And then, she got a substantial
Katie White [:back payment amount. So Wow. Yeah. That's an awesome story.
Jennifer Tiedt [:Yeah. It was it was really great. It took about 2 to 3 months to get everything kind of situated, but it was just wonderful. She stopped in here at Christmas to say hi to me. On, I see.
Katie White [:It was
Katie White [:so nice.
Katie White [:Yeah. Because I would imagine it's hard to find those moments where you're like, that was, you know, satisfaction because, you know, for the for the most part, yes, we helped through whatever crisis, which is huge and amazing. But then, you know this person and you know what challenges they're also facing or will likely face in the future. And so it's, it has to be a difficult role to continue to have all of those conversations.
Brittany Kunkler [:Right. And it is I mean, it's it's validation. Right? That the program and the funds that we have and that we're given, are important and needed, when you do get, you know, the success story or the, you know, get the approval for the request because we know that that these individuals need that, and for them to to be so appreciative and so thankful. It really, helps drive the the tough conversations and, drive the work that we do to know that, yes, we've helped this one individual. We know there are still, you know, 10 others out there that need assistance that we may or may not be able to help. So it helps, you know, when we get those success stories or those thank you emails or phone calls and that appreciation helps, I think, just stay focused on the mission of needing to get more dollars and needing to get more advocacy and needing to get more housing and being the voices behind that, for our community members. Yeah.
Katie White [:Aging thinking about the, original creation or foundation of this program and how it has always been the mainstay for the past 5 years. But we've had different funding come in or we've participated in different programs. And we've always been able to rely on what we know and how we're doing things and and kind of iterate when needed, which is really impressive, because I feel like that's a testament to us making sure we're continuing to meet community need. Not just like, this is our program. This is how we run it. But what else do we need to do? What else might this need to look like? What is one thing that you would change or add about COAAA? Pardon Pardon me wants to say about the housing program, but I'm gonna ask it the way I always ask it. So about COAAA.
Brittany Kunkler [:I would just say, you know, the growth. We're our agency is growing. Our our older adult and persons with disabilities population is growing. So, just making sure that we're able to, be a multifaceted agency and be involved in lots of different, networks in the community. So we obviously service seniors and people with disabilities, but we need to have a bigger voice in, working with, you know, community partners that are focused on housing, you know, specifically for what we do so that as we're seeing that growth and the need for assistance grow, you know, these partner agencies are are seeing that too, and they're not sure what to do. So, you know, coming together to help bridge the gaps and just work collaboratively, Apparently, I cannot say that word. Work in collaboration with with other organizations to make sure that, again, we're we're trying to meet the needs. We're identifying the needs.
Brittany Kunkler [:We're we're creating solutions that are gonna benefit our community at large.
Katie White [:Yeah. And proving some concepts and sharing that out too. Absolutely. What about you, Jennifer?
Jennifer Tiedt [:Well, Britney did just general c o triple a. I'm gonna do specific to housing. Okay. I would love to see funding streams that we can use for all of our, enrolled c CL triple a clients, the ones that are under 50 and are outside of city of Columbus, I would love to be able to expand that to, reach all of the the people that we serve, not just the aging, but the disability population as well that are on waiver. I would love to go outside of city of Columbus with the under Katie funding. I would love to do 50 and up or below 50 and up in the outer counties that we serve as well just to meet everybody, in our area that we serve just to be able to have those same resources for everybody because it's it's so frustrating to do an intake with somebody and, you know, like, oh, this is a true HAP case. They meet all of the criteria and then they stay White they're where they live. And it's like, well, I don't.
Jennifer Tiedt [:Not only do I not have I can't continue this, but I don't know of what resource I can connect you with. I know of some agencies that either could help or may know, but I don't know directly who is the person that can help you with the situation if there is on.
Katie White [:Yeah.
Brittany Kunkler [:White I would say kind of going back to a question earlier about part of what we are doing is, yes, we are assessing for the need for rent and or utility assistance, but then we're also, wanting to connect individuals to make, their, you know, their housing cost burden lowered. So, are they connected? Are they on Medicaid? Are they Medicaid eligible? Are they eligible for SNAP, you know, nutrition assistance? You know, getting them those applications, getting them connected with, utility assistance programs, you know, again, food pantries, Franklin County Senior Options, whatever the case may be, making them aware of potential resources that are out there to, again, kind of collectively help lower lower that financial burden that they may be experiencing or that they are experiencing.
Katie White [:I'm so glad you said that. It's such a good point that I feel like we need to make sure people know that. Because, yes, if we can help with HAP, wonderful. But we're also looking at everything else, else, utility assistance, all of those types of things to really help with all of the increasing costs. Alright. So what are your final thoughts, things that you want listeners to know about housing, about HAP, about what you do?
Brittany Kunkler [:We need to mix We need some more money, or what is that? Little Rascals
Jennifer Tiedt [:make money?
Brittany Kunkler [:No. The Little Rascals. We need to I don't know. Something like that. We need more money. I mean, I think that's it. I think that just knowing that there is a huge housing crisis in our nation, you know, I think depending on what sector you you you work in, you may or may not know that. You may be oblivious to that.
Brittany Kunkler [:You may think, oh, Columbus is doing great. We've got all these beautiful buildings coming up, and, you know, it's one of the one of the highest rated cities to to live and work, but there's a huge population of individuals where it's not the greatest city. It's not meeting the needs and addressing the needs for a lot of people in our community. And so just general awareness is what I would say I want people to take away from this, that there is a need. And if it's not impacting you, it's it's it's potentially impacting somebody, you know, the 6 degrees from you.
Katie White [:Yeah. And while we are building a lot of housing, we need extremely low income housing, which we are not building. And so, yes, it might you might think you're seeing all these housing complexes go up and that is good. But the housing that we're talking about, we really need extremely low income is not being built.
Jennifer Tiedt [:And sometimes those really nice places that are being built are, you know, destroying some of the some of the cheaper rent places that people could be living in or that they are living in.
Katie White [:Yeah. Yeah. Any other final closing thoughts, Jennifer?
Jennifer Tiedt [:Show us the money. What did you say?
Brittany Kunkler [:I don't know. What is the Little Rascals thing White they're they're go to the little Area, and they're like, we need to make some money. They got their, like, 10¢ cardboard. Alright. I'll have to go. I promise it's not that off the wall.
Jennifer Tiedt [:Yeah. Katie it is. Fund housing. Fund affordable housing. Fund truly affordable housing. Not just, you know, affordable, but really affordable. Past rent control. Make it so that these folks can stay in the homes that they've lived in for years years, instead of, you know, charging, you know, $200 more, because there's a new owner and they want to, you know, get new people and they can can pay the higher rents.
Jennifer Tiedt [:I would just say, let's support these folks in the homes that they've been on, support them being able to live with dignity in the community because that's what CO triple a is all about.
Katie White [:And that's what we'd all want. Right? Every single one of us. The people that we help, the people that are consumers, the people that call on, me, you, all of us. Right?
Katie White [:Mhmm. Yeah.
Katie White [:Well, thank you both so much for being here. Appreciate it.
Jennifer Tiedt [:Thank you. Thanks.
Katie White [:I hope now you know something about the COAAA Housing Assistance Program.
