Foundation Communities asking for help due to increased demand for rental assistance

AUSTIN, Texas - Foundation Communities has burned through money earmarked to help residents with rent and is asking for help because of an increase in demand for rental assistance.

Inflation means more people are having to ask for help with rent this year and the affordable housing nonprofit is now bracing for January, a month when they say they see the greatest need. 

After years of darkness, the sun is finally shining for Kimberly Rogers, a resident with Foundation Communities.

"I chose this one specifically because of the lighting. And I wanted to be able to look out and see the birds, you know, from my window," she said.

In 2008, on the heels of a divorce, Rogers was diagnosed with breast cancer, the start of a spiral.

"One illness after another, medication and medication changes, lots of medication, loss of this and that loss of income. Trying to adjust physically was really hard on me mentally," she said.

By 2016, her life had unraveled. She landed in Austin for treatment, eventually moving into Foundation Communities' affordable housing.

"They've helped me, you know, basically just rebuild my life," Rogers said. "Stay the course."

Even as life challenges have threatened to throw her off course, she’s been sick, so as her mother, and this past year she was furloughed. But each time, she was helped through it by a Foundation Communities financial coach and their emergency assistance fund.

"So instead of me fretting about not being able to pay rent or how am I going to do this? I was able to focus on getting the job," Rogers said.

But that fund, which helps residents pay rent and utility bills during an emergency, is now in danger.

Foundation Communities executive director Walter Moreau says the nonprofit typically budgets $150,000 annually for the fund. By this November, they had already blown through $159,000.

Now, the nonprofit is asking the community for help building the fund back, bigger and better. They want to raise $200,000.

"It's really hard for any of us to stay the course or to rebuild or to start without a foundation, which is, you know, housing," Rogers said.

Rogers currently works as a peer recovery specialist. She says she uses her own experiences to serve other, something she doesn't believe would be possible without this supportive housing. 

To learn more and to donate to the Foundation Communities emergency fund, click here.