Rainier Valley Food Bank's Financial Counseling Service Helpline Provides Rental Assistance to Qualifying Clients

Until last year, South Seattle was the only area in the city that did not have a financial helpline through a food bank. Since Rainier Valley Food Bank (RVFB) established its financial counseling service in 2023, it has been able to provide clients with both food and financial assistance through donor support and funding from the City of Seattle.

"Twenty-seven percent of people in our service area are food insecure compared to the Washington State average of 10%," said Kathy Ulrich, developmental director at RVFB.

While its financial counseling service is new, RVFB has been around since 1991. Formerly known as Northwest Community Services, a volunteer-led neighborhood pantry that served about 50 families each week, RVFB has been a fixture in the Rainier Beach neighborhood for the last 33 years.

In the last year, RVFB has received approximately 184,152 visits, distributed over 1.2 million pounds of food, and delivered food to 350 households.

In South Seattle, 37% of residents live at or below an income that is less than twice the official federal poverty guideline for their household size. Nearly 80% of children in South Seattle's neighborhood schools qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, drastically higher than the Seattle School District average of 33%.

There are currently about 165 clients requesting rental and utility assistance through RVFB's helpline, totaling up to $512,995.67. Only 47 of these applicants have been approved.

"There's a wide range of clients. [We have] some people who are several thousands of dollars behind. And unfortunately, the funding that we can support [clients] with is not enough for that," said Viridiana Ortiz, outreach coordinator at RVFB. "With most of our clients though, the payments that we make are able to meet the payments they have set up with their landlord in order to stay housed for the next few months to come up with the rest of the money."

According to Ortiz, her favorite part about working with the helpline is getting to know her clients better so she can help address their other needs.

"When a client is in need of rental assistance, we see what other things we can support with, whether it's groceries to supplement some of that or even buying diapers and clothes for children, which is a really big expense for families," she said. "When we really get down to talking about why they're behind [on rent], it just unveils all these other resources they're in need of and what our community is really going through."

Alongside rental assistance, RVFB also works with clients to help them look for jobs. Ortiz said landlords are more willing to work with tenants when they understand that an outside service like RVFB is involved.

"Some of our clients are also receiving some of our other services, like support with applying for jobs and creating resumes and cover letters," she said. "We do a really good job of advocating for our clients and letting landlords know that they're working with us … I think it does give them a little bit more confidence to know that a tenant is actively working on paying this rent off."

In order to receive rental assistance with RVFB, clients must meet a few qualifications. "Because we have limited funding and it really comes down to eviction prevention, we are considered a last resort. They have to have applied for rental assistance at other agencies. If they haven't, we hand them a list of resources, and we're always happy to support with making those phone calls," Ortiz said.