The New Westminster Rent Bank has seen a surge in requests for loans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since June 2017, the rent bank has been providing low-cost loans to residents who are at risk of eviction and/or at risk of having their utilities disconnected.
“During the first three months of the pandemic (i.e. March 1 to May 31, 2020), the program issued 22 loans for a total of $27,462,” said a staff report to council. “If this pace of demand continues for the next nine months, this would result in 88 loans for a total of $109,848. This would be a dramatic increase when compared to the fiscal year (April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020) in which the program issued 37 loans for a total of $40,775.”
The rent bank provides loans of up to $1,400 for individuals and up to $1,700 for families. The Lower Mainland Purpose Society operates the rent bank in New West.
On July 13, city council approved a staff recommendation to continue to fund the administrative costs of the New Westminster Rent Bank program. The city will contribute $35,000 annually for a three-year period from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31, 2023.
According to the report, the province has provided $48,400, with another $42,820 having been requested for the program. The city previously provided onetime funding of $100,000 to the rent bank in March to expand administrative and loan capacity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The program has a demonstrated need,” said the report. “It has been highly effective in preventing evictions and essential utility disconnections; it is one of the city’s tools in preventing homelessness; it has facilitated partnerships, including with the financial sector; and it has leveraged provincial funding,” said the report. “Regarding the latter, this was an objective of the program from its initiation.”
In 2015, New Westminster MLA Judy Darcy and her constituency office staff began working on the concept of creating a rent bank in New West by meeting with stakeholders and seeking financial contributions toward an endowment fund. After securing $35,000 in donations from a number of financial organizations, Darcy and her team received a commitment from city council in 2016 to support the program and to contribute $20,000 annually for three years (increased to $35,000 in December 2018) to cover administrative costs associated with operating a rent bank.
"If you prevent homelessness, you prevent that downward spiral that is really, really hard for people to get out of," Darcy told council when seeking the city’s support for the rent bank. "There are a lot of people who are one paycheque away from being homeless."
