Texas received more than $2 billion out of the American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.9 trillion federal stimulus package President Joe Biden signed into law last year, to set up the Texas Rent. They told her there was no way to see if they had received it, she said. cy,a`G|~OOsQ>gR-"F HT$uUD$>@he^? by Christopher Connelly, KERA News TDHCA is using the funds to help Texas renters pay rent and utility bills (including past due rent and utilities). UPDATE: Accepting New Applications For Limited Time, March 14-28, 2023. Our constituents experienced significant unreliability during an already challenging set of circumstances, all the while, both renters and landlords alike had unclear direction from TDHCA for weeks or months if and when the approved funds would finally arrive, the lawmakers wrote. Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. While many have gone back to work, the unemployment rate remains significantly higher than it was before the pandemic. After the software glitches, they were asked to resubmit their applications. Check status periodically. This Plano family got evicted after the Texas Rent Relief program paid the wrong landlord. In order to collect this late fee, the landlord must have included notice of it in a written lease. You cant get paid directly, and also break the promises you made that were designed to keep someone in their home.. You will get a 30-minute legal consultation with information, advice, and resources. If your landlord breaks their agreement with the Texas Rent Relief program, you may file a complaint with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Eviction Intervention Program For Renters If you live within Harris County or Houston city limits and your landlord has already taken you to court for eviction, you may be eligible for eviction intervention rental assistance through the Houston-Harris County Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Stephanie Gates also thought the state rent relief program would save her from an eviction. A Texas rent relief program has been plagued by problems. After weeks of phone calls, a Texas Rent Relief program staffer told Scott that her former landlord had indeed received the rent relief money in mid-November more than $11,000, enough to cover the six months back rent they owed. As of August 11, 2021, TRR has paid over $658 million in rent and utility assistance to assist over 107,000 households, and funding is still available. Now, with a remaining $96 million in rent relief funds, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) re-opened the Texas Rent Relief Program (TRR) and online applications through the portal will be accepted for a limited time from March 14 to 28. KERA also reached out to Gov. Your rent and/or utility relief payments will be made directly to your landlord and utility companies. There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. To help with emergency housing needs, HAP has two components: rental assistance and relocation assistance for qualified households facing housing instability. If you need assistance with a previously submitted application, our customer service staff can assist you by phone by calling 1-833-9TX-RENT (1-833-989-7368). It hurts, that really hurts. The state has already launched a website for the program, where both landlords and tenants facing a pile of bills will be able to apply starting at 8 a.m. Monday. Since being evicted from their home in Katy, Cherice Scott and her four children have lived in hotels and other temporary settings, most recently a short-term rental in Missouri City. endobj Failure to respond will delay application review and timeline for approved payments. Mar 1, 2023. events. Returning applicants who have not received the maximum allowed 18 months of assistance for rent and/or utility bills can submit an Additional Funding Request via their existing online user account. <>/Metadata 393 0 R/ViewerPreferences 394 0 R>> Landlords can get up to 15 months of rent paid through this program, but only if they don't evict. According to the National Housing Law Project, 86% of the 119 lawyers across the country who responded to a survey gauging how the end of a federal moratorium on evictions was affecting tenants said they had seen cases where landlords either declined to apply for assistance from rent relief programs or took the money and proceeded to kick out their tenants. The program was originally launched in February 2021 and is administered by the . 0000005047 00000 n Since their October eviction from their Katy apartment, Scott and her four children have lived in hotels and other temporary settings. The Tribune contacted government agencies involved in the program and found that none of them including the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, which runs the state rent relief program track how often this happens. After logging in, click on the application status and check with the details provided. Faced with a pot of federal money larger than the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs' annual budget, the state agency contracted Houston-based management consultancy Horne LLP to run the Texas Rent Relief program, agreeing to pay the company more than $42 million. Your application status will flash one of the following statuses as provided in the chart. stream Member Editorials (MEMBERS ONLY) It is kind of a miracle that they are able to do it.. Postal Mail: In each expanded section, there are . *Must make an appointment. 