This post is part of a series highlighting Community Action’s response across Missouri to COVID-19.

When disaster strikes, people living in poverty are often disproportionately affected. A lack of resources limits a low-income family’s ability to prepare for emergencies and to recover. Families with low incomes have been significantly impacted as COVID-19 spread. 

The pandemic brought many challenges to people in the City of St. Louis—People’s Community Action Corporation’s service area—who were already struggling to make ends meet. The City of St. Louis is among the ten counties with the highest poverty rate in Missouri. The most significant challenge PCAC saw its community members face during the pandemic was how to maintain housing when income is gone. The story of a woman we’ll call Ms. Reynolds is one of many similar circumstances PCAC has addressed.

Ms. Reynolds lost her job and her housing almost overnight due to COVID-19. Her place of employment ceased operations, and she was now without a job. At the time, she was boarding a single room in a house. Yet when her college student daughter came to live with Ms. Reynolds after the college closed and sent students home, Ms. Reynolds was asked to vacate her boarding room. 

Before COVID-19, Ms. Reynolds was in the process of stabilizing her life. She worked to improve her rental history and save money, but this job and housing loss left few options and a feeling of hopelessness. Without any other support, Ms. Reynolds and her daughter checked into a hotel. The cost of food while living in a hotel, the weekly room rate, and transportation costs consumed her pandemic aid each week. She was unable to save for a deposit on an apartment of her own. 

When Ms. Reynolds came to PCAC, she had found a landlord considering taking a chance on her despite the lack of rental history, but he was still reluctant. PCAC staff reassured the landlord when he learned of the agency’s involvement in securing housing for Ms. Reynolds. With this reassurance, the property owner was open to renting. PCAC secured the apartment for Ms. Reynolds by paying the deposit and two months’ rent. Ms. Reynolds paid for an additional month using the pandemic funds as she was no longer paying the weekly hotel rate. The two women are now in their new apartment and say it is starting to feel like home. If her current place of employment does not reopen soon, Ms. Reynolds plans to work with PCAC to secure a new job.