Project Now Executive Director Dwight Ford says it offers mediation with volunteer attorneys.
"This is so important to the region as a whole, Rock Island County specifically, to be able to stabilize this reality and to be able to take the strain off of property owners and take the struggle out of the renters."
There's also money available to pay up to 12 months of back rent. Ford says since the pandemic began, Project Now has spent 970,000 dollars helping more than 500 families keep their homes.
He thinks even before the pandemic, there was a serious housing problem in the US.
"Before COVID, almost 40 per cent of America could not take care of the most basic needs on a survival budget. That's before COVID, and I'm taking about just housing and food, the most bare minimum. I'm not talking about all the ancillary things people enjoy in life."
When they agree to work with the eviction diversion program, landlords and tenants have two weeks to work out a settlement.
The program includes Project Now, the 14th Judicial Circuit, Prairie States Legal Services, the Rock Island County Bar Association, volunteer lawyers from John Deere, and the Salvation Army.