KILLEEN, Texas (KWTX) Across the city of Killeen, hundreds have applied for a rent and utility assistance program available to those impacted by COVID-19.
The money for the assistance made possible through the CARES Act.
"Initially, of course you were elated because you are not as worrying about how you're going to make next month's rent. However, this has set most individuals back a minimum of two months and they're only going to pay one," said Rosalyn Finley, who applied for the assistance.
The assistance is a one-time payment to the recent rent or utility bill. The city says more than 200 applications have been received since the start date of last Monday.
For those who have applied, they expected to receive a notice within three business days. But, the city says the process has taken longer than initially thought.
"Many of the applicants are asking for both rental and utility assistance. Staff is going through a very manual process to validating each application to ensure information is correct and complete," said city spokesperson Hilary Shine. "It is very time consuming, it's taken more time than we have anticipated initially. People are presenting us leases that may be out of date, they've continued, but we have to verify that is still true. The utility collection piece is easier because it is our utilities we're looking at. It's turned out to be a much more manual process, back and forth between applicants and city as well as entities they have agreements with."
Finley says the process to apply wasn't easy. She says the application was not initially made available last Monday and she says it "was not user-friendly."
"What are we going to do for those who are now left in detrimental situation because the assistance only qualifies one month?" she said.
She says since getting an email that her application for the assistance had been received, she hasn't heard anything from the city.
The city says they are working to contact everyone who has applied.
"We hope to begin notifying people as soon as Monday," Shine said. "If it's sooner, absolutely, we're not going going to stick a date if we can get things moving...we absolutely will."
"We're asking for the people who have applied to just be a little patient with us. We're also referring people if they have more immediate needs that can t be met by these two programs, we're referring them to other area agencies. Last thing we want is for someone to have additional hardship while they're waiting for someone to lend a helping hand."
Texas Supreme Court has put a temporary hold on all evictions -- that moratorium ends on May 18.
It's a date the city is aware of.
"We're aware those dates are coming upon us. We are working as fast as we can. I can tell you it is a tedious process and there is significant amount of work going into it to make it successful," Shine said.
The city says one an applicant is contacted, to make sure documents that are requested are sent back as soon as possible.
For more information on the assistance program, click on the link above.
"assistance" - Google News
May 14, 2020 at 10:51AM
https://ift.tt/3dK5Rny
Killeen: Hundreds apply for assistance, process more than anticipated - KWTX
"assistance" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Ne4zX9
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Killeen: Hundreds apply for assistance, process more than anticipated - KWTX"
Post a Comment