The city of Rome hopes to roll out a rent and utility aid program in March.
Rome Community Development Director Bekki Fox hopes to be able to roll out a rent and utility assistance program next month for those hit hard economically by the pandemic.
The city received notice of an additional $255,497 in federal CARES Act funding late in 2020 and will use it to help low-income renters with rent assistance as well as heat and power.
Fox told members of the city’s Community Development Services Committee that households with an income at or below 80% of the median area income are eligible for the assistance.
The program is for city residents. A family of four cannot have a household income in excess of $46,950 to be eligible.
“What we were seeing across the country was people having a financial hardship paying rent because they had been quarantined or they had lost their job or didn’t have child care because the schools were shut down,” Fox said. “They got behind, and you know how hard it is to get caught up when you’re a couple of months behind.”
The program is strictly for renters and the utility payments are solely for Georgia Power or the natural gas provider. Water and sewer utilities, which are provided by the city, are not included.
“The request must be tied to lost jobs, lost pay, something related to COVID-19,” Fox said. “We purposefully did not include mortgage assistance because all the mortgage lenders were pretty much helping people who were behind.”
The program will provide assistance for rent and utilities for no more than 90 days.
New homes and other business
Fox also told the committee that construction of two more single-family homes on Peachtree Street is nearing completion. They will be sold for approximately $97,000 each.
A third new home, to be constructed on Pennington Avenue, should get started soon.
“We’ve already gotten some calls on them and I think they are going to fly out the door,” Fox said. “This has been a tremendously successful program over the years.”
The city has completed more than 35 new singlefamily homes in South Rome, working in conjunction with the South Rome Alliance over the last couple of decades.
City Commissioner Sundai Stevenson said she’d like to see the housing program expand beyond South Rome. Fox said the city is looking for additional properties and pointed out that the South Rome Alliance is willing to continue to be a development partner and work outside the South Rome community.
Also on Tuesday, Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful Coordinator Emma Wells said the Rome-floyd ECO Center would be hosting a big Valentine’s Craft Day on Thursday
Downtown Development Director Aundi Lesley’s report indicated the downtown district experienced 22 net new businesses in 2020 with 40 new net jobs.