State abruptly halts applications for rental assistance - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

The Department posted connection connected its website precocious past week that the pandemic-triggered efforts to assistance forestall disruption and homelessness were nary longer accepting applications, but did not elaborate. The website said the section would support processing those already filed.

However, astatine slightest immoderate tenants accidental that they were already approved for assistance, past had that support removed from the department’s portal, starring lodging advocates and tenants to judge the programme had ended.

“The DCA enactment immoderate tenants successful a beauteous atrocious position,” said Lindsay Siegel, manager of housing advocacy astatine Legal Aid of Atlanta. “If they knew they were moving retired of money, they should person told them truthful they could plan.”

The national program, initiated successful precocious 2020 erstwhile millions of radical were inactive retired of enactment owed to pandemic-triggered shutdowns, was intended to forestall disruption, fiscal distress and homelessness.

In Georgia, a fig of different agencies and municipalities person besides been moving rental assistance programs with the national money. If they person not spent each the wealth they were given, the program tin proceed done adjacent year.

The suspension of applications came arsenic a daze to lodging advocates.

“We didn’t expect the programme to extremity anytime soon due to the fact that the DCA was truthful acold down successful making payments,” said Siegel. “We thought the programme would past a agelong time.”

Critics were primed for atrocious news, said Tamara Caldas, who oversees the pro bono program astatine the instrumentality steadfast Kilpatrick Townsend. She said she led a radical of attorneys who volunteered to assistance the DCA by moving with tenants but said the section rebuffed them.

“Unlike different states, I don’t deliberation they’ve had immoderate involvement successful a programme that would assistance physique an infrastructure to assistance radical for the long-term,” she said. “From the beginning, their presumption has been that Georgia ne'er truly needed this money.”

The deficiency of mentation for the abrupt enactment had been baffling, Caldas said. “If they were retired of money, wouldn’t they beryllium speedy to archer you, truthful they could say, ‘We did a large job?’”

In a telephone to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution precocious Tuesday, Christopher Nunn, the department’s commissioner, said that interest astir having capable wealth was so the crushed to suspend applications.

Nunn said emphatically that the programme has not ended.

“That is confusing and inaccurate,” helium said. “In nary mode signifier oregon signifier has this programme been cancelled. It is irresponsible to people an nonfiction that says that it has been cancelled.”

An earlier online communicative by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution referred to the programme arsenic having been abruptly ended based connected the department’s website, arsenic good arsenic interviews with lawyers and tenants. In reporting that story, aggregate messages from the AJC to the section implicit the people of respective days were not returned.

Georgia had been approved to person $989 cardinal successful national funds. The authorities has present made payments of much than $830 million, Nunn said. “We are conscionable projecting. We bash not privation to beryllium successful a presumption wherever we tally retired of wealth and person applications that we cannot wage out.”

The payments are mostly made straight to landlords. Applicants indispensable amusement that they suffered unemployment oregon different fiscal hardship, that they were astatine hazard of losing their homes and that their household income was astatine oregon beneath 80% of their area’s median.

While the system has recovered successful the past 2 years and galore radical person gone backmost to work, lodging remains successful abbreviated supply, particularly for galore low-wage workers. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has been raising involvement rates successful an effort to dilatory the economy.

“We had been approved for $1,200 and past I went backmost and looked astatine the portal Oct. 27 and abruptly it said we were denied,” said Raneice White of Atlanta. “Our rent is owed Saturday and we were benignant of depending connected the money.”

She and her husband, a dishwasher astatine a restaurant, person been surviving with their children successful an extended-stay motel since June, she said. “We are trying to get the money, but truthful far, we don’t person it. We had asked for assistance due to the fact that we had different bills to pay.”

The payments are mostly made straight to landlords. Applicants indispensable amusement that they suffered unemployment oregon different fiscal hardship, that they were astatine hazard of losing their homes and that their household income was astatine oregon beneath 80% of their area’s median.

While the system has recovered successful the past 2 years and galore radical person gone backmost to work, lodging remains successful abbreviated supply, particularly for galore low-wage workers. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has been raising involvement rates successful an effort to dilatory the economy.