BETHLEHEM, Pa. (WLVT) - Darryl Piper jokes that he lives at New Bethany Ministries, but the truth is that the Bethlehem nonprofit helped him stay in the home he rents in the city's south side.
COVID-19 has put financial pressure on landlords and tenants across the country. New Bethany has actively been helping individuals and families with rental assistance.
"A lot of people, unfortunately, have lost their job or have had shortened hours at their jobs, creating some difficulty and having the finances to pay their rent, and in some situations simply pay their rent in its entirety," said director of operations Veronne Demesyeux.
Piper lost his warehouse job at Walmart just before the pandemic. He had worked there for five years and said he was laid off after making a trip to California to care for his mother, who had a medical emergency.
While Piper looked for other work, he was waiting on unemployment benefits and his tax return. However, all of the paperwork had been sent to a different address, and Piper said he had to re-apply for unemployment, when the deadlines to respond had passed.
Piper said he fell behind on bills and rent. He said his landlord put their house up for sale without telling him and threatening to evict him.
"What I was worried about I didn't know when. Nobody gave me time, you know?" Piper said. "No notices. That's the thing where I'm like, 'Could it happen any day now?' That was going through my mind several times."
Pennsylvania received $150 million in CARES Act funding specifically for rental assistance. This relief program is one way New Bethany is helping people like Piper, but in order to get that money, renters have to get through plenty of paperwork.
"We need the proof of their lease," Demesyeux said. "We need the proof of their pay prior to the pandemic. We need the proof of their pay after the pandemic. We need to identify other individuals that are in the household that might be assisting and paying the rent."
Demesyeux said New Bethany has processed 235 applications so far, and time is running out. The deadline to apply for the CARES Rent Relief Program is Wednesday, November 4. Demesyeux said it's prepared to help in other ways if that deadline isn’t extended.
"Luckily for us, we will have other programs that hopefully people will meet the requirements for, and we would be able to provide them assistance through that," she said.
Piper said volunteering at New Bethany helped him stay focused.
"I just tried to keep my head up, but then, it finally hit me," he said. "'Hey, you need help.' A closed mouth [doesn’t] get fed, so I opened my mouth."
Piper worked with New Bethany to figure out his finances. The nonprofit paid off several of his bills and two months of rent. Piper said that was thousands of dollars he didn’t have.
"During the time I was going through what I was going through -- didn't know which way I was gonna go, what's going to happen next -- and then, to get relief like that, from getting assistance from someone is a blessing. It was a blessing," he said.
"Once you have some place to lay your head comfortably, then you can achieve all of your other goals," Demesyeux said. "But until that's done, it's going to be tough to get anything else in your life done."
"You got responsibilities. You can't run from them, because it's going to keep coming behind you. They will continue piling up, but it's all a challenge," Piper said. "This is all a challenge, and all I can say for those in this situation is take one day at a time. Keep your head up. Keep your faith."
Piper said he’s expecting to find another warehouse job soon. He’s also planning to get his commercial driver’s license, so, he can hit the road as a truck driver and finally meet his first grandchild, who was born around Christmas.
To learn more about the CARES Rent Relief Program, click HERE.
To learn more about New Bethany's rental relief programs, click HERE.