$30 million for rent relief coming; here's how to apply
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How to apply
The funds for the Kansas City area will be distributed through the Missouri Housing Development Commission.
The MHDC provides an interactive site that identifies relief agencies by county that have distributed rental assistance funds from the previous pandemic federal relief act, and which will likely be providing the relief with the new funding.
The MHDC has specific links to resources by county if you are (click below):
To apply in Kansas City:
To apply in Jackson County (outside of KCMO):
Help is on the way in Kansas City’s struggle against a feared “eviction tsunami.”
Area relief agencies will soon have access to more than $30 million in additional Covid-19 federal relief dollars to help pay back rent for households suffering losses because of the pandemic.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-MO) announced Jan. 25 that his office had secured commitments that Kansas City will receive $14.8 million, Jackson County $11.6 million and Clay County $3.6 million of the $25 billion in federal relief dedicated to rental assistance natiowide in the Covid relief bill signed in December.
Now Cleaver’s 5th Congressional District office will be pressing to get the funds distributed quickly, he said.
Go to: mohousingresources.com
“The eviction crisis is one that continues to grow with each passing day, as thousands of Missourians have been displaced from their home since March,” Cleaver said in a written statement.
“I’m relieved to see the Biden Administration has placed a priority on assisting renters and responded to my calls for greater urgency by allocating critically needed rental assistance to avoid an eviction tsunami,” he said. But it is “imperative” that the U.S. Treasury Department “now provide municipalities with the guidance and guardrails needed to actually release it to the public.”
The funds will be distributed through service agencies within local communities. Some criteria will apply:
An eligible renter qualifies for unemployment or has experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs, or experienced a financial hardship due to COVID-19.
Has demonstrated a risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
And has a household income at or below 80% of the area median income.
To apply in Kansas City, go to gkcassistanceprogram.org.
For Jackson County outside of Kansas City, apply for rent relief through the Community Services League at jacksoncountyerap.org/
To contact rent relief agencies statewide by county, go to mohousingresources.com/housing-resources.
The fate of renters in danger of eviction and landlords in danger of foreclosure or bankruptcy has hung tenuously through the pandemic.
Some 2,500 renters in the Kansas City area have been at risk of losing their homes since the start of the pandemic, Cleaver noted in a letter to rental assistance agencies last month, and some 900 families in Jackson County were hit with eviction filings despite the CDC’s eviction moratorium put in place in early September.
President Biden, soon after taking office Jan. 20, extended the eviction moratorium at least through the end of March.
LINC provides contacts to many social services and emergency relief including rental assistance, plus food resources, utility bill assistance, Covid-19 vaccine and testing information, legal aid and other resources at kclinc.org/help.