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September 17, 2020


SDHC Proposes Additional Funds to Enable the City’s COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program to Help All Qualifying Households



SAN DIEGO, CA—With the proposed addition of $3.2 million in San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds, the City of San Diego’s COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program would be able to help all of the approximately 4,400 households who qualify for the program.

The City of San Diego CARES Act funds previously allocated to the program are able to help approximately 3,700 households. SDHC’s CARES Act funds would fill the funding gap so the program can also provide one-time rental assistance for approximately 740 additional qualifying households that otherwise would not receive help.

“San Diego’s families and individuals who’ve lost income because of the pandemic are still struggling, and they are disproportionately from lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color,” said City Council President Georgette Gómez. “If we have an opportunity to help everyone who has applied for assistance and is eligible, we take it. The effects of COVID-19 are far from over. I am pleased that we have a chance to add $3.2 million to the program, and I will continue to advocate for even more funding going forward.”

“San Diego’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program was created to alleviate the hardship and uncertainty that working people continue to face during the ongoing global health crisis,” said City Councilmember Chris Ward, who proposed the City of San Diego’s COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program in June. “The additional funding proposed by the SDHC will ensure that all 4,400 households who qualified for the program will receive the assistance they need to navigate the uncertainties of COVID-19.”

On August 13, 2020, close to a week after the application period for the program ended, SDHC received federal CARES Act funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“These new funds provide the opportunity to give hundreds of additional low-income families affected by COVID-19 the help they need during these challenging times,” SDHC President & CEO Richard C. Gentry said.

The proposal to direct the funds to the City’s COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program will be presented to the SDHC Board of Commissioners for consideration at a special meeting of the Board on Friday, September 18, and to the San Diego City Council, in its role as the Housing Authority of the City of San Diego, in October.

SDHC administers the City’s COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which helps families with low income in the City of San Diego who experience financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program provides one-time payments of up to $4,000 per qualifying household to help pay past-due and/or upcoming rent to assist with preventing housing displacement. Households residing in rental housing where restrictions recorded on the property require rents to remain affordable for specified income levels are eligible to receive up to $2,000. Residents of affordable housing units owned or managed by SDHC are not eligible for the program.

More than 8,300 City of San Diego households submitted applications for help from this program during the application period of July 20, 2020, through August 7, 2020. A preliminary review of these applications identified 5,209 that met the program’s eligibility criteria:

  • The household has a City of San Diego residence address.
  • Household income in January 2020, was at or below 60 percent of the San Diego Area Median Income (AMI).
  • The household is NOT currently receiving any rental subsidies.
  • The household is NOT currently a tenant of a property owned or managed by the Housing Commission.
  • The household does NOT have savings to meet their financial need.
  • The household has eligible immigration status (U.S. citizen/U.S. National, lawful permanent resident/conditional permanent resident, registry immigrant, a refugee/person seeking asylum or granted asylum).
  • The household experienced hardship directly related to COVID-19.

Based upon the initial reviews of eligible applications, SDHC estimates that approximately 15 percent of the 5,209 applications (781) do not qualify for assistance for reasons such as their income exceeded 60 percent of AMI as of January 2020 or their financial hardship is not related to COVID-19.

SDHC estimates that with the $15.1 million in City CARES Act funds that the City Council approved on June 30, 2020, the COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program would be able to assist approximately 3,700 out of the approximately 4,400 households that qualify for assistance.

The $3.2 million in CARES Act funds SDHC received on August 13, 2020, as well as a $100,000 economic relief grant Bank of America awarded to SDHC, would enable the program to assist the additional approximately 740 households.

SDHC began disbursing payments with City CARES Act funding on September 9, 2020, and payments will continue into November 2020. If SDHC CARES Act funds are authorized for this program, those funds and philanthropic funds will be disbursed by the end of December 2020.

 

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Media Contacts:

Office of Council President Georgette Gómez: David Rolland at (619) 533-5897 or drolland@sandiego.gov

Office of Councilmember Chris Ward: Ansermio “AJ” Estrada at (619) 227 0421 or estradaaj@sandiego.gov

San Diego Housing Commission: Scott Marshall at (619) 578-7138 or scottm@sdhc.org

 

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