County emergency rental assistance available to 8,000 households

San Diego County residents who have been economically impacted by COVID-19 could qualify for one-time assistance of up to $3,000 to pay for past-due or upcoming rent.

Due to the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many residents have been unable to pay rent, which can cause them to be evicted and lead to an increase in homelessness.

Understanding the financial burden for both tenants and landlords, the county board of supervisors allocated $24 million in funding for an Emergency Rental Assistance Program to ease that burden for thousands of county residents.

The county will be accepting applications for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program from Sept. 24 to Oct. 8. Eligible applicants will be selected at random.

Interested people can find more information about the program and apply during the two-week application period at http://www.SDHCD.org. Those who apply will be able to check their application status online at any point in the process.

To be eligible, households must be renting and have experienced a financial hardship directly related to COVID-19. It includes a loss or reduction of income due to COVID-19 or an increase in medical expenses incurred as a direct result of COVID-19.

Households must also fall under 60% area median income to qualify. For example, to be eligible, a single person household can earn up to $48,540 and a four-person household can earn up to $69,300. The program will be able to assist about 8,000 households.

Residents who live in cities with their own COVID-19 rental relief program would not be eligible for the county program unless their cities’ funds have already been depleted.

Also, applicants must not receive any other forms of rental subsidy such as Section 8 or other rental assistance programs, rapid rehousing assistance or rental assistance from nonprofit agencies.

Only one application per household will be accepted and the applicant’s landlord must agree to participate in the program for the county to process the one-time emergency rental assistance grant.

For more program information, including how to apply and detailed eligibility criteria, visit http://www.SDHCD.org.