Commissioners were briefed at the monthly agenda session March 11 that DSS will take over the administration of the Rental Assistance Program.
The Board of County Commissioners received an update today on the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERAP) program intended to provide aid to income eligible households unable to pay rent or utilities due to the economic constraints from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The County and City of Fayetteville contracted with Innovative Emergency Management, Inc., (IEM) to administer the program’s initial federal allocation of funding. The contract ends in June and the company notified the County that it did not wish to extend the agreement to work on distribution of additional funding flowing through the state to Cumberland County.
New applications were halted in January to allow IEM to review, process and complete payment of existing applications using the federal funding. Under the joint City of Fayetteville and Cumberland County program, $13.7 million has been awarded to stabilize 2,631 households in our community.
The Board of Commissioners were briefed during their monthly agenda session that the Department of Social Services is preparing to take over the administration of the program, which has been allocated $17 million from the state of North Carolina. Of the 7,796 completed applications already received, there are 5,165 remaining to be processed by DSS.
No new applications for the program will be accepted as DSS works through the backlog of existing applications.
The commissioners were asked to approve the transfer of the administration of the program to DSS and the hiring of 25 time-limited positions to be assigned to a specialized unit. The item will appear on the consent agenda for the March 21 regular meeting.