Is rental assistance available in your area?
13 Replies
Nathan G.
(Moderator) -
Real Estate Broker from Cody, WY
posted about 1 month ago
I'm just curious if anyone has seen the money start to flow? I only have a couple renters that are behind but there's no money available yet. I read an article this morning that it's starting to flow in California and I'm wondering if any other states are seeing it?
John Warren
Real Estate Agent from Riverside, IL
replied about 1 month ago
@Nathan G. I have seen rental assistance here in Illinois starting to happen. Cook County just opened a program for rental assistance here in Cook County.
Bjorn Ahlblad
Investor from Shelton, WA
replied about 1 month ago
@Nathan G. I heard it is available here; fortunately there has not been a need to know for sure(yet)!
Michael Robbins
Property Manager from Henderson, NV
replied about 1 month ago
I am in Las Vegas/Henderson. I have two tenants that obtained rental assistance. The most recent was in January and took at least 3 months from initial processing. I have one tenant that has been working on assistance but funds have not been received. At best the rental assistance is getting out very very slowly.
Jennifer T.
Investor from New Orleans, Louisiana
replied about 1 month ago
They just opened it up in Louisiana about a week ago. Unfortunately, a few parishes (our version of counties) have created their own rules that make things much more difficult.
My properties are in Orleans parish. I was initially excited because I have an awful tenant who refuses to even communicate with us. In Orleans, you can file for an eviction, but they aren't scheduling eviction court dates for non-payment of rent. We filed anyway. When she got her notice, she contacted some agency who paid her Jan. and Feb. rent. Now she only owes March. But Orleans Parish falls in the "extra rules to make things onerous" category. Under their rules, I can't apply on her behalf for the state/federal rental assistance from the stimulus package. She has to initiate the request for rental assistance.
Which is just as well because, at this point, I wouldn't accept the help anyway. One of their other rules is that I cannot evict her for 6 months. And, after 6 months, I cannot evict her for 60 days after her assistance ends. And that is I cannot evict her for ANY reason. Not just non-payment of rent.
Dick Rosen
Property Manager from Gilbert, AZ
replied 30 days ago
We've seen rental assistance here, several times over the past 6 months or so.
Jennifer T.
Investor from New Orleans, Louisiana
replied 30 days ago
Originally posted by @Eric Weldon-Schilling :Originally posted by @Jennifer T.:They just opened it up in Louisiana about a week ago. Unfortunately, a few parishes (our version of counties) have created their own rules that make things much more difficult.
My properties are in Orleans parish. I was initially excited because I have an awful tenant who refuses to even communicate with us. In Orleans, you can file for an eviction, but they aren't scheduling eviction court dates for non-payment of rent. We filed anyway. When she got her notice, she contacted some agency who paid her Jan. and Feb. rent. Now she only owes March. But Orleans Parish falls in the "extra rules to make things onerous" category. Under their rules, I can't apply on her behalf for the state/federal rental assistance from the stimulus package. She has to initiate the request for rental assistance.
Which is just as well because, at this point, I wouldn't accept the help anyway. One of their other rules is that I cannot evict her for 6 months. And, after 6 months, I cannot evict her for 60 days after her assistance ends. And that is I cannot evict her for ANY reason. Not just non-payment of rent.
so you’re going to refuse free money just so you get to kick someone out into the street during a pandemic? Is she that terrible or are you just mad that she needed help during this once in a century crisis?
Yes, she is that terrible. It's not so much the money, it's her refusal to communicate with us or lift a finger to help herself. You are making two HUGE assumptions.
1) That she even needs help. I have no idea why she hasn't paid the rent. She won't communicate with us. She briefly contacted us in mid-Feb. when she got served her eviction notice (though with no court date set). It was only then she contacted that agency who paid her Jan. and Feb. rent. There are three adults and no kids living in this home. I assume all of them received the Jan. and have/will receive the current stimulus payments. The main tenant either still has her job she's always had or is collecting unemployment. At least one of the other adults is eligible to collect unemployment also.
2) She would even apply for that state/federal rental assistance. We contacted the agency that paid her rent in Jan. and Feb. They would help her for March also, but she is the one who would need to initiate it. We left her a voice mail and sent her a text message to that effect. She didn't reply to either and I assume didn't even make that one phone call/visit to make sure her March rent got paid, because there are forms I would have needed to sign if she had.
Plus, as I explained, it wouldn't be "free" money if it means I would have to go months without any rent. Because that is certainly what would happen, considering her history.
That long story really wasn't pertinent to the conversation but, since you made such negative assumptions about my character over a situation you know nothing about...there ya go.
Aj Parikh
Rental Property Investor from Centreville, VA
replied 27 days ago
I also went through an eviction process and I read that I would be able to get the rent from the assistance program as a landlord. Not sure if that is true for the Virginia area. I am following this thread to see if anyone has any update on this.
Nathan G.
