Eviction Of Families Avoided By Arlington Church's Donation Of $200K

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington Presbyterian Church donated $200,000 to ensure that about 200 families who live in apartment complexes owned by Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing will not be evicted from their homes.

The church's donation — described by Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey as “an incredible act of generosity” — means that families who are struggling to make ends meet in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and who are in arrears in paying their rent will have their rental debt eliminated by the gift from Arlington Presbyterian Church.

The $200,000 gift from the church will cover the rent owed by families who live at APAH-owned apartment complexes along Columbia Pike, including Gilliam Place, Columbia Hills and Buchanan Gardens.

“I wanted to spotlight this because it is truly an example of help being delivered, even if it’s not the government being the ones to deliver the help,” Dorsey said at the county board’s March 21 meeting.

Federal, state and local government resources are no longer available in the same supply that they were during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent people from getting evicted.

“Those resources are drying up and dissipating,” Dorsey said. “And Arlington County’s ability to provide eviction assistance is constrained by our budget, even though we are doing substantially more than we have before.”

The gap in government funding is leaving a lot of families vulnerable, he noted.

Rev. Ashley Goff, pastor at Arlington Presbyterian Church, said the church learned from Carmen Romero, president and CEO of Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, that pandemic subsidies that renters had been using to avoid eviction were ending at the end of February.

"The last thing they want to do is evict anyone," Goff said.

When the church asked APAH how much money they need to prevent the eviction of families who live in their apartment complexes, Romero said $100,000.

Goff said she then asked the congregation at Arlington Presbyterian Church what they should do. "And someone said, 'We need to write a check,'" Goff said at the March 21 board meeting. "And we did, and we actually doubled it because Carmen came back and said the need was greater."

"This is what neighbors do when there is a crisis," Goff said.

Low-income households are experiencing hardship now that safety nets provided earlier in the pandemic are no longer available, Romero said.

"APAH is committed to ensuring that its residents have a stable place to call home, and we are grateful to have a partner like Arlington Presbyterian Church who shares our mission," Romero said in a news release. "Our hope is that APC’s generosity inspires more community partners to join them in helping our neighbors remain housed."