COLUMBIA − Love Columbia is kicking off the holiday season with a gift for people who are at risk of eviction.
The Home for the Holidays campaign launched on Sunday and already has more than $7,000 from the community. The Veterans United Foundation donated $50,000 to the campaign, which was then matched by QuesTec Mechanical.
The goal is to raise $150,000 to help families stay in their homes. The monetary goal would give 150 families in the community $1,000 for rent assistance.
The median gross rent in Columbia was $968 in 2022, according to the the U.S. Census Bureau.
Jane Williams, the executive director of Love Columbia, said she has noticed the increase need this year.
“Close to two-thirds of our calls here at Love Columbia are about housing instability, either you need help keeping your housing or finding housing. That’s over 3,000 requests just this year,” she said.
Earlier this year, the State Assistance for Housing Relief (SAFR) program stopped accepting applications for assisting tenants with past due rent balances.
“After 2020 there was more government funding to prevent evictions. That funding has now returned basically to normal levels,” Williams said. “The problem is rent didn’t return to what is the normal levels.”
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The nonprofit is focusing on families for the campaign. A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that helping parents with stable housing can help reduce the risk of children entering foster care or involvement in the child welfare system.
“One thing we’ve noticed is that families, in particular, are struggling, larger families that need a larger place to rent,” Williams said.
From Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, Love Columbia helped 574 households maintain their housing and avoid eviction.
The Veterans United Foundation has been a Love Columbia partner since 2011. Erika Pryor, manager of the Veterans United Foundation, said it wanted to help support the nonprofit.
“We knew that we wanted that to be something that was even beyond what we, Veterans United Foundation, could support but really rallying and bringing in the greater community to see what kind of positive impact we could make,” she said.
Williams said the foundation has been instrumental in outreach to get other businesses to donate to the cause. American Shoe, Bank of Missouri, Central Bank of Boone County, Columbia Healthy Smiles, Hawthorn Bank, Tammy Willis Iron Gate Real Estate, MFA Foundation, Wilson Fitness and Withrow Electric have all donated.
“It’s a lot bigger than just our community here, but I think it’s something that definitely we could take some positive strides forward and we’re hopeful that this is one start of that,” Pryor said.
Donations can be made to the campaign on CoMoGives.com or directly to Love Columbia. The goal is to continue to take donations throughout the winter. However, Williams said Love Columbia appreciates help any time of year.