The Tenant Resource Center is making some big decisions on November 1st. Should we shut down services and lay off staff? If so, how much and how many?
BACKGROUND AND FACTS
I’ve been involved with the Tenant Resource Center since 1995. There have been ups and downs and twists and turns and challenges, but this is probably as bad as it gets. Last year we lost $55,000 from UW Student Government and that cut in funding after more than 10 years of support took effect July 1st of this year. Two weeks ago we found out that HUD would no longer be funding us as well, starting October 1st we lost $41,000 in funding. (I just got the official notice in the mail yesterday and found out by reading it on their website even tho the funding stopped two weeks ago.) Our budget at its height was $350,000 and its now around $250,000. This would be funny if it weren’t so serious as this year we were also named “Best of Madison” and given the Editor’s Choice Award from Madison Magazine and the Isthmus named us one of the 150 Best Things about Madison.
In the past few years, we have suffered from the same fate as many non-profit organizations as public funding stays the same or decreases and costs go up. So far, we have eliminated 4 jobs, 3 part-time and 1 full-time. We no longer have 2 part-time housing counselors, a part-time mediation program coordinator and a full-time Assistant Program Director that helped us with special projects and fundraising/grantwriting. Now, we are looking at laying off one or two more people. So much for the “economic development” and “job creation” that these programs supported.
[Note: Before you jump on that “bloated non-profit feeding-off-the-system bandwagon” just let me say that after working as Executive Director since 1995 I only make about $40,000 and have no retirement. My full-time housing counselors start at the equivalent of about $12.50 per hour or $26,000 per year. Barely enough to pay for their own apartments if they have a family. Our rent actually goes down, not up due to us helping create the Social Justice Center. We run about a lean as it gets and there really is no where left to cut. We were already subsidizing our programs through fundraising and income from seminars ($20,000/year) and sales of books.]
Here’s some examples of our funding in the past few years:
CDBG Funding (Community Development Block Grant funding for mediation program.)
2004 – $10,000
2005 – $10,149
2006 – $9,651
2007 – $10,514
ESG Funding (Emergency Shelter Grant money that comes through the CDBG office from state funds and is spent for mediation at small claims court on Tuesday for evictions.)
2004 – 2005 $12,250
2005 – 2006 $12,000
2006 – 2007 $11,000
2007 – 2008 $9,200
Office of Community Services (Funds housing counseling Monday – Friday and outreach and education efforts including community presentations, press contacts and public service announcements, tabling at events and other outreach efforts)
2004 – $40,012
2005 – $40,972
2006 – $42,037
2007 – $43,550
[Note: I should disclose that I am an Alderperson and the three funding sources above come from or through the City of Madison. I do not vote on those budget and other TRC staff deal directly with City staff on these contracts. Our Board of Directors makes all decisions about these funding sources and signs the contracts.]
Dane County (Funds the Housing Help Desk and housing counseling, outreach and education and mediation outside the City of Madison as well as a housing vacancy list.)
2004 – $100,613
2005 – $100,613
2006 – $100,613
2007 – $101,623
[Note: During this time period, in addition to getting basically stagnant funding, they have added $10,400 in direct costs that they previously have paid for to our budget. So this is essentially a cut by that amount in addition to lack of cost of living increases.]
University of Wisconsin – SSFC Funding (Student Fees) (This funded housing counseling and outreach and education on the UW Campus)
2004 – 2005 $59,984
2005 – 2006 $53,202
2006 – 2007 $56,523
2007 – 2008 $0
HUD – (This funded the toll free hotline for housing counseling and follow up for those people outside Dane County. We had a toll-free number 10 years ago so this is the second time we have had to cut this service, which is absurd given the start up costs for programs like these.)
2004 – 2005 – $62,310
2005 – 2006 – $55,727
2006 – 2007 – $41,017
2007 – 2008 – $0
It’s truly a death by a thousand cuts. Unfortunately, these funding decisions have nothing to do with outcomes or meeting goals, which we almost always exceed in pretty good numbers. Most of these funding decisions are made based on other budgets that are being stretched as far as they can or changes rules and priorities. And, I have to say, that there are plenty other non-profits out there in the community suffering from the same issues.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
What this means for the Tenant Resource Center is that we are cutting services and will not be able to help the people that we serve throughout the state and here in Dane County. Our toll-free number that we ran for that last few years that helped thousands of people is shut down. We stopped answering emails and we cut the hours we are open. We used to be open Monday – Friday 9 – 6 but now until the end of the year we will be closing at 4:00 except on Wednesday where we will be open until 6.
The largest numbers of calls that we get are about evictions, repairs, return of security deposit and breaking a lease. 90% of the people we help are tenants and 10% are smaller landlords. All of these folks will be able to look at our website for information, but we won’t be able to help them beyond that unless they call from a local number.
In 2006, we served the following people:
- 6,724 people called or stopped by to get assistance with housing counseling, information or referral.
- 1,480 calls came in statewide through our 800 number and received follow up assistance.
- 634 people attended our local workshops or presentations
- 106,940 people visited our website
- 1,084 people received in depth assistance from the Housing Help Desk, with an additional 6,732 people stopping by to get “quick” information
- 205 families were able to avoid eviction through assistance from our Housing Crisis Fund
- 787 people resolved their rental housing disputes through 645 mediations
We’re going to try to continue to meet these needs, plus the needs of the many people who are just finding out about our services, but we do need your help!
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
- Donate on-line.
- Tell your friends, neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances to donate on-line.
- Attend our fundraiser on October 26th from 5 – 7 at the Brink Lounge at 701 E Washington Ave. (suggested donation $20 but all encouraged to attend, regardless of size of donation) and participate in the silent auction.
- Volunteer to be a housing counselor or office assistant.
- Consider becoming a “sustaining member” of the Tenant Resource Center.
- Donate through workplace giving campaigns through Community Shares of Wisconsin.
WHAT WILL WE DO?
- Write grants to replace the lost funding.
- Continue to run as lean as we can without completely exploiting our workers.
- Continue to serve as many people as we can within the limits of our funding issues.
- Set up a “sustaining membership” program.
- Continue to make money through the sales of our books and seminars and other services to fill the gaps to support the programs.
- Do our best to deal with the increase in phone calls from people with housing problems that will likely result from this additional publicity.
- Whatever it takes to serve the people who need our help as long as its legal and ethical.
