Morris County residents struggling to make their rents during the pandemic may get some help from Greater Morristown clergy and nonprofits.
They are soliciting donations for a rent relief fund.
“We have wonderful organizations addressing food needs. Then we started hearing from grass-roots, on-the-ground organizations that rent relief would be a real issue,” said Pastor Dave Smazik of the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, a member of the Morris Area Clergy Council.
The council is working with New Jersey Together, a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Jersey City; the Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center; and the Morristown Neighborhood House and its parent organization, Cornerstone Family Programs.
Gov. Phil Murphy arranged in March for lenders to give property owners a 90-day grace period on mortgage payments during the coronavirus crisis. New Jersey Together says its partners sent letters to more than 200 Morristown landlords over the last week asking them to pass along these savings to tenants in need.
The relief fund, to be administered by Cornerstone, is meant to help struggling tenants with a portion of their rents, Smazik said.
Those in need will be asked to show their loss of income, regardless of citizenship status. Payments will go directly to landlords, with nonprofits Wind of the Spirit and Empower the Village assisting with distribution, according to New Jersey Together.
Patrice Picard, CEO of Morristown-based Cornerstone, said application details are being worked out.
In Morristown, more than 60 percent of households (more than 4,500) are renters; in Morris Township, tenants comprise about one-fourth of households (more than 2,000),New Jersey Together says.
Extrapolating from New Jersey’s unemployment rate of 15 percent, New Jersey Together estimates that between 750 and 1,000 renting households in Morristown and Morris Township may need rental help.
Earlier this month, the state Legislature passed a $100 million rent relief bill. The governor has not signed it yet.
The Greater Morristown group includes Bethel A.M.E. Church, Calvary Baptist Church, the Center for Spiritual Living, the Church of God in Christ For All Saints, the Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Morris Habitat for Humanity, the Morristown Stake of the Church of Latter Day Saints, the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, Morristown United for Healthy Living, St. Mark Lutheran Church, St. Margaret’s Catholic Church, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and Temple B’nai Or.
Some of these organizations worked with the Table of Hope and the Morris School District to provide lunches for disadvantaged students during the spring break in April.
The Rev. Luana Cook, pastor of the Morristown United Methodist Church, urged the public to contribute to the rent fund.
“This health crisis has reminded everyone how we are all in this together and how we need to care for those who are on the margins. This is one concrete way we can all step up to support our neighbors in need,” Cook said in a statement.
