Feb. 12, 2026
BY JOHN BAILEY
Last year, 186 families in Catawba County defaulted on their mortgage while 1,462 families were evicted and 13,702 households simply struggled to afford their homes, according to 2025 NC Housing Coalition data.
“We see a lot of working families and seniors…the ones barely making it and one small crisis in their life, the need for extra medicine or getting a larger water bill or having a car repair can throw them into that tailspin of being in a crisis,” Ashure Ministry Executive Director Kristal Manning said. “It’s a crisis they don’t have the extra dollars each month to get themselves out of because they’re barely making it each month as it is.”
Last summer, the Catawba County United Way (CCUW) received a $120,000 grant from the United Way of North Carolina to help keep this from happening.
The funds were sub-granted back out equally by the CCUW to three local non-profits who have been using the money to help families struggling with housing instability – Ashure Ministry, Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry (GHCCM) and The Salvation Army of Greater Hickory.
The grants were used to help get households caught up on back rent or to cover costs for those transitioning into permanent housing.
Ashure Ministry used their entire grant by the end of last November and helped 51 households with a total of 117 individuals. The other two agencies are approximately halfway through their funds.
In mid-January, the CCUW visited each agency to see what the impact has been because of these additional funds.
“It's so vital for our community to have these types of resources so they know when they go through a crisis situation, they have places to go to that can provide them a hand up in that moment of not knowing what to do," GHCCM CEO Amanda Sowards said.
Greater Hickory CCM was able to help a single mother who had recently given birth. She was on her six-week leave from the hospital and had just moved into her apartment in November.
She fell behind in rent because of the time off to care for her newborn and reached out to GHCCM for help.
“I was able to contact the landlord, work with them, explaining what our client was experiencing,” GHCCM Crisis Intervention Manager Jailen Howell said. “Understanding that there was a lease, I also asked them to take into consideration that this was a human being who had just given birth to a child and needed that time to heal so she can get back to work…we were able to prevent the eviction and pay the full amount.”
WATCH FULL VIDEO OF HOWELL HERE.
John Hall, Crisis Center Director for The Salvation Army, said he struggles as well with some realtors when it comes to trying to negotiate extensions for rent regardless of a guaranteed payment from The Salvation Army.
The majority of the 20+ households his agency has helped so far have been one-parent homes as well with nearly 70 percent of them being headed by single mothers. These parents are facing seemingly impossible choices, feeding their children or paying rent.
“It comes down to the cost of living across the board, the cost of groceries, rent and minimum wage hasn’t increased in years. People making $9 an hour can’t afford $1,200 a month for rent,” Hall said.
Overall, The Salvation Army’s Crisis Center received 417 calls in the month of December, a number that has been increasing every month. Hall thinks a good first step to alleviate the housing crisis is to have more income-based choices.
Ashure Ministry had a client who lost her husband last August. He was the sole provider of income in their home, and she fell behind paying the rent for September and October. She had received help for other needs from family and her local church, but they were unable to assist with rent.
The client did have her daughter and son-in-law preparing to move in with her in November once their current lease was completed. However, she still had September and October rent to pay.
With the help of the additional United Way funds, Ashure ministry was able to help the client get caught up on rent for the past two months, allowing her to stay at home until her daughter was able to arrive.
Learn more about Catawba County United Way’s other community outreach projects at – ccuniteway.com or to be more involved call the CCUW at 828-327-6851.