Rent Splitting helps Kendall feed her family
Kendall is a single mom to a 3-year-old son with autism.
They’ve been living in their 1-bedroom apartment near Louisville for about 2 years.
Even with two jobs, Kendall is rent burdened.
She isn’t able to work a full time as a phlebotomist because her son’s daycare requires her to pick him up during the work day.
She’s left with only $200 after paying rent all on the 1st.
That has to last her the next 2-weeks until she gets her next paycheck— between food, daycare, and all other bills, that’s not much.
“Food alone, you go to the grocery store, that's $100 right there. And that’s just the stuff he eats in one week.”
Kendall knew she needed help to stay current on rent.
Before Rent Splitting was available, she talked to her property manager to ask if she could break up her monthly payments. It was a nerve-wracking conversation to have, and even when her request was approved she still had to pay big fees.
With Rent Splitting, Kendall can pay for rent and food with way less stress.
The first two weeks of the month used to be a struggle– but now she can use some of her first paycheck on groceries and weekly daycare for her son. She doesn’t have to go without in order to make sure her son and her bills are taken care of.
“Not having to spend my entire paycheck on the 1st of the month whenever I also have a kid… Still being able to pay my other bills and buy food and do things within the first two weeks of the month.”
Living paycheck to paycheck is still hard, but she’s better able to make ends meet.
Her monthly cash flow is easier to manage, but she has no savings. She tries to put money into savings when she can, but rarely has any extra to put away after bills.
“A lot of people don’t have any savings… it’s super hard to get to that point to build savings. You have all kinds of bills that are just gonna keep stacking on.”
A Rent Loan kept Kendall’s family housed
Kendall’s support system is her mom, but sometimes family help isn’t enough.
When it comes to small things, Kendall can use her mom’s groceries or supplies to hold over until the next pay day. She always keeps extra Aldi chicken nuggets— her son’s favorite food— on hand. When big things come up though, she’s on her own.
In April, Kendall had to have surgery that cost $1,500 out of pocket.
It caused an unexpected expense and missed work that she didn’t have the savings to cover. Even with Rent Splitting, without her typical paycheck, she was short rent.
“It was roughly a week off, and I got paid for only two of them… Any difference in my paycheck I’m gonna notice… It was an unexpected thing that happened, so I was able to pay the first half. But the 2nd half… no way I was going to.”
She used a Rent Loan so her medical needs didn’t come at the cost of her home.
The Rent Loan was able to cover the rent money she had to devote to her surgery, so she didn’t fall behind. Without it, she could have been evicted on the half of rent she couldn’t pay– that’s just one paycheck’s worth of rent money.
“A lot of people are one paycheck away from being homeless. It sucks.”
