Sign-ups start soon for rent assistance

First applications accepted Monday

Arkansans can begin applying Monday for newly available rental assistance through the state Department of Human Services, officials said Thursday.

The Arkansas Rent Relief Program will offer rental and utility assistance for qualifying renters. Landlords who are owed back rent may also apply, according to a Thursday news release.

Applications will be available Monday at: ar.gov/rentrelief.

To qualify, renters must have missed rental payments because of income loss or significant financial hardship related to the covid-19 pandemic, said Mary Franklin, the department’s director of Division of County Operations, in an interview Thursday.

Their incomes must also fall at or below 80% of the area median income, a number determined by the federal government that varies county to county. Renters must also be at risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability, Franklin said.

An estimated 49,000 Arkansas households qualify for the assistance, according

to the state’s news release.

The money can cover up to one year of back rent or utilities and three months of prospective rent or 15 months total for each household, Franklin said. Payments will go directly to landlords or utility companies.

The state department received just over $173 million for rental assistance from the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act.

Further information and applications will be available in English, Spanish and Marshallese, Franklin said.

Other rental assistance is available locally. Renters in Benton, Pulaski and Washington counties may be first directed to apply at the county level because those counties also received federal rental assistance dollars from the act, Franklin said. Those counties are already accepting applications, according to the department’s website.

Housing experts have long feared a wave of evictions and increased homelessness nationally for those who have lost their jobs or had work hours cut during the pandemic.

“The goal is of course to provide assistance and relief for renters who have not been able to pay and landlords who have not been able to receive the rent that they’re owed,” Franklin said. “Ultimately, housing stability is one of the goals of the program.”