Starting October 10, 2022, all new utility assistance payments are issued directly to the tenant to ensure timely and accurate utility assistance payments. Mattingly also heads the Dallas Apartment Association, which represents landlords. One landlord received federal money through the Texas Rent Relief program and later chose not to renew their tenants lease which was legal in that case. She said the past few months have been hard. They told her there was no way to see if they had received it, she said. rental assistance programs, totaling $46.55 billion. What is clear is that a lot of Texans could use the help of the Texas Rent Relief program. TAAHP does not have regulatory or compliance authority for any affordable housing communities or developments. Regardless of your immigration status, you will be eligible for rent relief if you have been adversely affected by COVID-19 or are . Around the time of the eviction, Scott and her husband separated. The state of Texas has more than one billion dollars to give out to people who need help paying their bills. And a large and growing percentage of that is over a year old at this point.. A group of Austin-area lawmakers state Reps. Celia Israel, Sheryl Cole, Vikki Goodwin, Gina Hinojosa, Donna Howard and Eddie Rodriguez alerted TDHCA this week that they have seen alarming calls from constituents whose rent relief money went to the wrong address, and called on the agency to fix the problem. Scott had landed a new job as a dietician at a local hospital when she returned from work one afternoon in early October to find most of her belongings spread out on the lawn and the locks changed. 0000010218 00000 n It turns out the state program had sent the check in September to the wrong address. When Congress set aside more than $46 billion for emergency rental assistance, they intended for that money to keep people in their homes, said U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, a Democrat from Houston. Feb 27, 2023. Home ownership Then she gave up her job at the Katy hospital to care once more for her youngest daughter. You will get a 30-minute legal consultation with information, advice, and resources. But none of the agencies contacted by the Tribune would say whether any landlord has been credibly accused of taking rent relief money and improperly ousting their tenants, or whether they have imposed penalties on landlords for doing so. Since their October eviction from their Katy apartment, Scott and her four children have lived in hotels and other temporary settings. A free legal hotline available to South Texas residents. What do I do? 0000014023 00000 n "To date, Texas Rent Relief has served . She said she has spent thousands of dollars on application fees to at least 10 homes and apartment complexes and all of them have denied her because she now has an eviction on her record. At a time when newsroom resources and revenue across the country are declining, The Texas Tribune remains committed to sustaining our mission: creating a more engaged and informed Texas with every story we cover, every event we convene and every newsletter we send. In February, Texas launched a program to help people who had missed rent payments because of the pandemic. Scotts former landlord Blazer Real Estate Services, a Houston property management company did not respond to calls and emails requesting comment. Texas received more than $2 billion out of the American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.9 trillion federal stimulus package President Joe Biden signed into law last year, to set up the Texas Rent. You can login to the site as a landlord or as a tenant. 0000026104 00000 n The federal government and the state of Texas both had people like Scott and her family in mind when they hurriedly created a safety net for struggling renters amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He was asked whether he planned to reduce the $42 million contract with Horne LLP due to the troubled rollout, and said his team is reviewing the contract. Some local governments still have money for rent help, but those funds may soon run out, as well. I was a good tenant, Gates said. All Rights Reserved. TDHCA has provided the following updates regarding the program: ADDITIONAL FUNDING REQUESTS (AFR) INFORMATION. The states leadership shouldve been prepared to get money out to struggling renters as soon as Congress approved the funding, Rosales said, but instead have focused on their own political interests. The TRR program will be accepting online applications from March 14 to 28, providing aid with rent and utility bills for up to 18 months for first-time applicants. Those constituents were told they were unable to receive their eligible assistance while the agency recouped the funds, the lawmakers wrote Thursday to TDHCA board Chair Leo Vasquez. 0000015708 00000 n According to the National Housing Law Project, 86% of the 119 lawyers across the country who responded to a survey gauging how the end of a federal moratorium on evictions was affecting tenants said they had seen cases where landlords either declined to apply for assistance from rent relief programs or took the money and proceeded to kick out their tenants. I can understand an apartment complex coming at this point in the process and saying, It's time to figure out what's going to happen here or move forward, Musselman said. An employee at the apartment complex, Crestshire Village Apartments, declined to comment. Monday-Friday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. CST Help is available in multiple languages. Even now, despite our challenges, were ahead of most states in processing applications and making payments, Wilkinson testified, comparing Texas to other large states like California and Florida. [n6[_.7jSz All those folks acted in good faith on something that we offered them, that theyre by definition entitled toand by some sort of error, theyre not getting the relief that they need, and then the state Supreme Court let its rules around the eviction moratorium lapse, Bernal said. TDHCA announced that they would be accepting new applications in March of 2023 to distribute the remaining funds. The money was considered crucial to prevent a wave of tenants losing their homes as eviction bans expired; in recent months, three Texas metro areas Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth have seen some of the highest eviction case filings in the country among the 31 cities tracked by Eviction Lab, a research center based at Princeton University that tracks eviction filings. Business Closed from 12 to 1pm for lunch. 30j($>H&L&Q.]Ky,YIR _I@*v+ If you need assistance with a previously submitted application, our customer service staff can assist you by phone by calling 1-833-9TX-RENT (1-833-989-7368). This page has answers to questions about the Texas Rent Relief Program for both landlords and tenants. This Plano family got evicted after the Texas Rent Relief program paid the wrong landlord. Its awesome. Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Section 8 housing voucher Low-income residents may be eligible to get help paying rent. Utility Payment Program Provides assistance to eligible Texas homeowners with qualified hardships to pay past due utility bills and up to three (3) months of prospective payments. News from Members (MEMBERS ONLY) I hope everyone gets the assistance that they need. Advocacy Alerts Stephanie Gates also thought the state rent relief program would save her from an eviction. Housing experts say they expect expiration of the eviction rules will make the already spotty protections of the eviction moratorium even more unevenly applied. your Phone number -Specify Landlord or tenant rental assistance. Please reload the page and try again. It is kind of a miracle that they are able to do it.. We have more than $1 million of unpaid rent dating back to March of last year, said Ian Mattingly, president of LumaCorp, which manages about 7,000 rental apartments in Texas. But it's not a fast process. Job Listings Thieves had walked off with their electronics. Since the program launched in February 2021, TRR has provided over $2 billion in emergency funds for rent and utility relief, served 250 Texas counties and prevented evictions for over 21,000 households. But Musselman expressed sympathy for the landlord, noting that they had gone 11 months without rent from Gates. Members in the News (MEMBERS ONLY) Thats created a confusing patchwork of rental assistance across the state, with rules for how to navigate them still unclear, and its forcing landlords into an odd new role. First-time TRR applicants may be eligible for up to 18 months of rent and utility bill assistance, either with past due payments or a combination of past due and up to three months of current and future payments made on their behalf. For checking the Texas rent relief application status, you can either go online or call them up at 1-833-989-7368. I"OqC)RrQBY( ,VN?4Tmj|e@O)&$O&WrVRKT0X5Vrs'O. {wKPK?c- C <=fL5h|'(d-$7(r ~9 qFP9v8i-LKp Nx@`{>-aB58c$f_Q. 2021 Program Information. Theres no excuse, Rosales said. %PDF-1.7 % 2. The department . 0000008211 00000 n To get that protection, you'll need to attest on a declaration form that you meet a few requirements, such as that you earned less than $99,000 in 2020 or 2021. 0000048055 00000 n I think any landlord that accepted money or got money directly for rent absolutely should not have evicted anyone, Garcia said. 0000058032 00000 n Texas Rent Relief approved help for me August 27th. We're thankful for the opportunity to re-open the application portal for two weeks to help more Texas tenants and landlords," said Bobby Wilkinson, TDHCA Executive Director. We look at Texas Tech's award-winning magazine. Johnson had asked the office manager whether they had received the latest check, she said. This time period has been shortened based on direction from the Department of Treasury. The TRR portal will accept new applications starting Tuesday, March 14 at 8 a.m. CT through Tuesday, March 28 at 11:59 p.m. CT, to help eligible households with . P.O. On Wednesday, the head of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs took questions from lawmakers about the troubled rollout of the program. 0000088072 00000 n But she said the program doesnt allow landlords to receive back rent if theyve evicted a tenant the opposite of what the email to Scott said. Now, with a remaining $96 million in rent relief funds, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) re-opened the Texas Rent Relief Program (TRR) and online applications through the portal will be accepted for a limited time from March 14 to 28. Health Johnsons lawyer recorded the call. Your application status will flash one of the following statuses as provided in the chart. You cant get paid directly, and also break the promises you made that were designed to keep someone in their home.. The program will also have a call . The Texas Homeowner Assistance Fund Program (TXHAF) provides financial assistance to qualified Texas homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage and related expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible households can apply for assistance online at TexasRentRelief.com or over the phone by calling the TRR call center at 833-9TX-RENT (833-989-7368). Tenants in New Units: Tenants who are living at a new address may request funds through the AFR process for the rent expenses of the new primary residence. You can find the names and phone numbers of these organizations below. You know, we just had the problems from [the pandemic] last year, which everybody did.. The following provides performance of the Texas Rent Relief Program, as of May 12, 2021: More than $110 million has been paid or is in the process of being paid. 0000002022 00000 n "To date, Texas Rent Relief has served . %PDF-1.7 The program has emergency funds available to help Texas renters pay rent and utility bills (including past due rent and utilities). The email and template I was provided: Support@texasrentrelief.com Subject: Your Tenant case id. stream The state-level program meant to help both Texas renters impacted financially by the pandemic and their landlords announced Thursday morning that it would stop taking new applications for . Tenants who are eligible for an Additional Funding Request may submit requests for rental and utility assistance for the current month and two future months. In other words, Scott had already been evicted, but Texas Rent Relief was letting the landlord keep the money more than $11,000 in apparent contradiction of its own policy. Texas Coronavirus Relief Bill Rental Assistance Program administered by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. "To date, Texas Rent Relief has served more than 316,000 households affected by the pandemic. The TDHCA runs the Texas Rent Relief program. TDHCA has taken very seriously the responsibility of helping Texas renters and landlords overcome the financial burden brought on by the pandemic, Tirloni said. Then in December, the property owner filed an eviction case against Gates and gave her a notice to vacate. We've provided over $2B in emergency funds to help Texas renters pay rent and utility bills (including past due rent and utilities). 1 0 obj Librarians at the State Law Library can provide information about the law, but cannot give legal advice. Information in this guide is subject to change at any time. Eligible households can apply for assistance online at TexasRentRelief.com or over the phone by calling the TRR call center at 833-9TX-RENT (833-989-7368). ) Shes impressed by how many do persevere. Landlords who received rent relief dollars cant evict tenants for any reason related to rent or fees during the time period covered by the funds, according to the program requirements. And only 250 payments have been sent. 0000002863 00000 n If you live in Texas no matter if you are landlord or tenants this program will help you, the simplest way is to apply for Texas Emergency rent assistance for covid 19, Visit the website, Create a account, and apply online.
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