Whistleblower: Ruled out for a home

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

The Smithers family slept in a tent for awhile this summer before finding a place to live in St. Paul. Last week, the family members gathered in their new apartment.

Members of a homeless family lost out on rental assistance because they moved into a house before the county aid paperwork was approved.

By Lora Pabst, Star Tribune

Last update: October 31, 2009 - 8:51 PM

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Matthew and Darlene Smithers were homeless for months when they finally found a rental property they could afford. They moved into the house that same day because they had been told they would likely be getting assistance from Washington County to pay their $800 damage deposit.

But a couple of weeks later, they got a letter from their case worker saying they wouldn't be getting the money. The family didn't meet the "definition of an emergency" because it moved in before the security deposit was paid.

Darlene Smithers said if someone had told her the rules, she would have waited a few days to move her three children into the property.

"Why even tell you you can get help if they won't tell you how?" Darlene said. "They just didn't make it clear."

Mary Farmer-Kubler, Washington County's financial assistance supervisor, wouldn't discuss the Smithers' case, but she said the county won't provide assistance in situations where landlords let their tenants move in before paying the damage deposit. "We would never not tell someone the different rules of the program, but we don't go through every rule of the program," she said.

This year, Matthew Smithers was working as a youth pastor at a church in Onamia, Minn., and Darlene had a job as a certified nursing assistant. But both lost their jobs this spring and were evicted from their trailer. They didn't want to take their three children to a homeless shelter, so they spent the summer camping around the metro and in their home state of Indiana. Matthew is attending North Central University to get his degree in pastoral studies, so the family needed to return to the Twin Cities by September.

"We're not your typical homeless family," Darlene said. "But in this economy, there are a lot of people like us."

Their pastor paid for a few nights' hotel stay and a woman at their church let them stay in her home for a few weeks, but the Smithers knew they needed to find their own place before it got cold.

They were looking for an apartment in September when they got good news from Washington County. If they could find a place to live, they could apply for one-time assistance to pay their damage deposit.

Darlene put up an ad on Craigslist, and a woman who owned a triplex in St. Paul responded. Darlene told the landlord that she would be getting help with the damage deposit so the landlord let the family move in that same day.

Darlene alerted her case worker about the family's plans, and was told to submit the paperwork so it could be processed right away.

The Smithers' landlord called a couple weeks later to say she hadn't heard from Washington County about the damage deposit, so Darlene called her case worker. That's when she was told that her family didn't qualify.

The case worker told her to call the Salvation Army or Ramsey County, because their new home was in St. Paul. Ramsey County immediately told Darlene she couldn't get money from it because her family had already moved in.

Farmer-Kubler said there are two basic rules that are explained to clients: the family has to be able to show that it can keep up with the rent after it gets the assistance and it has to meet the definition of an emergency. There is an 11-page document that outlines all of the program's rules, but the case workers don't always go through that with the clients, she said. If an applicant is denied, the client is referred to other social service agencies that might be able to help or the client can appeal the decision.

Darlene said she didn't see much point of appealing. Even though she likely won't be able to get the assistance anymore, she wants other families to know about her situation so they don't find out about the rules too late.

As the Smitherses settle into their apartment, and Darlene starts a new job at a mall, she and Matthew are working with the landlord to find a way to pay the damage deposit.

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