Experts say it’s easier and more affordable to help people stay in their homes than to help someone experiencing homelessness get housing.

When pastors from four local congregations with relief ministries noticed an increase in requests for rent assistance — beyond the resources any one church could typically provide — they came up with a plan to pool their funding, as well as their wisdom and compassion, to help more people maintain stable housing.

Matt Rollins, minister of community engagement at First Baptist Greenville, said his church, along with Christ Church Episcopal, St. Michael Lutheran and Fourth Presbyterian, had the idea for the HoSEA Program — Housing Stability and Eviction Avoidance — a couple of years ago. Before initiating the program, they reached out to nonprofits with

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