Our Florida rental assistance program abruptly ends; housing advocates worry what's next
Housing advocates are wondering what's next after they were given short notice that the state's rental assistance program would be ending in a little over two days.
The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), which runs the Our Florida program, confirmed to the Tallahassee Democrat that the agency notified housing and nonprofit partners that residents would no longer be able to apply for rent relief and utilities last week.
The press release, which was sent out on Tuesday, May 10, said the cutoff date was the following Thursday at 10 p.m., giving social service groups a little over 48 hours of lead time.
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"My stomach dropped," said Amber Tynan, executive director of United Partners for Human Services. "We had some knowledge that this was probably going to happen. We were hoping it was going to happen during the summer so we had time to plan."
More than 228,000 families have received relief on past due rent and utilities, according to the DCF press release, but the federally-funded program committed all of its funds and would no longer be able to provide assistance after May 27.
"Families who receive rent and utilities payments through OUR Florida can focus on getting back on track," the press release states.
Housing advocates say the end of federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) funds is the latest blow in a compounded situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, skyrocketing rent and inflation.
“They couldn’t afford where they were, much less afford the other places that are available now that are 10, 15 times the rent," Tynan said.
"It is about to get really real."
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The Our Florida program launched May 10, 2021 and had over $800 million in ERAP funds for rental assistance. DCF partnered with Tidal Basin, a disaster and recovery consulting firm, for the program.
The state received another $740.4 million dollars in a second round of ERAP funds in January of this year.
In total, the state and local governments in Florida received approximately $2.5 billion in federal funds for rental assistance.
The swift ending of the Our Florida program led Legal Services of North Florida to ramp up their rental assistance outreach. Lawyers were sent to the Springfield Apartments to follow up with clients and quickly sign up residents who need assistance.
The Springfield Apartments is a Section 8 public housing complex where some of the lowest income tenants in Tallahassee can reside and afford.
It's a scattered housing site, meaning it's not blocks of apartment buildings, it's more like a public housing neighborhood, said Giovanni Bush, a lawyer with LSNF.
Last week, Bush visited the Springfield Apartments to register as many tenants for Our Florida before the application deadline on May 12 at 10 p.m.
"There are residents who are still struggling, they have back due amounts and some have active evictions filed against them and they don't know if Our Florida is going to be processed in time to pay up their back due rent," said Bush.
The tenants were surprised that the Our Florida program was still around a year later. There wasn't clear communication or targeted and unified effort from the community to help with rental assistance after the first initial push of funds, Bush said.
Now, some residents have nowhere else to go.
Bush said the first step is to make sure the pending Our Florida applications get processed.
For people who still need rental assistance even after the portal has closed, however, he calls it "operation chasing the cheddar."
"What we're trying to do is trying to make a determination of where other pandemic funds are. We need to be able to figure them out. Are they for utilities, for rapid rehousing? How do we get them, and how do we make them accessible," he said.
For more help, contact the following organizations:
2-1-1: Simply dial 2-1-1 from any phone to seek local referral assistance.
Homelessness Prevention: Continuums of Care (CoC) are organizations that assist in outreach, intake and assessment to link housing and services to those who are homeless, provide emergency shelter, transitional housing and permanent housing to end episodes of homelessness. To find your local CoC, visit https://www.myflfamilies.com/service-programs/homelessness/local-providers.shtml
Catholic Charities: Rental assistance or a resource to connect with other partners for help. Fore more information, visit https://ccnwfl.org/.
Legal Services of North Florida: Provides free legal advice and assistance to eligible applicants. Will help connect clients to housing-related resources. For more information, visit https://www.lsnf.org/.
Contact Ana Goñi-Lessan at AGoniLessan@tallahassee.com and follow her on Twitter @goni_lessan.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Our Florida program abruptly ends, housing groups worry what's next
