ATLANTA — The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) announced it has stopped accepting new applications for its rental assistance program. The program, which was started in March 2020 due to the pandemic, was meant to help people pay their rent as costs soared, and as many lost their jobs.
Georgia received $989 million in federal funds to offer rental assistance, and the DCA said its already given out more than $830 million - which is nearly 85% of that money.
Deputy Commissioner of Housing for the DCA, Tonya Cureton Curry, explained why they had to make this decision.
"It would be somewhat irresponsible for us to just keep taking applications, knowing that we don’t have funds to fund those applications," she said. "Based on our projections, the applications that we have in our pipeline, and the amount of funds that we have left, that’s why we projected that this was the time to no longer accept new applications with the intent of continuing to process the applications that are in the pipeline."
Cureton Curry said the DCA has been able to help 48,594 tenants and 8,134 landlords through the rental assistance program. But as of late last week, the department stopped taking new applications.
"This was a one-time pile of money," she said. "If we were to receive additional funds from the federal government, we certainly would be the administrator of those funds. But at this point, we don't have any, any expectation of that or any information on any new funds coming."
Rachel Lazarus with Atlanta Legal Aid worries this could lead to a rise in evictions going forward.
"That means that as we see a potential for the economy slowing down, if there's the potential for layoffs, people are going to be in a position of not having the money to make their rent, and not having an easy place to turn to or a centralized place to turn to for assistance," Lazarus said. "It can become a really vicious circle at that point. If there's no assistance for them, they get evicted. And now they have to try to find a new place to live. They're having trouble finding rent, or places that will rent to them. They don't necessarily have the funds to do first and last month's rent and security deposit and utilities. So then, sometimes they end up either in shelters or extended stay hotels, or couch surfing."
If your application is already pending and you're eligible, the DCA said you should receive financial assistance.
For those who did not get to apply, Lazarus recommended turning to your local community.
"It's kind of going back to where we were pre-pandemic, in terms of having to reach out to local charities," she said. "So we always recommend that if people are involved in a church or synagogue or other religious institution, check with their religious leader."
Lazarus also said checking with the Salvation Army or calling 211 on your phone which will connect you to the United Way.
"The potential impact is massive," she said. "We did not know that they were going to stop accepting applications. I guess we knew that it was going to end at some point. But we knew that Georgia had been slow to release all of their money, so we thought that it was gonna go on a lot longer."
Renter Brittany Frasier, who is self-employed and works from home, said her apartment caught on fire in January, ruining her whole boutique business. She applied for the renters assistance program with the DCA back in March.
She said she was then told she would be eligible to receive funds for more months, and said she was asked to fill out the recertification paperwork. She claims her paperwork has been pending since July, and expressed disappointment with what she calls a "lack of communication."
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"Friday night I got an email stating that all of your documents are no longer going to be accepted, you have to re-upload but it's a possibility they might not accept your recertification as the program is now shutting down. Very abrupt, very random," she said.
Online, the DCA said if you applied for recertification before October 28, 2022, "you will continue to be able to access your application in the portal using your log-in information."
The DCA has a list of other jurisdictions that may have funding online. Here's their list:
- Atlanta COVID-19 Emergency Housing Assistance Program
- Augusta-Richmond County Emergency Rental Assistance
- Chatham County Rental and Utility Assistance Program
- Cherokee County Emergency Rental Assistance
- Clayton County Emergency Rental Assistance
- Cobb County Rental Assistance Program}
- DeKalb Tenant-Landlord Assistance Coalition
- Gwinnett County Project RESET
- Henry County COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Fund