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Millions available to help Monroe County renters affected by COVID-19

James Brown
/
WXXI News

As New York state leaders plan to weigh an extension of the state’s eviction moratorium Wednesday, a Monroe County leader said they’re positioned to help residents with back rent. 

Thalia Wright, the county’s Department of Human Services commissioner, said that roughly $6 million in federal pandemic relief funds is available for renters through its Emergency Rental Assistance Program known as EPPI 2.0.  County Spokesperson Meaghan McDermott said the county expects another $20 million in federal money for the program. 

Roughly 8,200 people have applied, and Wright said they’ve distributed about $15 million to 3,500 renters so far. Another $12 million has been earmarked for applications that are pending. She said the county turns away one of every three of their applicants because they did not make it through the process.  

Once an application is started, Wright said the applicant’s landlord is notified and county representatives sort through the information provided. She said it takes between one and two months for the money to get to the landlord, but most are willing to wait.

If all the paperwork checks out, Wright said residents can get up to a year of back rent. In some cases, she said it can be longer if they can prove hardship going back to March 2020, the beginning of the pandemic.

But if something is missing, everything stalls, and sometimes the application is denied. Usually it's some type of document, like a paystub or other verification, that's needed. According to Wright, 16 local nonprofits are working with applicants to get that information. 

But in other cases, Wright said people don’t qualify at all.

“As part of the qualification for the COVID-19 expenditures, it's gotta be a COVID-related expense,” said Wright.

That means applicants have to prove that the pandemic affected their finances or they can’t get the money.

Wright also said the county cannot provide funds to landlords of properties with code violations, and qualifying applicants must be at or below the area’s annual median income. A single person can't earn more than $3,567 a month; for a family of four, it's $5,092.

James Brown is a reporter with WXXI News. James previously spent a decade in marketing communications, while freelance writing for CITY Newspaper. While at CITY, his reporting focused primarily on arts and entertainment.