|
BOSTON - Monday,
July 19, 2021 - Mayor Kim Janey today announced the creation of the new
Rental Relief Fund Community Partner Grant program, which will award
$150,000 in grant funding from the City of Boston’s Department of
Neighborhood Development to Boston nonprofits to enable outreach and
support applicants to Boston’s Rental Relief Fund. These new partners will support Boston’s
rental relief efforts through creating outreach events, and by providing
both technology support and coordination between tenants and landlords.
Nonprofit applicants may request up to $20,000 in funding, using
applications available in Boston’s 11 most common languages. The Rental Relief Fund Community Partner Grant anticipates funding up to 10 organizations
this summer to work through the fall of this year.
"I am so
pleased that we have created this partnership grant to help smaller
community-based organizations do what they do best: directly help neighbors
to get access to funding to pay owed rent, cover utility costs, or help
fund their search for new, affordable housing,” said Mayor Kim Janey. “The
Rental Relief Fund has $50 million available to support Boston residents
with all of these critical needs. I want every resident of our city who
needs this funding to have access to it.”
The Department of
Neighborhood Development’s Office of Housing Stability and the Housing iLab have been focusing on creating new avenues
of equitable distribution of Boston's Rental Relief Fund. The
Community Grant Fund is the result of an ongoing collaboration with
community groups and non-profit organizations, who have highlighted their
own work with communities that are targets of intensive outreach, based on
need. These communities include those who speak languages other than
English, including new immigrant communities, as well as low- to
moderate-income renters and those with limited access to technology. The Rental Relief Fund Community Partner
Grant program will provide funding and support capacity within these
non-profit partners, allowing them to increase outreach strategies and provide application
support. These organizations also have different communication approaches
and access that will create new pathways for outreach to tenants and
landlords in need of rental assistance, or other tenant stabilization
programs run by the Office of Housing Stability.
Selected Rental
Relief Fund Community Partners will develop and implement a three-month
outreach and engagement plan for tenants and landlords. Following an
evaluation of the outreach strategies and engagement methods, best
practices from the grant program may be adapted for additional periods of
service and partners. Applications will be accepted through Friday, July 30,
2021.
In March, Mayor
Janey announced that the City of Boston would award $50 million in federal
funding to help Boston renters stay stably housed during the COVID-19
pandemic. The Rental Relief Fund was one of the first funds in the nation
created to offer financial support to residents at risk of losing their
housing due to impacts from COVID-19. The new funding has enabled the City
of Boston to help residents pay their rent and assist in preventing
evictions leading up to the federal eviction moratorium that expires on
July 31, 2021. The new funding also expanded the scope of the original
program beyond solely paying for rent, allowing the City to assist eligible
renters with utility bills, and moving costs, including the first and last
month’s rent and security deposit. Approximately $3 million from this
funding from this announcement was allocated to assist Boston Housing
Authority (BHA) public housing tenants, with rental arrears.
Since the Rental
Relief fund was established in April 2020, the Rental Relief Fund has
awarded more than $16 million to more than 3,000 households across the City
of Boston. Funds have been distributed to support residents in every Boston
neighborhood. More than 70% of individuals who have applied for financial
assistance are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) households
and more than 30% of applicants reported that they work or formerly worked
in the food services, leisure, and hospitality industries. These industries
in Boston have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, with roughly half of
the more than 34,000 Boston residents working in the hospitality sector
claiming unemployment at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally,
46% of applicants reported that their employers shut down or reduced
operations and 9% experienced income loss due to childcare and school
closures.
Throughout the
COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Housing Stability has provided programs
and services to assist both renters and landlords, so they remain safely
and stably housed. The OHS established the Rental Relief Fund to provide funding to landlords to pay
overdue and future rent to keep Boston residents safely housed. It has
established a robust court intervention program, as well as landlord
mediation and virtual and walk-in legal clinics to serve tenants and
landlords in the City of Boston. It has continued to work with all tenants
to provide wraparound housing services and supports.
|
沒有留言:
發佈留言