$9.7M Grant Awarded To HoCo To Help With Rent, Utilities

Ellicott City MD

26 January, 2021

6:51 PM

Description

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — The county has received a $9.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Treasury to provide rent and utility assistance. The funds can be used to pay up to nine months of past due rent or utilities for residents that suffered a coronavirus pandemic-related loss of income, reduction in hours or medical illness. Residents that already received three or six months of rental assistance, as well as residents that are still unemployed, could be eligible for additional assistance from this grant. Household income limits apply. "Eleven months into this pandemic and we are still seeing the serious repercussions on the livelihoods of our residents," Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said in a statement. "These funds are vital to support our residents who suffered job or income loss due to COVID-19 and are being forced to choose which bills to pay versus how to feed their families. The faster we can get these funds into the hands of our residents, the better. Our housing department's quick action to apply for these funds will help so many of our neighbors and we will continue looking for all opportunities to provide assistance for our most vulnerable residents." Howard County's Department of Housing and Community Development applied for the funding in mid-January. The Ball administration will file legislation for the Howard County Council's consideration in February to acquire the budget authority to spend the funds. DHCD will oversee the management of rental assistance funds and the department of community resources and services will oversee the distribution of utility assistance funds. "We are grateful for this award to provide ongoing rental assistance for residents that are still unemployed or not able to return to full-time employment due to the pandemic," Kelly Cimino, director of DHCD, said in a statement. "As of January 22, 2021, the department has awarded more than $6 million in rental assistance funding to help struggling residents. We will continue to work with our nonprofit partners to ensure that applications for these funds are processed as quickly as possible."