County doubles COVID aid funds
On a sunny afternoon in early August, the line wrapped around the block as hundreds of Houstonians lined up to get help with rent and other costs worsened by the pandemic.
At a union hall in north Houston, nonprofit workers and Harris County officials counted over 400 people applying for two local programs providing rent relief and direct assistance to households.
Now the direct assistance fund has been expanded.
The Harris County Recovery Assistance program will randomly select eligible households throughout the fall to receive $1,500 for any “urgent expenses” brought on by the pandemic. The program originally accepted online applications from July 28 to Aug. 11, but “overwhelming” demand led the county to announce it would double the available funds to $60 million, enough for 40,000 households, according to
a news release.
Online applications are being accepted through Sunday at harriscountyrelief.org.
Even at $60 million, the county’s direct assistance fund is a fraction of the size of the Houston-Harris County Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or ERAP, a $195.5 million program that pays landlords overdue rent accrued during the pandemic.
But residents have struggled with other costs such as groceries, utilities, health care and child care, prompting the county in July to launch the direct assistance fund.
“We’ve seen an overwhelming need for continued, direct assistance to help families meet their basic needs,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in the release. “While a $1,500 payment will not lift a family out of poverty, it can help someone stay healthy and housed. We also know from experience that when struggling families receive financial assistance, they put that money back into the economy.”
Eligible applicants must be adults belonging to a household making less than 60 percent of the area median family income or no more than $33,000 for one person and $47,520 for a family of four. The household must have at least one adult with U.S. citizenship, legal permanent residency, refugee status or another qualified noncitizen status, such as a special immigrant visa.
Those who applied in July or August will be automatically considered for the additional funds. But the second application window will give time for more community outreach, according to the release.
Organizations including Memorial Assistance Ministries, the Chinese Community Center, the East Harris County Empowerment Council and Humble Assistance Ministries will serve as “navigators” who can help residents apply.
The $30 million boost to the county’s direct assistance fund, which uses money from the American Rescue Plan Act, comes as state and local governments across the country struggle to disburse $46.5 billion that Congress earmarked this year for pandemic rent assistance. States and municipalities have distributed only $5 billion of that aid, or 11 percent, the Associated Press reported.
The city and county’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which will take applications until it exhausts its $195.5 million budget, had by Aug. 30 disbursed $180 million on behalf of 48,000 households. Landlords enrolled in the program cannot evict tenants for nonpayment of rent as long as the tenants apply for assistance.
The rent payments, along with the direct assistance fund, have helped some Houston families avoid losing their homes after a pandemic eviction moratorium imposed in August by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was scrapped by the U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 26.
But thousands of evictions in Harris County occurred despite the ban.