DELAWARE - Paying for a place to live is a huge struggle for many Delawareans like David Slaughter, but he heard the state might be able to help.
He said, "People told me that if you go to social service, housing assistance... They'll help you out. And I didn't believe it"
But that's exactly what he did, and he found the help he needed.
"They put up the money for me to live in a motel, because of COVID. I've been there for five months," he said.
The Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) recently re-launched DEHAP, their housing assistance program, with the help of $200 million from the federal government.
Through the program -- DSHA says they can help cover people's rent for up to 15 total months.
Policy and Planning Director Marlena Gibson said, "We want to get as much assistance as we can to as many households as we can, and this is a significant amount of resources, so we should be able to help many households that are impacted in Delaware."
Alissa Sweeten from Rehoboth currently lives in a hotel, and says rent help doesn't apply to her.
She said, "I tried to get help through DSHA, but their whole issue is, you have to have a landlord/tenant lease, so with that being said, I don't get help like that."
Her friend Linda says the bigger issue is the need for affordable housing.
"You don't know, two days from now, whether you're going to have a roof over your head while you're looking for work or trying to patch together 2 or 3 part time jobs because of the lack of affordable housing in this area," she said.
The pandemic has made things more difficult for so many, but Melissa Delvalle hopes it will spark change for those in need.
"With COVID, and everybody losing things, losing jobs, it's really bringing all that to light, and hopefully maybe there's something that can change because of that," Delvalle said.
DSHA says the federal funding for the program has a deadline of 2025, so they believe assistance programs like DEHAP will be around post-pandemic as well.