East Bay city to help residents with rents, mortgages - East Bay Times

jemputjembut.blogspot.com

Pittsburg will use its latest federal CARES Act grant monies to clean up homeless encampments and help families with mortgages and rental payments.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to spend $100,000 of the $457,230 of its third round of Community Block Grant monies to clean up some 20 encampments at a cost of about $5,000 each. It will also spend another $334,368 of the grant for families hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic to help assist with mortgages, rents and utilities and another $22,862 for planning and administration.

Senior analyst Melaine Venenciano Sr. said the grant is part of the CARES Act signed on March 27 and subsequent $2 billion the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded to the states and local governments on Sept. 11 to deal with the impact of the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

With the grant money, Venenciano said the emergency rent/mortgage and utilities assistance will help up to 27 families pay for bills. A recent American Community Survey, before the pandemic, showed the median mortgage was $1,997 while the median rent was $1,649 and the median household income was $70,770 in Pittsburg, she said.

“The primary intent of these funds is to assist with the effects of the pandemic with an intense focus of keeping people in their homes,” Venenciano said. “(According to HUD), these funds can help households struggling to meet rental or mortgage obligations for people struggling to stay afloat while the country continues to recover.”

Venenciano added that the average assistance will be $2,000 a month or $12,000 for six months maximum.

“The city would like its community members to know that we are committed to minimizing displacement and eviction resulting from the pandemic and we hope to assist at least 27 households with this activity,” she said.

Monies will be administered by the local nonprofit Shelter Inc., which has already given out $44,693 of previous grant monies to help Pittsburg renters and homeowners during the pandemic.

Shelter Inc. has set up a dedicated phone line and staff will work with the applicants to go through the process of applying for the grants, she added.

Another local nonprofit, Pacific Community Services Inc., reported 21 clients have reached out for assistance after losing jobs during the pandemic, and it expects to see more homeowners asking for mortgage help this spring.

As for homeless encampments, Venenciano said 13 have been cleaned up but more than 20 still need to be addressed, which includes garbage removal and weed trimming.

Councilwoman Shanelle Scales-Preston, who sits on the CDBG subcommittee, said she was “excited to receive the third round of funding to help our residents here in Pittsburg.”

“I know that we have 65 people that we were able to serve so far, but I am just hoping that we can get the word out to help serve more.”

To apply for help, Pittsburg residents can call Shelter Inc.’s hotline at 925-349-0571 or go to https://shelterinc.org/renthelp.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"help" - Google News
November 18, 2020 at 02:42AM
https://ift.tt/32VF6JF

East Bay city to help residents with rents, mortgages - East Bay Times
"help" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2SmRddm


Bagikan Berita Ini