(Moderator) -
Real Estate Broker from Cody, WY
replied 27 days ago
Originally posted by @Aj Parikh :I also went through an eviction process and I read that I would be able to get the rent from the assistance program as a landlord. Not sure if that is true for the Virginia area. I am following this thread to see if anyone has any update on this.
I just checked again and Wyoming is still working on the program. They anticipate they will start receiving applications in April.
Aj Parikh
Rental Property Investor from Centreville, VA
replied 27 days ago
Thanks @Nathan G. for the update.
Levi T.
Rental Property Investor from Tucson AZ
replied 27 days ago
Yes in VA. We just had one get funds on Friday.
Patti Robertson
Property Manager from Virginia Beach, VA
replied 27 days ago
@Nathan G. Money is flowing in Virginia. It’s taking a long time - 60-90 days. The problem is it is just delaying the inevitable. The people I have behind still aren’t financial,y stable. In almost every most case they are tenants we inherited and probably weren’t screened properly by the owner or former PM.
Eric Weldon-Schilling
replied 23 days ago
Originally posted by @Jennifer T. :Originally posted by @Eric Weldon-Schilling:Originally posted by @Jennifer T.:They just opened it up in Louisiana about a week ago. Unfortunately, a few parishes (our version of counties) have created their own rules that make things much more difficult.
My properties are in Orleans parish. I was initially excited because I have an awful tenant who refuses to even communicate with us. In Orleans, you can file for an eviction, but they aren't scheduling eviction court dates for non-payment of rent. We filed anyway. When she got her notice, she contacted some agency who paid her Jan. and Feb. rent. Now she only owes March. But Orleans Parish falls in the "extra rules to make things onerous" category. Under their rules, I can't apply on her behalf for the state/federal rental assistance from the stimulus package. She has to initiate the request for rental assistance.
Which is just as well because, at this point, I wouldn't accept the help anyway. One of their other rules is that I cannot evict her for 6 months. And, after 6 months, I cannot evict her for 60 days after her assistance ends. And that is I cannot evict her for ANY reason. Not just non-payment of rent.
so you’re going to refuse free money just so you get to kick someone out into the street during a pandemic? Is she that terrible or are you just mad that she needed help during this once in a century crisis?Yes, she is that terrible. It's not so much the money, it's her refusal to communicate with us or lift a finger to help herself. You are making two HUGE assumptions.
1) That she even needs help. I have no idea why she hasn't paid the rent. She won't communicate with us. She briefly contacted us in mid-Feb. when she got served her eviction notice (though with no court date set). It was only then she contacted that agency who paid her Jan. and Feb. rent. There are three adults and no kids living in this home. I assume all of them received the Jan. and have/will receive the current stimulus payments. The main tenant either still has her job she's always had or is collecting unemployment. At least one of the other adults is eligible to collect unemployment also.
2) She would even apply for that state/federal rental assistance. We contacted the agency that paid her rent in Jan. and Feb. They would help her for March also, but she is the one who would need to initiate it. We left her a voice mail and sent her a text message to that effect. She didn't reply to either and I assume didn't even make that one phone call/visit to make sure her March rent got paid, because there are forms I would have needed to sign if she had.
Plus, as I explained, it wouldn't be "free" money if it means I would have to go months without any rent. Because that is certainly what would happen, considering her history.
That long story really wasn't pertinent to the conversation but, since you made such negative assumptions about my character over a situation you know nothing about...there ya go.
I apologize. I don’t Intend to come across as brash and...well rude as I now realize I did there. As a renter dealing with an incredibly unreasonable and unethical landlord currently, I may have injected some of my own implicit biases in my post to you. I have also been trying to sometimes present the other side of the argument in these situations it seems like this site can sometimes be an echo chamber of people who all are coming from the same point of view and I feel like it’s important to sometimes play devils advocate or present the other side.
I’ve taken up the hobby lately of reading though all the public eviction records for harris county because you can view pretty much every document for each case—the petitions, judgements, motions, affidavits—everything. And I’ve seen a lot of people who really did deserve to be evicted even with the pandemic people who damaged the property immensely, caused huge problems and disturbances, threatened and intimidated old ladies and retirees who owned the property, people who never missed a day of work and got stimulus payments and were more than capable of paying but didn’t, telling the landlord “Covid pandemic means I don’t have to.”
i find it completely unthinkable how anyone could know that there is relief for them, all they have to do is call, and yet they choose not to.
there have been four times in my adult life where I’ve fallen on financial difficulties so severe that I couldn’t pay rent once when my employer suddenly closed, and it took six weeks to get my first unemployment payment while I was job hunting, once when I was in the hospital for three weeks with mononucleosis brought on by acute hiv infection, last year at the end of March and half of April, and this year at the beginning of January
And each time, I made the effort to get whatever aid I could to pay my rent and stay in my home.
I mean once unemployment and the first stimulus came last year, we were actually doing quite well. And were until my bank account was frozen for three weeks during Christmas because of my the way my landlord decided he wanted to be paid that month
So I apologize for being insulting toward you