On the first Monday after Dec. 1 rent payments were due, the phone lines at the Oklahoma City nonprofit Neighborhood Services Organization started ringing off the hook. Hundreds of people called within a two-hour period for rental assistance that day alone. And thousands called in November.
Landlords started filing evictions against tenants as early as Dec. 8. The nonprofit’s single call operator switched from call to call, offering assistance where she could, as employees in other departments assisted. The influx of calls was expected. About a month ago, hundreds of thousands of Oklahoma families temporarily lost federal food benefits, leaving many with gaps in their monthly budgets.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides low-income families with stipends to buy produce and other food. But those benefits stopped rolling out on Nov. 1 because of the 43-day government shutdown, leaving nearly 700,000 Oklahomans without federal food assistance…