Lakes Region Community Developers awarded $30,000 from the Linden Foundation

LACONIA — Lakes Region Community Developers was recently awarded a $30,000 grant from the Linden Foundation to support LRCD’s transitional housing and eviction prevention programs, both of which seek to address the crisis of homelessness in the Lakes Region.

Eviction prevention efforts at LRCD include supporting tenants in any of LRCD’s affordable housing properties with applications for financial assistance; helping to facilitate a payment arrangement with property management,  remedy a lease violation, complete income verification paperwork to obtain/maintain a rental subsidy; and offering financial counseling and crisis intervention.

Eviction prevention efforts also include providing direct financial assistance to tenants who are not eligible for any other program that can address the issue that is causing their housing to be at risk or who have maxed out other forms of financial assistance.

In addition, LRCD provides transitional housing to families and individuals who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The LRCD transitional housing program provides safe shelter and intensive case management for families and individuals while they work on stabilizing their health and finances. For over 20 years, the LRCD transitional housing program has helped many people chart their own path to stable housing and economic security.

The grant from the Linden Foundation will help further LRCD’s efforts.

According to its website, the Linden Foundation “funds nonprofit organizations that strengthen families facing multiple barriers in accessing community resources by helping provide them with the skills and support systems they need to become cohesive, internally supportive and self-sufficient.” The foundation has three funding strategies to include: family relationships, economic opportunities and housing opportunities.

LRCD Executive Director Carmen Lorentz said, “With homelessness on the rise here in the Lakes Region, our work has become more important than ever. We look forward to using these funds to continue to place and keep families and individuals in safe, affordable homes.”