U.S. Treasury releases $21.6 bln rental assistance, aims to aid renters directly

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U.S. Treasury releases $21.6 bln rental assistance, aims to aid renters directly

2 minute read

The U.S. Treasury building is seen in Washington, September 29, 2008. REUTERS/Jim Bourg

The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday said it has allocated an additional $21.6 billion for rental assistance under President Joe Biden's coronavirus rescue package, adding new rules aimed at assisting more renters directly.

The Treasury said that new guidance to local agencies administering rental assistance programs allows them for the first time to offer aid directly to renters first, before offering it to landlords. It also now requires that aid funds must be offered directly to renters when landlords do not participate in such programs.

It also said that the length of time that renters must wait to receive rental funds was cut in half to as little as five days after determining a landlord is not participating in the rental assistance program.

The Treasury's announcement follows a federal court ruling on Wednesday that threw out an eviction moratorium imposed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a setback for millions of Americans who have fallen behind on rent payments during the pandemic. The same judge put a temporary hold on her ruling as the government seeks to overturn it on appeal. read more


Under the assistance program, Treasury said its guidance now requires local agencies to prohibit eviction of renters for non payment during months in which they receive rental assistance.

 

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Emergency Rental Assistance Program | U.S. Department of the Treasury

https://home.treasury.gov/system/fi...ergency-Rental-Assistance-Program_May2021.pdf

 

[BaggerofTea]

Can you imagine if trump was still in office. Not a penny would go towards this impending rental crisis

 

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Can you imagine if trump was still in office. Not a penny would go towards this impending rental crisis

would have been tent city outside the whitehouse.

 

[getmoney310cpt]

Lol scammers about to exploit this too

 

[Ya' Cousin Cleon]

I got morals- I mean I don't doubt that either.

Lol scammers about to exploit this too

 

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Rental Assistance

Treasury Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Dashboard

 

[get these nets]

Lol scammers about to exploit this too

Anybody who uses this crisis to scam deserves the full sentence when they get caught.

 

[⠝⠕⠏⠑]

I got 8 months of rent paid last year. It’s part of the reason I was able to stack money to purchase a house.

 

[RubioTheCruel]

Anybody who uses this crisis to scam deserves the full sentence when they get caught.

I see all these young nikkas out here with the PPP scams buying watches, rolling around in rented i8s... when they get caught

Can't say no one warned em

 

[get these nets]

I see all these young nikkas out here with the PPP scams buying watches, rolling around in rented i8s... when they get caught

Can't say no one warned em

The way people are responding to the pandemic shows them to be who they were all along.

 

[Geode]

I really want to be a degenerate and see how I can get this to work in my favor and get ahead. But luckily things have been going ok this whole time, and I guess I'll stick with some morals to keep it that way.

 

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How to Apply for Rent Relief in New York

How to Apply for Rent Relief in New York

Credit...Robert Presutti for The New York Times
After losing her kitchen job last year, Ana Galvez, a Bronx resident, found herself unable to catch up on her rent payments for the first time in a decade. Her debt for her two-bedroom apartment, with rent and other fees accumulating since March 2020, could exceed $25,000.

How do I apply?
The application is available online.

The website includes information on the documents that will be needed and what to do if they are unavailable.

Do I qualify?
There are a few qualifications to meet to be eligible. You must have fallen behind on rent payments since the pandemic began, and your gross household income needs to be at or below 80 percent of the area median income, among other requirements.

Citizenship and immigration status do not affect eligibility. Landlords can apply on behalf of tenants, though some personal information from tenants will be necessary.


How much could I receive?
Those who are approved for the program could receive relief for up to 12 months of rental arrears dating from March 13, 2020, along with missed payments for gas or electric utilities. For some households, up to three months of additional rental assistance will be covered.

How does this differ from previous efforts?
The program plans to distribute more than $2 billion in assistance.

Another rent relief initiative last year set aside $100 million, though less was ultimately distributed. Extensive qualifications and documentation made the process difficult, said Ellen Davidson, a lawyer at the Legal Aid Society who represents tenants, and many applicants did not qualify. The program was aimed at helping to pay only a percentage of rent.

But Jay 
Martin,
 executive
 director 
of 
the
 Community
 Housing
 Improvement
 Program, a group that represents landlords, said that there was still little communication with property owners around logistics in the development of the process, an issue that he worried would magnify barriers.

What if I run into problems while applying?
So far, tenant and landlord groups say they have heard of a range of obstacles. Some people, for example, have reported needing to clear their browser’s cache for the application to work, after receiving error messages.

Applicants can call a state hotline at 844-691-7368 for assistance, and many local organizations are also helping to navigate the process and hurdles.

Emergency Rental Assistance Program

 

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Chicago Launches $80 Million Emergency Rental Assistance Program

Chicago Launches $80 Million Emergency Rental Assistance Program

CHICAGO (CBS)-– Struggling to pay rent or utility bills? Applications for Chicago’s new $80 million Emergency Rental Assistance Program are now open through 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday June 8.


The program is funded through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act Congress passed in December 2020.

The ERAP will provide grants for up to 12 months of unpaid rent as well as three months of future rent payments to Chicago residents who have “suffered a hardship due to COVID-19” — such job loss, reduced work hours, or illness within the household — or are at risk of housing instability. Applicants also must have earned less than the maximum income threshold for their household:

Check out the ERAP website for more details on eligibility needed to apply. A government-issued photo ID is required along with proof of monthly rent and household income.

