Over the last two years, we had an “NHSSF Emergency Relief Program for Housing Stabilization” in place thanks to the support from the Community Foundation of Broward. We were preparing the closing report when we received a call for help. Ms. Aguilar fell behind on her mortgage payments and sought financial assistance. After the due application process, in a couple of days, we responded to her request and sent her way the rest of the funding to stabilize her dire housing situation. Here is her dramatic story that we share with you to raise awareness of the efficacy of these programs aimed to help those in need.
“On December 2, 2020, I had a fire in my apartment due to an air fryer explosion. Everyone in the building was taken out without suffering any damage. Only my apartment was affected, mainly the kitchen that was totally destroyed, with the fridge and stove melted and cabinets totally damaged. At the time, I tried to find help from various government agencies without any success.
Since I don’t have any insurance coverage for the apartment’s interior, my place as of today remains uninhabitable due to a lack of financial resources to repair it. And with the impossibility of having the apartment repaired, I’m living at a friend’s house, where I am also contributing to the monthly expenses. Since I live under a limited disability salary due to my present health condition, I could not continue sending the monthly payment towards my mortgage. So, after many months of being unable to pay it, it was sent to foreclosure.
That’s when I started crying out to God for resources because I couldn’t take any risk of losing the only roof I had lived on.
I started looking for other government websites that help with mortgages when I came across the Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida’s website.
I had the divine blessing of being assisted by Mr. Gordillo. With extreme kindness and compassion, he wrote down my information and promised to speak to the person responsible for the department that helps with mortgages problems. According to the information provided, the program had already been closed down, but to his understanding, maybe there was a small balance left.
On the following Monday, to my surprise, Mr. Gordillo called me, instructing me to reach out Ms. Granja. With all her dedication and willingness to help me, she collected all my information and approved the resource that I needed for my late mortgage payments, saving my only home from going to foreclosure. Hallelujah!!
Today, thanks to the Almighty Father and NHSSF, I have my mortgage on time. And with the part-time job that He had provided me right after this miracle event, I will be able to keep the payments on time and hopefully soon, be able to fix it and move back to my little place.
I am very grateful to everyone who contributed to making this miracle happen in my life. May God continue to bless the lives of each one of you and raise more and more resources to help people in extreme need, as it was in my case.”
B.Aguilar
The Emergency Relief for Housing Stabilization program started on March 1st, 2021. With renewed funding from the Community Foundation of Broward, this second push of the rental and mortgage assistance program started right after the pandemic, we’ve been able to help over 90 Broward residents in total, providing them with additional housing counseling to ensure that they can remain in their current housing.
The following Fund has provided support for this grant at the Community Foundation of Broward:
Jerry Taylor and Nancy Bryant Fund.
