The City of Arlington has received two rounds of funding from the US Treasury Department under the Emergency Rental Assistance Program.
The aim of the program is to prevent evictions for low-income households that have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Arlington received $ 12 million in the first round of funding and an additional $ 9 million in the second round.
To date, $ 2.6 million in payments of $ 1,041,509 has been committed to serve 179 households and landlords.
According to Mindy Cochran, executive director of the Arlington Housing Authority, residents can initially be approved for up to 12 months, with approval being possible for a total of 18 months. These residents are recertified every three months.
To qualify for the program, residents must provide an obligation to pay rent, evidence that they are below 80% of median household income, and evidence that they have had a negative financial impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
The funds will be administered by the Arlington Housing Authority and a portion will be available through September 2027.
The Arlington Housing Authority hired a professional company to distribute the program. Marketing efforts included door hangers, flyers emailed and sent directly to landlords, social media advertisements, billboards, signage in local facilities, mail to Arlington households with eviction submitted, television and radio interviews, and mail to nonprofits, corporations and faith groups . established organizations.
This marketing effort has been coordinated with Tarrant County and the City of Fort Worth.
An application website is used to help applicants find the right jurisdiction for assistance.
Communication with the Apartment Association of Tarrant County helped share program availability with landlords in the area.
Program implementation is also coordinated with the state-wide eviction prevention program Texas Rent Relief to avoid duplication.
In addition to these marketing activities, employees hold application fairs in apartment complexes, attend eviction court hearings, and receive weekly eviction court files informing judges of the status of all applications.
According to Cochran, the average time from application to payment is 40 days, but it can also be just one day.
Cochran said the most common obstacle to application approval is providing an incomplete application that is missing either the tenant’s or the landlord’s documentation.
However, if the landlord does not cooperate, the payment can be made directly to the tenant, said Cochran.
To date, 20 additional employees have been hired to manage the program.
Prior to receiving the US Treasury Department, the Arlington Housing Authority used $ 436,000 from the Community Development Block Grant to help 101 households and $ 222,000 from the Texas Emergency Rental Assistance Program to help 82 additional households to help prevent evictions.
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