Recent reports indicate that Maryland jurisdictions have only distributed 15% of the millions of dollars given by the Federal government to help struggling renters.
The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development shared the data on their rental assistance dashboard. With funds already given to the state, even Governor Larry Hogan has noticed that there’s a hold up in distribution somewhere. “Right now, there’s a huge amount of money that we’ve given out to the counties that they haven’t dispersed to people to provide help,” Gov. Larry Hogan said Monday. Baltimore City is handling the funds at a similar pace. Councilwoman Odette Ramos says that the city has distributed $18 Million in back rent to 4,000 residents, according to Channel 11. “What we are talking about are people that have not been able to work, that have taken extra precautions and feel like they can’t work because they might have a family member who’s sick,” Ramos continued.
Time is of the essence as the U.S Treasury has threatened the reallocation of funds if counties aren’t able to distribute them. Some say that the issue is in getting the word out about the program. “There’s millions of dollars of rental assistance out there in our entire state, our city and it’s just not out the door yet,” Ramos said. Even by the numbers, the need is certainly evident.
According to Marylandmatters.org, there are roughly 129,000 Maryland households currently behind on rent and at risk of eviction. That high number of cases should come as no surprise as our world is still suffering form the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic. Here’s to hoping that our local counties can increase the distribution pace and also that word continues to spread that help is available.
It would be a sad story to see these funds go to waste.
Baltimore Rental Relief Under Scrutiny: Only 15% of Funds Distributed was originally published on 92q.com
