The eviction moratorium has been extended. What does that mean for our families?

2020 was an incredibly difficult year for many. Although we would have wished for normality with the new year, it sadly was not the case. The United States continues to report the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases, and California remains as the leading state with surging case numbers. Many Americans are still unemployed or furloughed with no clear sign of when they will return to work.

As we enter the second year of the pandemic, millions of renters continue to experience economic hardships while their overdue rent payments pile up. With the economy suffering, government officials have been urged to extend the Federal Eviction Moratorium that was set to end on January 31, 2020. President Biden extended the moratorium by two months while states and cities made decisions to extend their own eviction moratoriums.

In late January, Cal Matters reported that a new legislative agreement would extend the eviction moratorium until the end of June while giving incentives to landlords to forgive overdue rent utilizing $2.6 billion in federal relief.

The New York Times published an article detailing the pandemic’s toll on the existing housing crisis and even mentions Family Promise.

“Claas Ehlers, chief executive of Family Promise, a homeless-prevention nonprofit that has more than 200 affiliates in 43 states, said people without leases constituted an outsize share of the group’s requests for rental aid and assistance.”

You can find the article HERE.

At Family Promise Orange County, we work diligently to provide support to families experiencing homelessness, including rental assistance. While the extension provides temporary relief to vulnerable renters, we need to continue to advocate for nationwide rental assistance until the end of the pandemic.

Reflections on Family Homelessness

Today is Ash Wednesday, which begins the start of Lent for our Christian friends. This is a time of seasonal reflection, and we thought we would take the opportunity to provide some educational awareness of the challenges families experiencing homelessness face.

About 35% of the homeless population in the United States, consists of families with children. The lack of permanent shelter for these children drastically affects their lives. They are not only affected emotionally, but health wise as well. Children experiencing homelessness get four times as many respiratory infections, twice as many ear infections, and are four times more likely to have asthma than housed children.

So what causes homelessness? One of the main causes for a family to end up without a home is that there is a lack of housing for low-income families. Only 25% of those considered eligible for federal housing assistance receive help, due to lack of funding. There has recently been an increase in evictions because the cost of living is constantly rising. It is hard for low-income families to keep up with rising housing prices, when their income isn’t doing the same.

As we enter this season of reflection, we ask you to keep the families we serve in your hearts and spirits. For ways you can help our families this Lenten season, please visit our Get Involved Page.

Meet the Crew - Cyndee Albertson

Cyndee is our wonderful Executive Director of Family Promise of Orange County. Cyndee is passionate about furthering the mission of Family Promise in order to help as many families experiencing homelessness as possible.

While Cyndee is an Orange County native, she previously resided in London, England for two years. While living abroad, she had the unique experience of working as a Psychiatric Social Worker. She holds both a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and an MBA. With 30 years of leadership experience under her belt, Cyndee has dedicated the last 12 years of her career to the direction of high-performing programs that are designed to end homelessness, food insecurity, and multi-generational poverty.

She has led Family Promise of Orange County since November 2017, and is a big reason for the growth that the program has seen over the past few years. She is responsible for ensuring and maintaining Family Promise of Orange County’s service quality and financial sustainability. She has achieved this by successfully diversifying the organization’s fund development efforts. In 2020, Family Promise of Orange County served 65 families, which is 35% more families than in 2019. In the challenging year that was 2020, Ms. Albertson, her three employees, and hundreds of volunteers ensured 269 Orange County residents, including 170 children, had food, supplies, and most importantly, homes.

Outside of her duties at Family Promise of Orange County, Cyndee resides in Placentia with her husband, Mike. Together they have four adult children, three of whom are still in college. In her spare time she is an avid runner and continues on her quest to run a marathon in every state.