Finding Help: Resources & Housing Stability
Welcome back to the Housing Stability Digest! Today we’re discussing resources. Creative solutions often emerge from exploring options and identifying the ingredients that may be able to help a situation. Knowing what resources are available can help prevent conflicts, facilitate resolution, and improve one’s quality of life.
For this post, we’ve compiled a list of relevant resources - highlighting some starting points for getting support and exploring what is available to you, or those you serve. Building on those resources, read on for our recent interview with the Whatcom Asset Building Coalition (WABC), which is filled with helpful insights!
Included in this article:
Full Resource List
Our resource list is not exhaustive, and we’ve intended to focus on programs likely to be ongoing. There are also many other opportunities and resources worth knowing about, and we’ve included other resource boards and databases where you can stay up to date.
Helpful Starting Points
Washington Connection: Washington Connection can do a pre-screening to see what programs or services you or your family may be qualified to receive from various State, Federal, or Local sources. Families and individuals can apply for a variety of services such as Food, Cash, Child Care, Long-Term Care, and Medicare Savings Programs. Individuals that are age 65 or older, blind or disabled may also apply for medical assistance. To learn more and apply for benefits, visit: https://www.washingtonconnection.org/home/
Whatcom Community Resource Center (Opportunity Council): The Whatcom Community Resource Center is a program through the Opportunity Council that helps connect clients to support for housing, bills, food, or other basic needs. Services available at the Resource Center include:
Information about services and referrals to different programs*
Applying for Basic Food Benefits
Accessing a telephone
Obtaining official Washington State ID (Find current Access ID clinic dates)
Picking up or dropping off documents related to an Opportunity Council Program
Information and screening for housing services - including coordinated entry and homelessness prevention services when available. Information about housing programs can be found at https://www.oppco.org/basic-needs/housing/
Bellingham area: Call (360)-734-5121, or visit in person at 1111 Cornwall Avenue, Monday-Friday, 9am to 4pm. https://www.oppco.org/locations/whatcom/
East County residents (Maple Falls, Kendall, Deming, Sumas, etc.): Call (360) 599-3944 or visit in person at 8251 Kendall Rd, Mon-Wed & Fri 9AM-12PM & 1-4PM; Thurs 12-7PM
https://www.oppco.org/ewrrc/
Resource Databases
WA 211: You can call 211 for information about statewide assistance programs (or visit wa211.org).
Whatcom Resource Directory: A useful search tool where you can find a variety of organizations serving Whatcom County residents. These include nonprofits, government agencies, self-help support groups, mutual aid groups, advocacy organizations, and for-profit providers offering free or affordable services in health, social, educational, and human service areas. https://whatcomresources.org/
Whatcom County Library System: The library offers this collected database of community resources to help in the event of emergencies and other difficult situations.https://www.wcls.org/community-resources/
What is Asset Building?
Interview with Edith Tate of WABC and Opportunity Council
These thoughts and statements are from an interview on April 24, 2024. The WDRC is gathering this information to raise awareness and understanding of the resources and opportunities in our area and help community members more easily find and access what they need. We are not the authority on these resources, and we encourage you to reach out to providers to learn more and stay up to date on changes that may occur.
Asset Funders Network defines asset building as “a set of strategies that facilitate economic security by creating and protecting opportunities for low-income individuals, families, and communities to save and invest in themselves, their futures, and their communities by expanding access to financial opportunities, social resources, and good health”. (Boguslaw et al., 2015, p. 16)
We all want to live without the constant risk of losing our home at the next unforeseen emergency. When community members bring their housing conflicts to mediation, there are often many factors affecting their situation. For a situation involving overdue rent payments for example, a resolution to retain housing, catch up, and potentially rebuild trust in future payments may require exploring how improving other aspects of a renter’s situation can support greater resilience.
One way to support this financial resilience is through building assets. Edith Tate is the Community Services Program Specialist at Opportunity Council, and part of her role is coordinating the Whatcom Asset Building Coalition. We spoke with Edith to understand more about asset building, what roadblocks make it challenging, and where to start.
The Whatcom Asset Building Coalition (WABC) is composed of local organizations and stakeholders collaborating to support financial literacy, financial wellness, and access to asset-building opportunities. Throughout Washington, asset building coalitions are funded through the state legislature, and Opportunity Council holds the grant for ours in Whatcom County.
So, what does it mean to build assets? Edith explains that without assets, folks are likely living paycheck to paycheck and may be hit hard by an unexpected crisis, job loss, or other financial hardship. Building assets is the way individuals, households or communities gather a variety of resources to forge a path towards long-term financial stability. An important part of Edith’s work is focused on education, outreach, and advocacy to address some of the common barriers for people trying to build assets, such as access to banking, job training skills, and credit-building opportunities.
