![]() ![]() ![]() There is funding available through ERAP to help people pay for rent, but “there is very little housing available,” Goodwin said. To qualify for the ERAP program, which also provides home heating, internet, rental and utility assistance, people are required to show that they have a household income of 80% or less of the area median income (in Grafton County, this is a limit of about $49,000 for a single person and $70,000 for a four-person household) have experienced financial hardship related to the COVID-19 pandemic and show that they are at risk of homelessness. While the Sunset Motor Inn off Route 10 in West Lebanon also accepts ERAP referrals, Goodwin said, the Quality Inn “is the only hotel I know of that the entire hotel is working with Tri-County Community Action.” As more housing is being built in Lebanon, only “a very small percentage is affordable for low- and moderate-income folks,” Goodwin said. Landlords were raising rents as the market allowed. She said the change was because there were “more people experiencing homelessness that needed temporary shelter.”Įven prior to the pandemic, the Upper Valley was facing a housing crisis. Before that, about 20 of the inn’s rooms were regularly filled with ERAP participants, said Lynne Goodwin, Lebanon’s human services director. It’s just since April that all of the Quality Inn’s rooms have been taken up by participants in the program, some of whom like Carter originally hail from outside the Upper Valley. The federal funds for the ERAP program covering Carter’s stay at the inn, and that of the other 47 households filling the motel’s rooms, come through New Hampshire Housing and Tri-County Community Action. This is the perfect opportunity for people to clean up their s-.”Ĭarter, who also has had a heart attack and stroke, which have left him with limited use of one hand and that he said were related to exposure to burn pits, moved to the Quality Inn a few months ago after a stay in a transitional living facility in Manchester. “This stability is basically what’s keeping me sober,” said Carter, a 39-year-old veteran who said he has post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his service. LEBANON - Speaking in the parking lot outside the Quality Inn off Route 120 in Lebanon earlier this month, Craig Carter credited the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which covers the cost of his stay at the motel, with aiding in his recovery from alcoholism. Send requests to Valley News / Report For America - Alex Driehaus May not be reprinted or used online without permission. (Valley News / Report For America - Alex Driehaus) Copyright Valley News. The hotel has become a de facto homeless shelter, housing individuals and families in all 48 rooms through the federally-funded Emergency Rental Assistance Program facilitated by New Hampshire Housing and Tri-County Community Action. The Quality Inn on Route 120 in Lebanon, N.H., on Wednesday, July 27, 2022. Wormelle, who is disabled and sometimes uses a scooter as a mobility aid, said that she encountered several accessibility issues while staying at the hotel, like a lack of automatic doors, and generally felt like she was left on her own to find the resources she needed. ![]() Wormelle is sleeping in her car after being evicted last week from the Quality Inn where she had been living since April. Window._PLUGIN_STATE_ = JSON.Kristy Wormelle, center, talks to her son Gage Oakes, left, while his daughter Serenity, 5, plays with Wormelle’s service dog Chino at Riverside Park in Lebanon, N.H., on Friday, July 29, 2022. ![]()
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