Nicky spent much of the past decade as a social worker, helping people get into housing or avoid eviction. So when she fell behind on rent herself after medical issues pushed her to look for other work, she felt both a deep irony and fear that the life she had built for her elementary school age son could be slipping away.

Nicky — who asked to be identified by only her first name because she fled domestic violence — eventually found a new job. But she said she burned through her savings in the process and is still digging out of rental debt, which she has whittled down from four to two months.

Back in December, she applied for federal rent assistance through Community Action Council of Lewis, Mason, and Thurston counties, a local nonprofit contracted to manage rental assistance for Thurston County. Nicky said she was told everything was in order, and a check should be forthcoming within a few weeks.

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