For one Portland couple, frustration follows as promise of rent assistance falls short - Press Herald

For Richard and Anne Jorgensen, the outgo of food, heat, lodging and aesculapian bills has piled up the past fewer years.

When they applied to the Emergency Rental Assistance programme this summer, they were blessed to beryllium approved for 3 $1,400 per period payments to screen the rent astatine their flat successful Portland’s East Deering neighborhood.

The national program, which has served much than 34,000 households successful Maine, was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic to assistance struggling Americans conscionable rent and inferior costs.

For the Jorgensens, it helped them enactment successful their flat portion besides navigating a resurgence of Anne’s uterine cancer, which was primitively diagnosed successful 2012 and came backmost past year.

Their location isn’t cleanable – the overgarment is peeling connected the eating country ceiling and scratch marks, apt from a erstwhile tenant’s dog, scar the beforehand doorway – but it’s cozy and filled with photos of household and friends.

Plus it’s what they tin afford. “In this area, astatine our age, wherever are you going to move?” said Anne Jorgensen, 76, adding that their existent flat is besides adjacent to important aesculapian providers.

In September they reapplied for different 3 months of rent payments. Richard Jorgensen said the Opportunity Alliance, which is moving the programme successful Cumberland County, told him they were approved done January.

Then helium received an email connected Nov. 1 saying his exertion had been denied.

“I went ballistic,” said Richard Jorgensen, 79. “I felt similar I was gut-punched.”

He said the mates had budgeted connected the content they would person the rent payments done January. “To person a committedness and past person idiosyncratic instrumentality it back, that’s not the mode America should operate,” helium said.

Officials charged with operating the Emergency Rental Assistance programme successful Maine said it was ever intended to beryllium impermanent and that arsenic wealth has tally retired they’ve had to readjust. In immoderate cases, similar for the Jorgensens, that has meant having to archer families that they can’t wage arsenic overmuch oregon for arsenic agelong arsenic they thought they could.

The Opportunity Alliance thought backing would past done December astatine least, but past MaineHousing announced connected Sept. 29 that it was pausing the programme due to the fact that the wealth was moving out, said Mary Cook, ERA programme manager for the alliance. Community enactment agencies stopped taking applications and began laying disconnected staff.

“We had to reassess and propulsion backmost connected immoderate people,” Cook said. “We didn’t expect this arsenic an agency. If we didn’t halt processing applications and laic disconnected staff, we couldn’t person continued serving people.”

She said the Jorgensens are among astir 800 renter households who are expected to get payments done November, successful summation to 168 households staying successful country hotels for whom payments volition widen done December. Cook couldn’t corroborate circumstantial details of the Jorgensens’ lawsuit without their permission, but she said their communicative fits with galore of those 800 households.

“The wide concern is what has been occurring, which is that radical person been receiving approvals that we past had to retract oregon reevaluate and past marque a caller committedness for what we could pay, which was typically up done November,” she said.

Scott Thistle, a spokesperson for MaineHousing, said the bureau did its champion to pass the accusation they were receiving from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to the agencies, but the impermanent quality was a challenge.

“I deliberation everybody was amazed it ran retired arsenic rapidly arsenic it did,” Thistle said. “The intent was ever to agelong it longer but … astatine the beforehand extremity of the programme we knew this is simply a one-time programme and we astir apt won’t spot thing similar it again successful our lifetime.”

Thistle said helium didn’t cognize the specifics of the Jorgensens’ lawsuit and said helium hasn’t heard of akin problems connected a broader scale. “Each assemblage enactment bureau distributed the backing arsenic it was disposable to them, and arsenic the backing ran out, determination astir apt were radical who got caught successful these in-between stages,” helium said. “But the programme was ever caveated with ‘while backing is available.'”

Last week the Jorgensens got connection the Opportunity Alliance would inactive beryllium capable to screen their November rent, but that would beryllium the extremity of it. Richard Jorgensen said he’s grateful, but helium said it inactive feels similar they’re being forced disconnected the borderline of a cliff.

FORCED OFF A CLIFF

“It’s national wealth and they should person had immoderate oversight arsenic to wherever this wealth is going and however overmuch is left, alternatively than a committedness that you’re going to get wealth and past it’s taken back,” helium said.

As a retired dentist, Jorgensen said radical astir apt expect helium has a batch of money. But helium and his wife, a retired teacher’s assistant, went done a batch of expenses astir the clip she was archetypal diagnosed with cancer.

They besides had indebtedness from recognition cards and ended up filing for bankruptcy, helium said. Today, Jorgensen said they person astir $30,000 successful savings and mostly unrecorded disconnected of societal information and his wife’s status benefit. Their aboriginal is clouded with interest astir aesculapian bills and the rising outgo of food, vigor (which isn’t included successful their rent) and gasoline. They’ll astir apt chopped backmost connected Christmas presents for their family, oregon food, successful the coming months.

“It was a feeling of relief,” Jorgensen said, reflecting connected what it was similar to get the assistance for 3 months. “When idiosyncratic says, ‘You’re approved,’ you deliberation ‘Oh boy, I don’t person to interest truthful much,’ particularly since the prices were going up and up.”

But past that changed.

“They overshot the moon,” helium said. “The radical astir apt affected astir are those connected fixed incomes, societal security, Medicare, etcetera. Guess who that radical is? Seniors for the astir part.”

Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard contributed to this report. 

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