Thousands of Hoosiers Seek Help Paying Rent
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowNearly 22,000 Hoosiers have applied for rental assistance through two separate programs established in response to the economic downturn related to the pandemic, with nearly half of the requests coming from the Indy metro area.
Registration opened Monday for both the state’s COVID-19 Rental Assistance Program and the Indianapolis Rental Assistance Program. Both programs are being funded through the federal CARES Act.
They were created to help residents who are struggling to pay rent, either because they lost a job or face a reduction in work hours.
Eligible renters can receive up to $500 per month for four months. It can be applied to current rent or towards past rent, dating back to April.
“Within the first 48 hours, we received over 11,000 applications from Hoosier rentals from those 91 counties,” said Jacob Sipe, executive director of the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority.
The $25 million state program helps residents throughout the state, excluding Marion County. The city of Indianapolis created its own program to help Marion County residents, using approximately $15 million of the CARES Act funding the city received. It also received $5 million from Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc, which a portion will go to rental assistance.
From Monday through Wednesday, the city website received 10,118 tenant applications. Because of the high volume within a short period, the website has switched to email address intake on a waiting list while existing applications are processed.
Marion county’s processing is anticipated to last through next week. Individuals can still submit their contact information to be notified when the site resumes taking applications.
“As more residents seek to take advantage of this opportunity, we will be assessing how we can further maximize this funding,” said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett.
First state payments are expected to go out the first week of August.
Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority Executive Director Jacob Sipe provides an update on the state program.