ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As Florida's moratorium on evictions once again nears its end on July 1, millions of Floridians face the prospect of possible eviction if they cannot pay all their postponed rental payments. 

But a Bay area nonprofit is doing all it can to provide families with the financial helping hand they need to keep roofs over their heads.

“During this moratorium, the rent was still due,” said St. Petersburg attorney Matt Weidner. “The governor just said you can hold off on trying to evict them, but now people are going to get hit with massive bills that’ve piled tip over three, four months and it’s going to be a pit they can’t crawl out from underneath.”

But thanks to organizations like Metropolitan Ministries and its $1.5 million COVID-19 Relief Fund, 1,100 Bay area families are staying in their homes for now.

“Starting in March, we started making payments,” said Metropolitan Ministries President/CEO Tim Marks. “In April, we made payments. In May, we made payments. In June, we made payments."

"We will keep this up," he went on. "We see this need not going away and we will continue to help families every week.”

Deyaa Hussein and his family says the fund made a difference in their lives.

“Metropolitan Ministries actually just helped me out paying the rent almost three, four months and I believe they continue that until my situations gets better,” Hussein said.

To learn more about Metropolitan Ministries COVID-19 Relief Fund and other ways the nonprofit is helping communities during the pandemic, visit metromin.org.