0000047797 00000 n Even if the rent relief check was in hand, it wouldnt have covered the amount sought by the landlord, Musselman said. When the state sent the rent relief check to the wrong address, Scott said the staff assured her they were working to get the money re-sent. Thieves had walked off with their electronics. I"OqC)RrQBY( ,VN?4Tmj|e@O)&$O&WrVRKT0X5Vrs'O. {wKPK?c- C <=fL5h|'(d-$7(r ~9 qFP9v8i-LKp Nx@`{>-aB58c$f_Q. We strive to always do better, Tirloni said in an email. Prior to any payment being made to a tenant directly, TRR will make three attempts to request that the landlord participates in the program via email, phone, or text, over no less than a 5 calendar-day period. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) created the Texas Rent Relief program to help Texas renters pay rent and utility bills (including past due rent and utilities). If a landlord is not paid, the payment will be made directly to the tenant. Diana Johnson, 35, was waiting on rent relief in January when her landlord tried to evict her and her seven children from their three-bedroom apartment in Southeast Dallas. 2023 Local Profile is a registered trademark of Community Profile LLC. The email and template I was provided: Support@texasrentrelief.com Subject: Your Tenant case id. In Texas, two state agencies the TDHCA, which oversees the statewide rent relief program, and the State Auditors Office have the authority to look into allegations of waste, fraud or abuse within the program. Past due, current and up to 2 months of expected rent costs, Past due, current and up to 2 months of expected utility and home energy expenses, After the initial 3 months of current/future assistance, renters were able to apply for 3 additional months of assistance if funds were still available, If you suspect fraud, waste or abuse please call, View the Texas Rent Relief Program Dashboard (Dashboard in English), https://www.tdhca.state.tx.us/covid19-response.htm. Scott wanted to know: What happened to the rent relief money? Sign up here. Founded in 1997, the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers (TAAHP) is a non-profit trade association serving as the primary advocate and leading resource for the affordable housing industry in Texas. Home ownership TDHCA says it has received more than 7,500 complaints through the hotline not all of them related to fraud, waste or abuse but the agency wont say how many times it has referred cases to outside agencies for investigation. When the pandemic hit last year, millions of people across the country lost wages after they were laid off, furloughed or saw work hours cut. Texas Housing Conference Do you value our journalism? But Johnsons victory was short-lived. 2023 Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers. SACRAMENTO - California's COVID-19 Rent Relief Program is reaching a significant milestone today - by the end of the day, more than $1 billion in funding will be obligated - meaning the money has either been paid or approved for payment and awaiting disbursement - and will assist over 74,000 additional households. If you owe unpaid rent or utilities, that amount will be paid in one lump sum within 10 business days of your final approval. Show us with your support. While hes cautiously optimistic that the Texas Rent Relief programs problems have largely been addressed, fundamental questions remain unanswered. We look at Texas Tech's award-winning magazine. Scotts former landlord Blazer Real Estate Services, a Houston property management company did not respond to calls and emails requesting comment. Interests I trusted them, Scott said. Just as the program launched, the state was hit with the massive winter storm in February, which sidelined a third of the contracted phone operators for days, the report said. Is there any communication that were making, saying we messed up, give us a minute and give them a minute so that we can get them the relief that they need, and everyone will be made whole in a few weeks? Bernal asked. April 7, 20215 PM Central. Housing experts say they expect expiration of the eviction rules will make the already spotty protections of the eviction moratorium even more unevenly applied. Also, the application status in the Neighborly system will be updated when the payment has been made. 0000014023 00000 n The rent relief checks cleared RDRHs bank account on Feb. 4 less than two weeks after Gates was evicted. You can find the names and phone numbers of these organizations below. The TDHCA runs the Texas Rent Relief program. State of Texas | Statewide Search | Report Fraud in Texas | Texas Statutes, Site Map | Library Policies | Accessibility | Employment Opportunities, 205 West 14th Street, Austin, Texas 78701-1614. The . Community Hope this timeline helps someone! The report was released less than a week after the Supreme Court of Texas let lapse a set of rules for how courts in the state enforce a federal eviction ban, which the Biden administration extended through into the summer. This page has answers to questions about the Texas Rent Relief Program for both landlords and tenants. Since February the state of Texas has paid landlords more than one billion dollars for tenants who can't afford to pay rent. Eligibility: For anyone who currently rents in the United States and resides in any of the properties Esusu works with. There have been nearly 50,000 eviction filings in Houston since the beginning of the pandemic. Applicants must still provide all other required program documentation and must provide evidence of the notice of utility disconnection. If you need assistance with a previously submitted application, our customer service staff can assist you by phone by calling 1-833-9TX-RENT (1-833-989-7368). Around the time of the eviction, Scott and her husband separated. This