ARKANSAS, USA — Members of Congress sent a letter to Governor Asa Hutchinson urging him to speed up the distribution of Emergency Rental Assistance funds.
The Arkansas Department of Human Services says Arkansas has received $173 million in Emergency Rental Assistance funds from the federal government but has only distributed $8.4 million.
The letter was sent from members of Congress to Gov. Hutchinson urging the process for distribution of the funds, but the Governor says he took the letter very seriously and that the state is working on improving its system.
“We have a requirement right now that both the tenant and the landlord has to sign off on it. We are simplifying that process, we are also adding additional resources that will hopefully streamline the delivery of needed assistance,” said Gov. Hutchinson.
Arkansas was one of five states who received the same letter saying the state has distributed less than 3% of the federal funds they were given. To help Hutchinson says they looked at what was causing delays in other states and it all seemed to be the same signoff process by the tenant and landlord.
“Once you verify the assistance and that there really is rent that is due, then at that point we are going to be able to simplify and not require the signoff by the landlord. We can get that money directly to the tenant,” said Gov. Hutchinson.
The Crawford-Sebastian Community Development Council distributes the rental assistance funds for the two counties. Since November 2020, they’ve provided assistance to 247 households totaling just under $300,000. Family service counselor, Brittany Hamilton says around a thousand people have applied but haven’t gotten assistance because of lack of documentation or not completing an application.
“That’s really initially been the holdup is just getting the proper documentation turned in and getting the landlords on board working with our program and accepting these funds,” said Hamilton.
If you plan on applying for the assistance, Hamilton suggests you read the instructions carefully and get all the documents it asks for. Hamilton also says you don’t have to have internet access to apply, you can apply by mail or over the phone.
“I definitely feel there is a great need especially with the moratorium being lifted, especially around the first and kind of the end of the month we do see an influx in applicants,” said Hamilton.
More than $6 million has been distributed to more than 1,200 Benton County households. There is still plenty of funding throughout the state.
In Oklahoma close to 10,000 households have been helped through Community Cares Partners which is the organization that distributes those federal funds.
If you are interested in applying for Emergency Rental Assistance funds, please visit the Arkansas Department of Human Services' website.