Updates on King County rental assistance program

King County's Department of Community and Human Services has published an update on King County's Eviction Prevention and Rental Assistance program, including some late breaking updates in federal policy that will allow more assistance to be distributed faster.

As noted in the blog, King County has distributed more than $22 million in rental assistance this year to help more than 3,400 households stay in their homes. That amount, expected to grow by more than $6 million every week, is on top of the $40 million distributed in 2020.

The notable federal policy changes are outlined in the blog as well:

In response to nationwide challenges to quickly dispersing rental assistance funds, the U.S. Department of Treasury last week announced changes to federal requirements that will help to smooth out some of the biggest snags to getting funding out the door. 

In addition to increasing staff assigned to the EPRAP team, King County is focusing on rapid assessment and implementation of two changes to quickly increase the rate of payment in the EPRAP program. 

King County’s upcoming EPRAP blogs will provide updates on implementation of these changes in the Treasury guidance:

• Tenants may now self-attest to income, housing instability and financial impacts due to COVID-19, with the potential to streamline both the application and approval process that have previously slowed down payments.
• Rent assistance programs like EPRAP may now also be able to advance assistance to property owners and landlords based on estimated eligible arrears, making it possible to provide a portion of the estimated bulk payment due to large landlords in anticipation of full satisfaction of the application and documentation requirements.

See the full web version