When people hear the word “assets” they tend to think of objects and things - hard assets. But there “are hard assets and soft assets,” says Edith. “We deal a lot with the soft assets side, which would include access to credit, credit scores, job skills, social networks. Hard assets would be like cash savings or a car.”
Asset Funders Network, n.d. - “What is Asset Building?”
An example of this work is supporting alternative and more accessible ways of building credit. As Edith points out, “one of the main ways you build credit is through homeownership, which just isn’t an option for some people.” One of these alternative approaches is the concept of rent reporting. This is a pretty new idea, but here’s how it works: “When you’re paying your rent on time, it isn’t getting reported to any credit bureaus, so it’s not really working for you as a credit building tool. Whereas, if you’re paying a mortgage payment, it is getting reported to the credit bureaus.” The landlord would need to opt-in for reporting a tenant’s rent payments to the credit bureaus, and sometimes there may be a fee involved. Rent reporting could be an opportunity for collaboration between landlords and tenants. WABC is working on an event focused on rent reporting to share more about how this works and how people might use it.
Of course, different resources and services are more relevant at different times depending upon an individual’s circumstances. Someone without income or housing has more urgent basic needs to consider, and may not be in a position to explore how to build assets. The asset building tools available through WABC are particularly relevant to what United Way considers “ALICE” individuals, standing for Asset Limited, Income-Constrained, and Employed – essentially those who are above the poverty line but still not making enough to afford the cost of living in their area. According to the 2021 United Way report, 24% of households in Washington State fell into this category (United Ways of the Pacific Northwest, 2024). Edith observes that “a lot of stuff relies on being 200% below the federal poverty line, but there are a lot of people above that who are still having a hard time making ends meet.”
So if you aren’t in a position to start building assets, what can you do? Edith suggests going to Opportunity Council’s community resource center as a good place to start. On the WABC website they also have a resource library with guides for essentials like clothing, food (including food pantries and free community meals), tax resources, and emergency shelters - which are regularly updated. “That's a useful tool for folks just looking for a list of stuff all in one spot.”
WABC, Opportunity Council, and associated projects - how it all connects
Another helpful search tool is the Whatcom Resource Directory, which is housed on the WABC website. Edith explains that this database, which started as a project of WABC and now has grown legs of its own, can be very useful for folks wanting to research resources on their own.
WABC is helpful for service providers too. In order for people to access the resources they need, those offering referrals have to be well-informed. With the wide array of resources available, helping someone access the most viable options can be a big challenge. As Edith illuminates, “When we are all able to connect with each other, we are better able to serve people.”
The Community Resource Network (CRN) is a project of the WABC designed to help with just this. With a newsletter twice a month and monthly meetings, this is an important platform for service providers to share details about resources and support one another. “For anyone who is a service provider, going to the CRN meeting is super helpful”.
Without a base of resources to draw on in times of need, maintaining stable housing over the course of a lifetime is a major concern. Exploring asset-building opportunities can be a critical way to approach long-term stability in an individual’s housing and housing-related relationships and offer more options for addressing the conflicts and hardships that are a natural part of life.
Explore Further
Financial Literacy and Renters Education Course: Opportunity Council’s FLARE course is a FREE series of eight consecutive classes designed to increase adults’ knowledge on money habits, saving strategies, budget skills, credit, and landlord/tenant law. https://www.oppco.org/flare-registration/
Asset Funders Network: https://assetfunders.org/the-issue/what-is-asset-building/ and AFN fact sheet
Rent Reporting information: https://www.rentreportingcenter.org/
Whatcom Asset Building Coalition: A community collaboration supporting financial self-sufficiency through education and advocacy. Their website offers a variety of resources for financial stability and improving quality of life. Visit https://www.whatcomabc.org/
Whatcom Resource Directory: A useful search tool where you can find a variety of organizations serving Whatcom County residents. These include nonprofits, government agencies, self-help support groups, mutual aid groups, advocacy organizations, and for-profit providers offering free or affordable services in health, social, educational, and human service areas. https://whatcomresources.org/
Whatcom Community Resource Network A project of the WABC founded as a platform for sharing resources and opportunities in the community. https://www.whatcomabc.org/crn/
References
Asset Funders Network. (n.d). What is Asset Building?. Retrieved May 28, 2024 from https://assetfunders.org/the-issue/what-is-asset-building/
Boguslaw, J., Behe, K., & Taylor, J. (2015). Strategic Philanthropy, Integrating investments in asset building: a framework for impact. Retrieved May 28, 2024, from https://assetfunders.org/wp-content/uploads/StrategicPhilanthropy_Investments_Brief.pdf
United Ways of the Pacific Northwest. (2024). Alice in the Crosscurrents: 2024 Update. United for ALICE. Retrieved May 28, 2024 from https://www.unitedforalice.org/Attachments/AllReports/2024-ALICE-Update-WA-FINAL-v2.pdf