A city program that aimed to provide tenants displaced from their homes with financial aid began accepting applications on Friday after failing to do so for its first year.
The Board of Aldermen originally approved spending on the Impacted Tenants Fund in 2023 with American Rescue Plan dollars, launching it officially in 2024, and later expanded the program’s framework to include victims of the May 16 tornado.
But during a budget committee earlier this month, officials from the city’s Human Services Department acknowledged that after a year, the program had yet to accept any applications.
The program began accepting applications on Friday through the vendor Employment Connection, according to the city's Human Services Department.
The news marks the fulfillment of a two-week timeline Department of Human Services Director Adam Pearson gave to aldermen during a budget committee meeting earlier this month. Aldermen questioned why the project wasn’t taking applications a year after its launch.
“It’s been a year and a half since we passed the impacted tenants’ funds; it's been six months since the tornado,” said Ward 9 Alderman Michael Browning at the meeting. “My chief concern is that these people get the funds they need.”
Pearson took responsibility for the delay, citing legal hurdles and confusion over where the program could draw its funds.
“There was a delay in getting it off the ground,” Pearson said. “There are certainly a lot of moving pieces with this and other programs.”
Tenant Aid programs under scrutiny
The progress of the Impacted Tenant Fund and another program overseen by the Human Services Department received heavy scrutiny over the past month.
The Housing, Urban Development and Zoning committee held an oversight hearing on the city’s Right to Counsel program on Wednesday. The program sought to provide free legal aid to city residents facing eviction and aimed to serve 1,352 people in its first year but only served around 360.
Critics say the city badly underfunded the program, which received roughly 20% of the proposed $1.2 million budget originally envisioned in the ordinance that created it.
At a rally before the oversight hearing, tenant unions took aim at the city’s handling of both the Impacted Tenants Fund and the Right to Counsel program.
Pearson, in a statement Friday, called the acceptance of applications for the Impacted Tenants Fund a sign of the city's intention to help tenants in need.
“This fund demonstrates the City’s willingness to assist our neighbors who may have been displaced from their housing through no fault of their own,” he said.
Applications accepted online or in person
Applications for the fund can be submitted online or in person at the Employment Connection office at 2838 Market St.
Eligible tenants receive funds for one-time assistance, equal to one month’s rent, based on the federal government's fair market rates.
To be eligible, tenants must submit a lease that was current at the time of the qualifying event, signed by the applicant for the units that were impacted or condemned, a valid photo ID, and other documents, such as a utility bill or official mail from the impacted or condemned rental unit.
The city plans to accept applications Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Employment Connection Office.
