Alabama sped up the distribution of emergency rental assistance in October after months of delays in paying thousands of tenants in need of help.
“We do not expect major fluctuations to occur from month to month moving forward, and our goal is to distribute $20 million per month,” said David Young, multifamily administrator for the Alabama Housing Finance Authority.
The state gave out $17.5 million dollars to 3,097 applicants in October, putting its total distribution at $40.84 million. That’s out of $237 million the state has had to give out since April, according to the department.
The delays in distributing rental assistance come as Alabamians are again being evicted for non-payment of rent after the U.S. Supreme Court vacated an eviction moratorium in August.
Alabama tenants facing financial hardship from the pandemic are eligible to apply for the assistance, but advocates say many do not realize the funds exist. For others, the application process has proven onerous, and delays may mean help arrives too late to avoid eviction.
“It’s progress, but we really need to accelerate the rate of progress at the state level in order to get assistance out the door to people in need,” said Dev Wakeley, policy analyst for Alabama Arise.
As of September 30, Alabama spent $6.2 million dollars on Horne, a Mississippi-based contractor chosen to manage the program. Horne, which said it could not comment for the story because it is not authorized to do so, has faced criticism from advocates and state lawmakers for the slow pace of distribution.
Between April and the end of September, Alabama helped just 3,804 applicants, according to federal treasury data. A total of 81,624 applications have been submitted and 10,998 were approved for final review. The majority of applications, 52,235 were abandoned by applicants.
“It’s taking a step forward when we’re already about a mile behind. It’s an improvement from last month’s numbers which were inexplicably lower,” said Wakeley, referring to September’s lag in distribution at 1,377 according to treasury data.
“Given the number of applications that have been submitted, it’s really still not where we need to be.”
The state is ranked 10th from last nationally for the percentage of its emergency rental assistance funds it has given out, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Mobile and other counties in the state have distributed half or more of their smaller pots of rental assistance, modestly improving the state’s overall ability to get dollars into the hands of landlords and utilities awaiting past-due bills from struggling renters.
“I think that it’s pretty clear the local programs that use more mission-oriented personnel have had better results,” said Wakeley.
Young, at the department, said a loosening of documentation requirements for applicants has helped speed along the process.
“The amount decreased from August to September due to the time and effort necessary to implement new procedures from the Department of Treasury in order to expedite and streamline application processing,” he said.
About 42 percent of Alabama renters fear eviction before years end, a rate greater than in any other state, according to federal census data.
“People are right to be concerned,” said Wakeley.
“They really don’t have a lot of help coming, and the help they dp have coming has been delayed for frankly opaque and non-understandable reasons.”
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Still lagging, but Alabama passes out more rental assistance in October - AL.com
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