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Emergency fund available to Reading renters

Other city and municipal governments are funneling money from the federal department of Housing and Urban Development to community organizations, some of which also have emergency funds for people struggling to afford housing.

  • Alanna Elder/WITF

 Jenny Kane / The Associated Press

Reading’s Human Relations Commission has launched an emergency rental assistance fund for tenants living within city limits.

The money is connected to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s CARES Act funding, which is aimed at helping people who, for example, might have lost a job because of the COVID-19 pandemic and need help making rent payments. The assistance comes with some stipulations.

For example, applicants must provide Social Security information for themselves and others living in the home, a rule that leaves out undocumented immigrants and their families. It also requires a letter from a landlord.

The city is set to receive $2.2 million in what are called Emergency Solutions Grants.

Reading spokesman Christian Crespo said not all the money has arrived.

“If we don’t have all the funding from CARES Act in our accounts credited yet in the moment that applications are submitted or processed, Human Relations Commission specifically has identified the funding to provide while the other portions from CARES Act arrive,” he said.

People whose applications are approved will receive different amounts based on need.

Since the city’s offices are closed to the public because of the pandemic, Crespo said, the challenge is getting people access, online or in-person.

“We are using local organizations that are already open and receiving people so we can make this information available for them,” he said. “The other thing we are using is social media, so we’re going to start a media campaign to get the word out.”

He said applications went live on the city’s website early last Monday. The city plans to post Spanish versions this week.

As of last Thursday, 36 people had submitted applications.

Reading’s fund is separate from a statewide rental and mortgage relief program that also began accepting applications last week. A designated organization in each county is serving as the local contact for the program. Both rollouts began with the end of a statewide ban on evictions looming, but the governor extended the moratorium until the end of August.

Other city and municipal governments are funneling money from HUD to community organizations, some of which also have emergency funds for people struggling to afford housing. The federal agency allocated another set of funds as Community Development Block Grants, which will also go to local organizations.

Harrisburg City Council voted Wednesday night to allocate the supplemental CARES Act money from HUD to organizations that collected ESG and CDBG funds last year. The capital city received $1.6 million in Emergency Solutions Grants. Lancaster is sending its $1.3 million ESG funds to local shelters as well as homelessness and food hub outreach programs.

Reading, Johnstown, and Reading had the highest eviction rates of Pennsylvania’s mid-size cities, according to Princeton University’s Eviction Lab.

 

 

WITF’s Alanna Elder is part of the “Report for America” program — a national service effort that places journalists in newsrooms across the country to report on under-covered topics and communities.

 

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