“Over the course of this pandemic, residents all across Chicago and our entire country have been forced to reckon with a wave of socioeconomic fallout like nothing any of us had ever experienced before in our lifetime,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said as she announced the new rental assistance program, the third such program the city has launched since the start of the pandemic.

Gov. JB Pritzker has announced he will be phasing out the statewide moratorium on evictions by August, which Lightfoot said makes this rental assistance program all the more necessary in the coming months.

The mayor said the program would ensure people most at risk of eviction due to low income are able to get help paying their rent and utilities. Landlords also may apply on behalf of renters.

“So whether it’s through the landlord or direct payments to the renters, we want to make sure that we blunt what Is, we all fear is, an eviction and housing crisis coming just down the pike,” Lightfoot said.

Chicago Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara said more than 83,000 people applied for the city’s first round of rental assistance last year, but the city only had enough funding to help about 2,000 households.

A second round of rental assistance, totaling approximately $24 million in funds through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, helped about 8,000 more households.

Novara said the city will be working with more than a dozen community groups to help guide those who don’t have technology access through the process.

 

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New York program will cover your overdue rent, utility payments. Here's how to apply.

New York program will cover your overdue rent, utility payments. Here's how to apply.

Jon Campbell
New York State Team

ALBANY – Behind on your rent and utility bills? Help may be on the way.

New York state began accepting applications Tuesday for $2.7 billion in funding for income-eligible renters who fell behind on payments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The available assistance can be quite significant: Those who are eligible can apply for up to 12 months in back rent and up to three months of future rent payments, as well as up to 12 months of overdue electric or gas bill payments.

The Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or ERAP, is funded largely by the most recent federal stimulus package and provides the money directly to landlords and utility companies on the renter's behalf.

But it's up to the renter to apply for the assistance, though landlords can start the process on their behalf. And those who are eligible should act fast: Once the funding is gone, it's gone.

Here's what you should know about New York's Emergency Rental Assistance Program, including how to apply:

Who is eligible for assistance?

In order to be eligible for rent or utility assistance under the state's program, you have to meet three main criteria:

• Your household gross income has to be at or below 80% of the Area Median Income, which varies by county and household size. You can use either your current monthly income or your 2020 annual income to apply.
• You or someone in your household must have received unemployment benefits or experienced some sort of reduction in income or another financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic on or after March 13, 2020.
• You must be a renter who has overdue rent at their residence for payments that were owed on or after March 13, 2020. (You can use this to prove you are at risk of housing instability or homelessness, which is technically the fourth criteria.)

How can I tell if my income meets the requirement?
The Area Median Income level is based on U.S. Housing and Urban Development data and varies by county and by household size.

For example, 80% of the Area Median Income for a two-person household in Westchester County is $72,450 annually, which would mark the eligibility threshold for the state rental program.

In Oneida County, home to Utica, the same two-person household faces a $46,350 income limit for eligibility.

The state Office of Temporary Disability Assistance has more information on the rental program's website, nysrenthelp.otda.ny.gov, including a handy income eligibility chart.

How do I apply for New York's Emergency Rental Assistance Program?
It depends where you live.

The state Office of Temporary Disability Assistance is handling applications for the vast majority of the state, including New York City.

Renters and landlords can apply online at nysrenthelp.otda.ny.gov, or by calling 1-844-NY1-RENT (1-844-691-7368) from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

There are a handful of exceptions, though.

Seven local governments in New York opted to administer the rental-assistance program on their own rather than go through the state.

If you live in one of the following cities, towns or counties, you will have to apply through your local government:

• Monroe County and the City of Rochester
• City of Yonkers
• Onondaga County
• Town of Oyster Bay
• Town of Islip
• Town of Hempstead

For Monroe County residents (including the City of Rochester), you can apply for assistance by dialing dialing 211 or 1-877-356-921. Landlords who are applying on their tenants' behalf should visit www.providencehousing.org or email eppi.app@dor.org.

Yonkers residents can find more information on how to apply by visiting the city's website.

Is the rent assistance first come, first served?
For the first 30 days of the state's program, New York will prioritize certain applicants to ensure they get assistance first.

Here's the order in which applications will be processed, according to state law creating the rental program:

1. Households with income that's at or below 50% of the Area Median Income and a household member who has been unemployed for the last 90 days; is a veteran; is experiencing domestic violence or has survived human trafficking; has an eviction case pending; resides in a mobile home; lives in a ZIP code that was hit disproportionately hard by COVID-19; or lives in a building with 20 or fewer units.
2. Households with income at or below 50% of the Area Median Income.
3. Households with income at or below 80% of the Area Median Income and a household member who meets one of the criteria listed in No. 1.
4. Households with income at or below 80% of the Area Median Income.

After the first 30 days, applications will be approved on a first-come, first-served basis — assuming there is still funding left, according to the state.

What about late fees?
In order for landlords to accept payment through the state program, they have to agree to certain criteria.

For one, the landlord has to agree that the payment will cover the renter's full obligation for the time period agreed upon, meaning they would have to waive any late fees.

The landlord would also have to agree to not raise rent for a year after receiving the payment, as well as to not evict the tenant "for reason of expired lease or holdover tenancy" for a year, according to the state.