More than $900,000 of non-filer applications over a six month period were submitted to the Internal Revenue Service on behalf of the homeless through assistance from HOPE South Florida. Of those submitted, homeless clients received stimulus checks valued at over $401,000.

Stimulus Check Process

The effort was coordinated in conjunction with Customer Assistance, Relationships and Education, Field Assitance (FA) along with Stakeholder Partnerships, Education & Communication (SPEC), Hope South Florida and Floridian Richard Campillo.

There are many reason that some did not receive Economic Impact Payments (EIP checks) including due circumstances such as identity theft, change of address and bank detail issues. Volunteers are also assisting those who did not file their taxes last year to complete and submit their 2020 1040 tax forms, explained Dr. Ted Greer, CEO and executive director of Hope South Florida.

Many of the homeless individuals expressed appreciation for being treated with dignity, with one person saying “Sometimes people just ignore us when they see us on the street.”

“Our sincere thanks to Rich Campillo for leading the way along with HSF staff, student and community volunteers for their assistance, said Greer.

Hope South Florida is a faith-based 501(c)(3) that provides overflow crisis housing, Rapid re-housing, shared meals, mobile showers, employment assistant, support teams for families and case management support services to thousands of homeless children, families and veterans. Visit hopesouthflorida.org

Visit https://www.goodnewsfl.org/topic/news/local/ for more Out & About.