County opts to keep $6.5M for local rental assistance
Grant funds will assist families with housing needs
The Yuma County Board of Supervisors were reluctant to send $6.5 million in grant funding to the state, where it may or may not be used to help local residents impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with housing needs.
Instead, the supervisors opted to keep the money locally and find a partner to run a rental assistance program.
The county received $6.5 million in federal funding for use in an emergency rental assistance program during the pandemic. Chairman Tony Reyes expressed surprise at the amount.
“The amount of the grant is exceedingly large for what I thought you needed,” he said, adding, “When I first heard the amount, I thought it was an over(sight).”
The funds must be used to help families with rent, rental arrears, utilities and home energy costs, utilities and home energy costs arrears, and other expenses related to housing on a firstcome, first-served basis.
Remaining funds may be used for housing stability services, including case management and other services intended to keep households housed in a stable manner, and administrative costs.
An “eligible household” is defined as a renter household in which at least one or more individuals meets the following criteria: 1. Qualifies for unemployment or has experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs, or experienced a financial hardship due to COVID-19;
2. Demonstrates a risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability; and
3. Has a household income at or below 80% of the area median.
COUNTY VS. STATE PROGRAM
Arizona received 55% of the total state allocation, with varying amounts sent to communities with populations of 200,000 and
more. The Department of Economic Security is implementing the statewide program and willing to include the county. Due to the fast rollout required of this program, county staff recommended partnering with DES. The county must use 65% of the funding by Sept. 30 and all funds expire on Dec. 31.
However, Nancy Ngai, community planning supervisor, explained that if the county turns over the funds to DES, families having issues with the application would not be able to receive local help.
The county has the option of keeping the funds here and partnering with a local agency to run the program. Ngai noted that the City of Yuma used $700,000 in COVID-19 federal grant funding for rental assistance and contracted with the Western Arizona Council of Governments to run its program.
The Department of Housing earmarked another $700,000 in rental assistance for the area.
All $1.4 million in funds have been used up. “The local jurisdictions feel that the need is there,” Ngai said.
“If we choose to do it locally, WACOG is willing to negotiate on a contract basis to implement the program,” Ngai said.
“I particularly wouldn’t like to send it to DES,” Reyes said. “DES will manage it through their own system and it will disappear, and maybe it will be used for Yuma County and maybe it won’t be used for Yuma County.”
Ngai noted that the grant terms call for 10% to be used for administrative purposes and 95% has to go for rental assistance. Normally, 10% is not a lot of money, but 10% of $6.5 million is a substantial amount and that’s why WACOG is willing to take on the program, she added.
Supervisor Jonathan Lines wanted to know what DES vs. WACOG administration would look like. “Obviously, if the funds go to the state level, we have no role,” Ngai said.
WACOG already has a system in place for a rental assistance program. Working with the agency would be more of a partnership, but the county staff would still have to do substantial work, such as setting up policies, the application and the processing of payments.
“There is a lot of work on our end that would have to be done,” Ngai said.
County Administrator Susan Thorpe explained that the major concern with DES is that the application process is all online while the “local population needs hand holding,” she said. “We want to be able to have people on the ground to help people through the process. That’s the additional effort that is required, but we think it’s worth it to make sure that our people who need it here locally will get it.”
The supervisors debated whether to use the funds to help families in all the county or just the unincorporated areas. Supervisor Darren Simmons suggested first helping the smaller municipalities like Wellton and Gadsden and then the outlying areas that can’t get this type of grant funding.
However, Lines noted that assistance is needed everywhere. “Need is need, regardless of where people live. To prioritize would be very difficult because if somebody doesn’t have a job, they don’t have a job.”
Reyes said, “We don’t want to be exclusive of anyone, but we do want to be inclusive of the people that live out in the outlying areas who may not have access to any other kind of assistance but this one.”
He added: “If we run out of $6.5 million, I’ll be happy – and disappointed because the problem is that big.”
The supervisors authorized Thorpe to seek a partner for a local program, subject to legal review, and the contract will be brought back before the supervisors for approval later.