Helping Minot families amid housing crunch
Shanon DeVries and her family are just barely holding on. She, her husband and two teenage kids are on the brink of leaving Minot, N.D. because they can’t afford to live there anymore.
“I’ve never wanted to leave Minot,” said DeVries, 40 (pictured). “I’m rooted here. I have family here. But we can’t afford to stay.”
Collectively, the Minot flood of 2011 and the North Dakota oil boom have rendered the population 47,000 city unlivable for many families who’ve called the place home for generations. The main problem is housing, which has become a scarce and expensive commodity, for two main reasons: 1. The large number of homes damaged or destroyed by the flood. 2. Rent prices have skyrocketed due to increased economic activity in the region.
DeVries’ family currently pays $1,000 per month to live in a rundown house that was damaged by the flood and still has not been repaired properly. A real estate professional told DeVries that the house – where they’ve lived since 2009 – is probably worth $60,000.
To put that into perspective, the estimated 30-year mortgage payment for a $60,000 house, with taxes, would be about $350.
“We had five feet of water in our basement and lost everything in it,” said DeVries, who at the time of the flood had a good job as a salesperson in the travel industry. “We were just starting to get ahead. But (the flood) completely wrecked us. Rent keeps going up, even though this house is practically falling down.”
DeVries had to stop working two years ago when she developed a degenerative spine disorder. Her disability paycheck, combined with her husband’s job managing laundry at the local hospital – a job he’s held for 14 years – is no longer enough to make ends meet.
Thanks to your donations, The Salvation Army has been able to support the DeVries family – and others like them – amid the uncertain times in Minot.
That support began for the DeVries family in late June 2011, soon after the floodwaters of the Mouse River damaged or destroyed 4,100 local homes and businesses.
“The most amazing thing happened,” DeVries recalled. “We were flat broke, walking down the sidewalk, trying to get our lives in order, when a Salvation Army van drove by. The person inside said, ‘Can we give you guys dinner tonight?’ They gave us turkey and mashed potatoes. I teared up.”
The Minot Salvation Army went on to give the family groceries, cleanup kits and gas cards.
More recently, DeVries has relied on the Minot Salvation Army for groceries.
“Before the flood, we never needed any help from The Salvation Army – we gave to them,” DeVries said. “Between the flood and everything that’s happened after it, I’m not sure where we’d be without The Salvation Army. They are amazing.”
As a thank you, DeVries and her sister, Karisa Riley, gave the Minot Salvation Army $800 worth of proceeds from a craft show they hosted in May.
The family is now trying to move to Colorado, where Devries has family. If they are unable to move before the new school year begins, the Minot Salvation Army will also offer them back-to-school supplies and more ongoing support.
Helping the masses
The DeVries family is one of hundreds served by the Minot Salvation Army – and one of nearly half a million people served each year by our 28 service centers across Minnesota and North Dakota.
In June, Minot Salvation Army social worker Ashley Pister helped 40 such families.
“These families often need rent assistance,” said Pister (pictured), who recently moved with her husband and infant daughter to a home 40 miles from Minot because they, too, were feeling the housing pinch. “Other times they need utility or transportation assistance, or clothing, or food.”
One of the families DeVries served included a father, mother and seven kids, the youngest of whom was 6 months old and experiencing heart problems. For three years, the father had worked for a Minot property management company that gave him a large salary and a free home to live in. With oil production scaling back in recent months, his company’s biggest client – an oil company with hundreds of employees – pulled out of Minot and took with it 80 percent of the property management company’s business. Suddenly, the father could only be paid hourly and was ordered to pay rent in the amount of $2,200 per month.
“When he called me, he was getting locked out of his home,” said Pister, who immediately got the family into a hotel for a few days, preventing them from being homeless.
During the family’s hotel stay, Pister worked with other local agencies to secure a storage unit so that the family wouldn’t lose all their possessions. Soon after that, she found the family a four-bedroom home they could afford – $1,500 per month.
“Their rent went down by $700 per month,” Pister said. “That was enough of a savings that they could make it after that. The family was grateful.”
In addition to rent assistance, food is also in high demand. The Minot Salvation Army food shelf currently provides groceries to around 300 families per month.
“We had a serious spike in numbers when the oil production dropped,” said food shelf manager Vickie McMullen (pictured).
Interestingly, income-based restrictions on food shelf use are practically nonexistent in Minot because rent prices are so expensive.
“For some families, 75 percent of their income goes to rent,” McMullen said. “Most of the people who get food here are the working poor.”
Both McMullen and Pister are proud to help people on behalf of The Salvation Army.
“I’ve always wanted to help people and somehow make their lives different for the better,” said Pister, who started working at the Minot Salvation Army about 18 months ago. “This job is exactly what I envisioned.”
Please join The Salvation Army by volunteering or making a donation to support housing programs in your local community.