Found this today and since 'am a landlord with many tenants in the same boat, I thought this was the most outstanding thing I've seen recently.  Hope it comes out

Landlord refuses to evict jobless tenants

Instead, he takes a job to help pay the bills while the families try to get back on their feet.

Posted by Mai Ling at MSN Real Estate on Friday, September 25, 2009 11:23 AM

It's yet another tale of heartbreak, except this one ends with the kind of warmth you only expect on the Hallmark Channel.

 

Ed Peirce, a landlord who lives in Rock Hill, S.C., had a couple of options when both of the tenants in his two West Virginia rental houses lost their jobs and could no longer pay rent. The most obvious option was to evict them, but for Peirce, that might have been the last option on his list.

 

No, this man, a 54-year-old ordained minister profiled in The Herald of Rock Hill, instead took a job paying $8.50 an hour in the photo department at the local Walgreens to make his own ends meet while his tenants get back on their feet. From the article:

 

"I sat with them and prayed for better times," Peirce said. "These are stand-up guys. Family men. Proud. They paid me before, when they were working. You don't show your faith, your Christianity, in words. You do it in deeds."

 

Columnist Andrew Dys writes that one of the men, with a wife and two children, had worked in construction, and the other has a baby and was in utilities contracting. Both were laid off months ago, and with new construction on single-family homes on the decline, it could be awhile until work picks up again in either field.

 

And that's where Peirce steps in, to give us a little dose of Hallmark Channel reality to brighten the dark economy.

• Bing: Other ways to help out in your community

Maybe his story will help other landlords find a way to give their desperate tenants a break.

 

I'm not talking about Manhattan, where BusinessWeek writes that rents are down about 15% and where tenants now have the power to demand free rent and other fees. Well, sure, that's all fine and dandy, but considering that these apartments average $3,700 for a one-bedroom, down from $4,400 last year, it's not quite the same thing.

 

No, what I'm talking about is people who have nowhere left to go, not people who are simply joining the move-up market.

 

At times like these, we all have to find ways to help one another. But don't be discouraged if you can't give as much back as Peirce, who also is one of the co-workers behind a recent donation drive for children living at the safe haven Children's Attention Home. From The Herald:

 

[Executive Director Libby] Sweatt-Lambert, who has spent decades helping strangers, heard Wednesday that Peirce is letting renters live in his homes without any fee until they can pay him back. She has heard every story of grace — but Peirce might have topped them all.

“What an awesome guy."

 

If you want more of heartwarming housing tales, we got this one from The Huffington Post, which is gathering stories about the effects of the economic crisis in its Bearing Witness 2.0 site.

 

Great post and good story.  We have a similar situation on our hands with a rental house that we own.  The tenants have been in place for about 18 months and recently the husband lost his job.  They've gotten as much as 3 months behind but we've been extremly lenient in working with them.  These are unprecedented times and we truly want to see this family get back on their feet instead of just kicking them out.  Luckily, we don't have a mortgage on the property so other than paying taxes and insurance, we can afford to work with them.

Thanks for your response.     The landlord is the last to get paid.  I know this.  Have been in this game for 28 yrs and many properties.  I hate the gamers and court jockies.  Ya know the ones who are street wise and play you for the last eviction day.  The ones who are honest with me or my wife's properties get time-no late fees and partial payments.
This has been hard on everybody and the good people count for help
good luck

I have to be careful what I say...One of my tenents is an OH member.  Have two rental houses.  Dropped the rent on both since the economy is in the trash, esp here in California.  One of my tenents is an electrician, whos work has really slowed down.  My wife and I have passed on some work for him here at our house and at my mother in laws's house.  Would rather work with a good tenent, than battle with a bad tenent.  Brian

Brian your right.  I have some group homes and I hired one of the crews to do work on my house for work for rent.  I paid them half and the other half went towards rent