Georgia Distributes $6M For Rental Assistance; Hundreds Of Millions Left To Spend
A statewide rental assistance program has distributed around $6 million since the Georgia Department of Community Affairs opened applications three months ago.
The money has reached more than 2,000 tenants so far, according to Tonya Cureton Curry, deputy housing commissioner at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
The state has hundreds of millions more in federal funding to spend.
Curry says she knows some people would like to see all of the money get to tenants quicker. Her program is following the rules from the federal government, she said.
“We know how to do this, and we’re going to continue to do it as we administer the funds through the end of the program,” Curry said.
The nationwide eviction moratorium, originally ordered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year, is set to expire at the end of June.
Curry said her staff is working closely with tenants whose landlords have already filed eviction. The agency also is connecting applicants to Georgia Legal Services, which represents tenants statewide.
Georgia is receiving around $1 billion for rental assistance, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The funding comes from two federal relief packages that Congress approved in December and March.
The state program currently only covers tenants who live outside the most populous counties.
The Treasury gave 12 local governments, including DeKalb and Fulton, rental assistance funding of their own. Several have paused applications because of high demand.
Once those counties run out of their funds, the state will expand its program to those areas. Curry said she expects the program to continue into 2022.
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