Sacramento City Council approves another $31.7 million to help struggling Sacramento renters
Sacramento (Feb. 16, 2021) The Sacramento City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to allocate another $31.7 million to help people struggling to pay their rent during the Covid-19 pandemic.
More than half of the money, $16.44 million, came from the State of California, and $15.27 million came directly to the City of Sacramento from the most recent federal stimulus bill.
Applications are scheduled to open on Feb. 25. More information will be posted on the SHRA website.
“This is great news for a lot of Sacramento families,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg said.
The additional aid comes on top of $5.36 million the City of Sacramento allocated in prior months to rental assistance, which assisted 938 families in the city. Like the prior program, this one will be administered by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.
The money can be used to pay back rent, which is expected to be a heavy burden on renters as the state emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic. The state has extended its eviction moratorium until June 30, 2021, but the state Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that 1.4 million Californians remain out of work and Californians owe $400 million in back rent. Latinx and Black households, particularly those headed by single mothers with children, have been hit particularly hard.
Unlike the first round, which limited the amount of assistance to $4,000 per family, the new money has no cap.
The money can also be used to pay utility bills.
In order to qualify for aid, one or more individuals in a household have to be unemployed or have experienced a reduction in income, incurred significant costs or suffered financial hardship due to Covid-19. Priority will be given to those who earn 50 percent of the area median income or less, currently $38,850 for a family of three.
The City plans to conduct outreach through community-based non-profit organizations, other neighborhood groups and landlord and tenant advocates. Rental assistance information and applications will be translated online into Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian, Hmong and Chinese. Phone calls received from non-English speaking households will be answered using a translation service.
Landlords can apply on behalf of their tenants, or tenants can apply on their own. See the provisions in the chart below:
SHRA Executive Director La Shelle Dozier addresses the City Council on Zoom
