State requests $242.9M more in rental aid
Connecticut has requested nearly $243 million in additional federal funds for its rental assistance program, newly released documents show.
The money would be reallocated from states and localities that were slower to spend dollars and are identified as having excess funds. The U.S. Department of the Treasury plans to re-distribute money from some places that hadn’t obligated at least 65 percent of their first round of funding through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program.
The program aims to prevent evictions for people who fell behind on rental payments because of financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The need for assistance became even more urgent in August when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the months-long ban on many evictions for nonpayment of rent.
Nationally, the rollout has been slow because of understaffed
programs, uncooperative landlords and burdensome documentation requirements, among other
issues, advocates have said.
While Connecticut’s program had a slow start, spending sped up in the fall
when early technical problems were resolved.
The program had two rounds. In total, Connecticut
received about $371 million through the two rounds of funding and is now requesting $242.9 million more. So far, it’s spent about $313.1 million through its program, called Unite CT, according to data available Monday.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 allotted $25 billion for the first part of the program. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provided up to $21.55 billion nationally.
In its application, the state Department of Housing estimated that it would help 3,500 households per month from December to February, spending a total of about $26.1 million each month.
That number was 3,214 households and $20.2 million in aid for November. The department submitted its application Nov. 23 and requested that the deadline for spending any additional funds received be extended to Dec. 29, 2022.
The department calculated the projections based on the number of submitted applications “in the pipeline,” average number of cases approved for payment each week and the number of applications that come in weekly, spokesperson Aaron Turner said.
“The need [for rental assistance] in Connecticut is based on the number of fully submitted applications we have received, and continue to receive on a weekly basis,” Turner wrote in an emailed response to questions from Hearst Connecticut Media Group.
Just over 45,000 Connecticut residents said they were not confident they were going to make next month’s rent. More than 69,000 more said they were only slightly confident, according to October survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Renters are eligible for the program if they earn up to 80 percent of area median income and were financially impacted by the pandemic. Up to $15,000 in rental assistance is available.
Treasury has not yet responded to the state’s request for additional funds, Turner said.