Fast Facts for July 7, 2021
For those of you struggling to pay your rent you probably already know that getting a hold of the rental assistance money — is really difficult.
And now the Treasury Department says you’re not imagining things – it’s actually much worse than we thought.
According to a new report –through may – of the $46 billion dollars congress allocated for rental and utility assistance — only $1.5 billion dollars had been distributed …with only 350-thousand households have been served nationwide. The census bureau estimates more than a million households are on the verge of eviction. The worst part — most states didn’t get their rental assistance programs up running until May or June.
As I have been telling you for months, through the stimulus packages, congress allocated 46-billion dollars in rental assistance for people struggling to pay rent and their utilities. Of course, there are income requirements and verifications the renters and the landlords have to meet.
But the complication in all of this has always been the states. Each state is responsible for distributing the money and there is no national system. The Treasury Department says the states have been sitting on the money since February.
The Treasury Department’s report also says — now that most states have set up their programs the money can be distributed to qualified renters faster but they are also giving extra help and guidance to those states still struggling.
Don’t forget the federal eviction moratorium is ending at the end of this month. So, if you need help paying back rent or utilities you can now go to treasury.gov – search rental assistance and click on the first result ‘emergency rental assistance program. If you scroll down, you’ll find a list of all the programs available broken down by state.
Rental assistance by state here.
Full Treasury Department findings here.
