Friday marks an important deadline for low-income San Diegans who have experienced financial hardships due to the COVID-19 crisis and need one-time, emergency help paying their rent.
The COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program – which the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) is administering for the city – provides one-time payments of up to $4,000 per qualifying household to help pay past-due and/or upcoming rent.
That relief payment, according to the SDHC, will be made directly to the household’s landlord, electronically.
The program was approved at the end of June, with details shared about three weeks ago. Locals can apply here, but they will have to qualify.
To be eligible for the program, the SDHC said households must meet these criteria:
- The household has a City of San Diego address.
- Household income in January 2020, was at or below 60 percent of the San Diego Area Median Income.
- The household is NOT currently receiving any rental subsidies.
- The household is NOT currently a tenant of a property owned or managed by the San Diego Housing Commission.
- The household does NOT have savings to meet its 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.
The SDHC said the priority for this rental relief program will be given to families with minor children and households with at least one person who is over 62 years old.
Local
“Applications will be sorted and assigned numbers at random to identify the applicants who will receive help to pay their rent,” the SDHC said.
For more information about this program, call (619) 535-6921 or click here. Several community-based organizations are working with SDHC to help renters complete and submit their applications, including those who don’t have access to the internet.
The $15 million used to fund this program is coming from the federal CARES Act.
