Need Rent Money Assistance?
Manatee & Sarasota County Have Millions
Both Manatee & Sarasota County is distributing rental assistance money to local residents through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. It is FREE to Apply. Start Your Application Below...
Sarasota County received $13 million in rental assistance funding from the federal government this year.
But only $2.46 million of it – or 18.8% – has been distributed to local residents.
It is similar in Manatee County… as their disbursement has been similarly low. Only $2.95 million of Manatee County’s $12 million allocated has been distributed as of August 24th, 2021. .
Both Counties are distributing rental assistance money to local residents through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which started accepting applications, last summer. The county’s pool of funding comes from two different COVID-19 relief bills, one of which Congress passed in December 2020 and the other in March of this year.
Applicants must supply several kinds of documentation, and the County’s also have to ensure that the applicants’ information isn’t fraudulent.
Also resident’s must meet the program’s criteria, including having a household income under 80% of the area median income, to qualify for the assistance.
Once an application is submitted, a reviewer works with the resident one-on-one to ensure they have submitted all of the required documentation. An applicant and a reviewer may have to email back-and-forth for a while.
The process can get held up if an applicant does not respond to an email or has trouble logging on to the application system.
The money is typically sent to landlords, utility companies or public utility departments. Sometimes, a tenant’s checks are sent to both a utility company and a landlord.
There are also instances where a landlord refuses to participate in the rental assistance program. In those cases, the county pays the tenant instead of the landlord.
To learn more and apply for this money…
in Sarasota County… visit… https://www.scgov.net/government/health-and-human-services/covid-19-coronavirus/sarasota-county-cares/emergency-rental-assistance-program
In Manatee County, visit… https://www.mymanatee.org/departments/redevelopment___economic_opportunity/community_development/manatee_cares/emergency_rental_assistance_program
Photo: Getty Images