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LOCK HAVEN -- The possibility of being evicted from your home is not a pleasant thought. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic fall out, it may be on the minds of some in the area who are struggling to pay rent.
So what do you do if you're in that position?
The Clinton County Housing Coalition (CCHC) -- funded through Housing and Urban Development -- offers various services to help get a person or family into permanent housing.
For homeless individuals or families, the center can offer housing in either the Life Center or Merit House, both at 330 E. Main St.
The Life Center is a longer term facility where families can reside while they search for a place to live.
"The Life Center is a true emergency shelter in that folks move in there, they stay there, they work on barriers and we try to get them in and back out into a permanent housing situation as quickly as possible," CCHC Vice President Jeff Rich said.
Rich noted that the Life Center typically houses single women and families.
The Merit House, which is an overnight shelter, typically houses men and for just one night.
"The Merit House… is more of an overnight shelter. So folks check in around 6 p.m. and if they're qualified they spend the night and then they have to leave again in the morning. We don't provide as intensive of services but we do provide case management," Rich said.
CCHC offers case management services for both those in the Merit House and Life Center as well as those who may be facing eviction.
"We take a housing first approach to our case management. We're really laser focused on assisting our clients to find affordable and sustainable housing. And we can wrap other services around that," Rick Reinberg, part-time case manager, said.
Other services can include referrals to other organizations or resources.
"If someone struggles with mental health, we can make appropriate referrals as long it's all sort of toward helping them become self sustainable individuals and acquire the affordable housing," Reinberg said.
Reinberg said he or Senior Case Manager Keisha Conway meet with those living in the Life Center or Merit House twice a week to check on their progress.
"We have a form we fill out at intake that talks about barriers and action steps," he said. "We take a look at that and break each thing down and see what we can do to help overcome those barriers and then we implement action steps."
"We set concrete goals with complete-by dates to basically give them set things to do," he continued.
Reinberg said these goals can be as simple as gathering the proper paperwork such as acquiring a Social Security card or birth certificate.
"Sometimes case management can be as simple as 'here's the step to acquire these documents,'" he said.
Other times it can be just simply offering reminders to clients.
"Sometimes they just need reminders. A lot of the times it's the younger people that come through here that don't have experience in adulthood and are not used to doing these things on their own," Reinberg said.
For those at the Merit House, the program can last up to 30 days. At the Life Center it can take between 60 to 90 days.
For those who are not evicted and just facing possible homelessness, the process is a bit different.
"We can also be doing case management with households that are not physically in our shelters… through the Rapid Rehousing and Homelessness Prevention programs," Coordinated Entry Regional Manager Jackie Condor said.
Condor said the minimal requirement for all services is a budget session. Following this, those who are part of either program must meet with a case manager at least once a week.
"Then they're minimally required to meet with the case manager once a month during the duration of their receiving assistance from the program," she continued.
Those involved in these programs can continue to receive case management for up to 12 months after they've received their rental assistance, she said.
"It's their choice of course, but they're required to meet with the case manager once monthly while they're receiving assistance," she concluded.
The first step to receiving assistance is calling 211.
"Always be calling 211 if you're experiencing a housing crisis. That's really the front door for all of our services. If they end up just calling the Life Center and speaking to Ricky and Keisha they're going to be directing them to 211 anyhow," Condor said.
Condor noted that the 211 program is used across 33 counties and can offer clients the option to find housing outside of Clinton County.
"It's a 33 county continuum of care... individuals who don't want to live in Clinton County anymore don't have to. There's potential for people to relocate if that's what they want, with agencies that may be able to offer the same services as we do in Clinton County," she said.
For those who are experiencing immediate homelessness seeking shelter, CCHC has stipend volunteers who handle intake from 6 to 9 p.m. each night. Anyone with questions about the services CCHC provides can call 570-748-2954.