ORLANDO, Fla. — When Tashay Bryant realized her savings were running thin earlier this summer, she took action. Bryant applied and was accepted for future emergency rental assistance (ERA) from Our Florida, a federally-funded program administered by the state. She also paid August rent early, thinking it would both help her family stay stably housed and show the property manager she was reliable: a double win.

Now, Bryant fears she may have been wrong on both counts. The property manager called Bryant’s early rent payment “fishy” in a text message sent earlier this month, and also refused to participate in the Our Florida program, according to documents and texts Bryant shared with Spectrum News. 

Across the country and here in Central Florida, some landlords are refusing to accept ERA payments on behalf of their tenants. While the reasons vary, program administrators believe many landlords just don’t want to participate in a government program, according to a July study published by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. 

Eventually, Bryant was approved and received payment from Our Florida, allowing the family to make September rent. But her property manager’s delayed responses and lack of participation cost the family hundreds of dollars in late fees and a mountain of fear and uncertainty, according to Bryant.

She and her wife, Kristina, are focused on raising their baby Tahj, born with help from a donor just before the coronavirus pandemic began. The family is also preparing for Bryant’s upcoming surgery, an invasive procedure to relieve pressure from behind Bryant’s eyes that could cause blindness if left untreated.

All of those challenges, coupled together with Bryant recently losing a construction job due to a COVID-19 outbreak, make for a highly stressful situation. A “domino effect,” as Bryant puts it – but the family is nowhere close to giving up.

“We’re no longer living for ourselves; we’re living for him,” Bryant said of their son Tahj. “Whether we get evicted or not, we’re still going to keep pushing forward.”

While the family's caught up on rent for now, they're not sure their housing situation is secure. In recent texts to Bryant, the property manager has both said she doesn't plan to evict, and also referenced the company's "consideration of continuing the lease" – which is current, through January. The Bryants have started a GoFundMe for relocation expenses. 

"It’s hard to believe that I became this way"

Bryant is no stranger to hardship. The 31-year-old aged out of the foster care system at 19, she says, placing her in the relatively small percentage of foster youth who don’t reunify with a guardian or primary caretaker after reaching adulthood. In 2019, more than 20,000 foster care youth fell into this category, according to federal data. 

“When I fall and I become homeless, or when I’m behind on bills, I fall hard,” Bryant said. “There’s no one to catch me, no couch I can sleep on … it’s just me.”

She’s been homeless before: in 2016, the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida published a video featuring Bryant performing original spoken word poetry, an art form Bryant finds therapeutic.

“It’s hard to believe that I became this way. I feel like a dog, a homeless stray,” Bryant recites in the poem. 

Bryant still loves to write and perform, recently winning a $150 cash prize at a local nightclub. “That was a light bill,” Bryant said.

She says rather than dwell on the negative aspects of their situation, she and Kristina are trying to be as proactive as possible.

In their rundown car — Bryant says it’s “on its last leg” — they’ll make runs for DoorDash and InstaCart, sometimes together, while one parent attends to baby Tahj. For each run, they’ll only earn a few dollars. “Maybe six, if they tip you,” Bryant said.

Yet Bryant says she sees the glass as half full: “This is allowing me to still make income and take my son to his appointments, so I’m grateful,” Bryant said. 

New legislation could speed up payments to tenants and landlords

Despite the family’s positive attitude, Bryant knows the fear of becoming homeless again is very real.

“This may be where we’re going to have to sleep after a while, if things don’t work out,” Bryant said from the driver’s seat during a recent DoorDash run. 

She’s hoping the family can trust their property manager’s word, that she won’t move forward with an eviction filing.

For her part, Mara Santiago of Siloam Management said she didn’t respond to Bryant’s messages about the Our Florida program because she “didn’t know how it works … we didn’t know how to deal with it.”

Santiago acknowledged Bryant’s transparency, saying the company never filed any official notice to vacate, because Bryant contacted her ahead of time to let her know they were struggling financially.

“If the rent keeps coming, it will be fine,” Santiago said. “They are good tenants; they are passing through a hard time, but we are not thinking [of doing] something against them.”

Santiago said Siloam Management is still waiting to see how quickly Our Florida payments will be processed – whether it’ll always take 15 to 18 days, like the first time. Under federal statute, ERA programs can’t move forward with processing payment to a tenant until they’ve tried to contact that tenant’s landlord a designated number of times.

Those are the rules for the first batch of ERA funding; the second batch, from the American Rescue Plan, does not require any landlord outreach at all. 

But the vast majority of ERA programs are still only distributing that first batch – very slowly. As of August 25, states and local governments had only distributed 11 percent of the $46.5 billion approved by Congress for ERA. 

This week, a U.S. House committee approved legislation to restructure the ERA program; if passed, The Expediting Assistance to Renters and Landlords Act would remove several barriers currently slowing down different parts of the application process. The bill would also allow courts and community-based nonprofits to replace state and local governments’ oversight of ERA programs.

If the Bryants can't renew their lease after January, they’re not sure where they’ll be able to afford to move. Skyrocketing housing costs are straining many renters here and nationwide. But the family does have one powerful source of motivation to push forward: baby Tahj.

"Everything that we’re doing from here on out is for him,” Bryant said.

Molly Duerig is a Report for America corps member who is covering affordable housing for Spectrum News 13. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.