Rent & Water Assistance Programs Start Nov. 9

posted 11/6/20 -- The Lorain County Community Action Agency (LCCAA), which serves all of Lorain County, has been awarded $1.1 million in Home Relief Grant (HRG) funds to assist households impacted by COVID-19 with past due rent as well as past due water and sewer payments.

The programs begin Monday, Nov. 9 at 8 a.m. Funds will be available until Dec. 30.

Governor Mike DeWine announced the availability of the funds Oct. 23 and Ohio’s Controlling Board approved his plan Oct. 26. Ohio’s Home Relief Grant funding comes from the federal CARES Act stimulus package passed by Congress in March.

“The Community Action network of Ohio is a go-to for programs like these,” said Jackie Boehnlein, President and CEO. “Even though we are experienced at screening for eligibility and capturing required documentation, this is still a challenge for us given the time constraints.”

While most agencies opened programs on Nov. 2, the earliest permitted date, some – including LCCAA – first had to address staffing shortages caused by COVID-19. LCCAA also used the time create a simple-to-use online request for assistance.

“We are calling the request an application,” Boehnlein said. “It is more of a quick app to get the process started. Our HRG staff will work with each applicant to conduct an eligibility screening and to obtain all the required documentation from the requests submitted online. For the most part, we will process each application in the order received.”

The request for assistance application has been moved to a higher-power server in anticipation of high demand.

Ohioans who live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level and have fallen behind on their payments are urged to apply using LCCAA’s online application immediately as funds are available for a very limited time.

“A condition of the funding is a local grant plan. We submitted the number of households to be served for rent and water and will only accept that number of applications,” Boehnlein said. “Some agencies elsewhere in the state are creating wait lists. We are not taking that approach. We may reopen the online application the first week of December if assistance payouts turn out to be lower than projected. We will give a five-day notice if that occurs.”

For the rental assistance, residents with a pending eviction case in a local court will be given priority processing. For water assistance, households that are disconnected or have been served with a disconnect notice will receive priority processing.

Boehnlein also announced LCCAA will work collaboratively with several agencies to rehouse homeless youth, families and veterans.

Partners for these programs include:

 

• United Way of Greater Lorain County and the partners in the UCAN network
• Lorain County Children’s Services, to assist emancipated youth facing homelessness or eviction;
• Neighborhood Alliance which operates the Haven Center homeless shelter
• Valor Home which provides emergency shelter for homeless veterans.

 

LCCAA hired nine full-time temporary staff solely dedicated to Home Relief Grant application processing. Boehnlein expects record setting demand but added that the agency will not be able to accept phone calls.

“We posted eligibility requirements and answers to Frequently Asked Questions on our webpages. We know many people prefer to speak to someone by phone and ask everyone to understand that we have directed our resources to processing applications so that all are processed before the funding period expires on December 30,” she said. “Our commitment is to expeditiously help all who qualify.”

Applications will be taken for rental assistance here.

Applications for water assistance will be taken here.

The funding does permit mortgage assistance; however, LCCAA has prioritized rental assistance, water and sewer assistance, and rehousing of the homeless for now. The Agency is preparing for mortgage assistance if additional funding is provided in 2021.