WITH NEW FUNDING, CHULA VISTA ACCEPTING RENT AID APPLICATIONS

Money will help residents affected by the pandemic

Chula Vista reopened its application window Monday for residents who have experienced financial hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic and need help with rent and utilities.

Eligible households have until the end of March to submit their applications, which will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis, city officials announced.

The city plans to use $6 million from its latest round of funding allocated by the federal government.

The city had stopped taking new applications in January due to a lack of funding from the U.S. Dept. of Treasury, but Monday it announced it is expecting a new round.

“We are thrilled to bring additional relief to our residents who have been impacted by COVID-19,” Mayor Mary Casillas Salas said in a statement. “We encourage all who qualify to submit applications quickly as we anticipate high demand.”

To date, the city has disbursed about $34 million to more than 2,300 households for rental assistance.

In January, Chula Vista secured $2.4 million in federal grants for the program but those funds covered only the qualifying households who had already started the application process. At that time, officials with SBCS Corporation, a local nonprofit running the city program, said there were about 500 applications under review that could benefit from the funds received in January.

Valerie Brew, a department director with SBCS, said the organization prioritizes applications of households that are behind on paying their rent and whose income falls at or below 50 percent of the area median income, such as making $60,600 for a household of four people.

For more information, go to chulavistaerap.com.