Move-In Money

Economists talk about barriers to entry to discuss how difficult it is for an entrepreneur to break into a competitive market. How much capital will they need to get started? Are there complicated licensing or other legal requirements that have to be overcome?

It’s helpful to apply that idea to the problem of homelessness in Indian River County. While the reasons people become homeless are varied and often complex, every once in a while, the solution is less so.

For some of the homeless people in our county, the major barrier standing between them and their desire for a safe place to live inside can be summed up in three words: first, last, and security, the up-front money typically required to sign a lease.

Take Jeremy, a young man who had just landed an entry-level job with a local employer. He had a regular paycheck, enough income each month to pay a modest rent, but no family to help him get launched. Or the couple who were sleeping in their car with their one-year-old twins. They showed up at United Against Poverty simply looking for suggestions for safe places to park. They, too, had an income that would allow them to pay a modest rent. What neither they nor Jeremy had was the ability to save enough to pay the first and last month’s rent and a security deposit at one time.

For the past two years, the Crisis Management team at United Against Poverty has been leveraging a $150,000 grant from the New York based Gerstner Foundation to provide one-time assistance of up to $3,000 to provide move-in money to remove this barrier. To qualify for the program, recipients need to have a monthly income equal to double the rent. They are responsible for finding the apartment, although the team assists in the search as they are able.

In the first year, before the money ran out in June, sixty-six individuals or families went from unhoused to housed. All but two of them have remained that way. This year, the money lasted until August and has helped seventy-two families move from the woods or their car into safe housing. United Against Poverty can reapply for the grant every two years.

Move-in money isn’t a panacea for solving the housing crisis in Indian River County. Finding affordable housing remains a huge challenge. But creative solutions like this one can help move the needle. At least as long as the money lasts.