time period has been shortened based on direction from the Department of Treasury. Request for assistance has been verified and approved. If you live in Texas no matter if you are landlord or tenants this program will help you, the simplest way is to apply for Texas Emergency rent assistance for covid 19, Visit the website, Create a account, and apply online. Learn how Section 8 provides rental help Find housing services and information Texans can get housing assistance whether they live in rural or urban areas. The program has assisted more than 6,000 households in the state thus far. Texas Rent Relief approved her for a little over $3,100 about three months worth of rent. The Texas Rent Relief Program, a COVID-19 emergency rental assistance program administered by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), will be receiving an additional $47.8 million to help address the backlog of assistance requests. Texas received more than $2 billion out of the American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.9 trillion federal stimulus package President Joe Biden signed into law last year, to set up the Texas Rent Relief program, designed to help such families stay in their homes as the pandemic triggered a tsunami of business closures and hundreds of thousands of layoffs. We will accept new applications for rent and utility assistance from Tuesday, March 14 at 8 a.m. CT to Tuesday, March 28 at 11:59 p.m. CT. COVID-19 has affected Texans across the state. All applications will be processed in the order they are received, giving priority to those households facing evictions. Texas law allows landlords to collect "reasonable" late fees if any portion of the rent remains unpaid more than two full days after it was due. 2401 E 6th Street, Ste 3037, PMB 153, Austin, TX 78702. Shes focused on finding a new place for her and her seven children to live. The Texas Rent Relief Program will be run by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. For example, the program bars landlords from accepting rent relief payments after they evict a tenant. Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates. The department . Cherice Scotts son, 6-year-old Teegan McKinney, plays at a park in Houston. Prior to 2019, there was often confusion about what counted as a "reasonable" late fee. An employee at Blazers office who answered the phone declined to answer questions. Disclosure: The Texas Apartment Association has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Sharing of Certifications: As outlined in the Tenant and Landlord certifications, the program may share a copy of the tenant, landlord, or utility provider certification with the tenant applicant, a user approved by the tenant, or an associated landlord or utility provider, as well as counsel for any of these parties. A group of Austin-area lawmakers state Reps. Celia Israel, Sheryl Cole, Vikki Goodwin, Gina Hinojosa, Donna Howard and Eddie Rodriguez alerted TDHCA this week that they have seen alarming calls from constituents whose rent relief money went to the wrong address, and called on the agency to fix the problem. 0000012097 00000 n Landlords who received rent relief dollars cant evict tenants for any reason related to rent or fees during the time period covered by the funds, according to the program requirements. Were adding added significant resources to attack the backlog and get the money out the door. Utilities, Clothing for Children, Employment assistance services. While applications can be made online through the programs portal, the TDHCA call center at (833) 9TX-RENT (833-989-7368) will be available to submit applications over the phone. Depending on each applicants needs and eligibility, this could include past-due payments or a combination of past-due and up to three months of current and future payments made on their behalf. Tirloni said the agency doesnt track what portion of those clawed-back funds came from landlords found to have improperly evicted their tenants after receiving assistance or categorize what scenarios would result in recapturing the money. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribunes journalism. Body: Case ID. Funds may not still be available by the time a household applies. Lone Star Legal Aid is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy for low-income and underserved populations. Of the roughly 200 that have completed applications, only two have been approved for funding. We've provided over $2B in emergency funds to help Texas renters pay rent and utility bills (including past due rent and utilities). Closed from 12 to 1pm for lunch. "To date, Texas Rent Relief has served . We have more than $1 million of unpaid rent dating back to March of last year, said Ian Mattingly, president of LumaCorp, which manages about 7,000 rental apartments in Texas. The TRR portal will accept new applications starting Tuesday, March 14 at 8 a.m. CT through Tuesday, March 28 at 11:59 p.m. CT, to help eligible households with . If you are concerned that a community is not in compliance, please contact the TDHCA at 512-475-3800. The Texas Rent Relief Program will shut down its application portal at 5 p.m. on Friday. For others, health issues made going to work unsafe while the pandemic raged out of control. Even if the programs software and staffing struggles have been addressed, Rosales still worries that the programs reliance on online applications will leave eligible renters unable to apply. Calls to Musemeche were not returned. When you click on the link for the first time, you will need to be prepared with a valid email address.

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