JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - More than 200 tenants have received help through the Hinds County Emergency Rental Aid Program, approximately four months after the program was launched.
In December, the county received just over $7 million in CARES Act money to fund a rental assistance program. In March, the board of supervisors brought on Florida-based Integrity Group to manage it.
The program was designed to provide rental assistance to individuals and families impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Qualifying residents can receive funds to cover past due rental amounts dating back to March 2020, and up to three months of rental assistance for months going forward.
Hinds County Director of Administration Stephen Hopkins said so far HCERA has been a success.
“Demand for our program has been off the charts,” he said. “We are receiving 60+ applications a week still after months of operating.”
To date, the program has received 658 applications for assistance. Of those, 207 have been approved for a combined $953,000 in aid.
Meanwhile, the county has reached out to another 227 applicants who failed to provide the documentation required for their applications to be processed.
Applicants must submit proof of I.D., proof of reduction in household income, verification of reduction in income since March 2020, evidence of risk of homelessness, and other information.
Additionally, tenants’ income cannot exceed 80 percent of the area’s annual median income at the time of the application, while preference is given to individuals and households earning less than 50 percent of the annual AMI, according to the HCERA website.
That means a household of four must earn no more than $56,700 to be eligible for funding and no more than $35,450 to receive preference.
Applications take three weeks to process, depending on whether paperwork is in order and how quickly applicants respond to additional requests for information, Hopkins said.
The total cost to administer the program is $500,000.
According to a copy of its contract, Integrity Group would earn $230,000 to process applications between April and May 2021, $25,000 to process applications from July to August 2021, and $25,000 each period to process applications in October and November of 2021, and January and February of 2022.
The contract also called for establishing an online portal for interested applicants ($75,000), creating and offering online and paper application options ($25,000), analyzing and making recommendations for funding eligibility ($20,000), and setting up standards and protocols for staffers processing applications ($22,500).
Another $9,500 was used to establish a “dashboard” for county officials to track how money was being used, while $2,200 went to establishing a FAQ section on the HCERA portal and $5,800 was used to draw up materials to raise community awareness about the program.
A copy of the contract is shown below.
Meanwhile, the state’s rental assistance program is being administered by the Mississippi Home Corporation.
As of August 23, it had awarded $18.2 million in rental assistance to more than 4,000 applicants.
The amount represents about 10 percent of the $200 million in HUD (Housing and Urban Development) funding made available to Mississippians as part of the CARES Act.
To date, the home corporation reports that it has received 14,000 completed applications. Another 43,725 applications have been started but not completed, said Rivers Ormon, corporate communications officer with MHC.
460 applications have been denied.
Hopkins said there is no deadline for the county to spend the money.
Ormon said the U.S. Department of the Treasury will reevaluate state programs in late September. She said that either 60 or 65 percent of the funds must be allocated by that time.
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