'So, now we know in all cases whether you live in this county or this county, what that amount is going to be, meaning we don't have to get the lease in and do a lot of document verification,' she said. Haynes explained that they will use the county-medium rent for a two-bedroom rental as calculated by HUD, for the amount of allowable monthly rent. The HOPE Program is also now using what's known as a formula-based approach to rent awards. 'We do have plans to go back to the landlords who previously declined to participate and offer them an award under this new policy.'

'We are hoping this attracts more landlords,' Haynes said. To speed up and streamline the approval process, The HOPE Program is automating the process, where everything can be done through an online portal.Īnother new change in the program - the program initially required landlords to agree not to evict tenants for the remainder of their lease, now, they only have to agree to 60 days. 'It is a number of folks who need help, but we're not going to stop until we're able to help everyone who's eligible,' Haynes said. Of the 41,000 applicants accepted into the program, about 7,000 applicants are still waiting for final approval. To date, the HOPE Program total amount awarded $129,899,702 in rental and utility assistance. 'There are just so many people who need help.' Haley Pfeiffer Haynes with the HOPE Program said she understands these frustrations. 'It kind of made me feel hopeless because these programs were put in place to help peoples whose jobs were essentially eliminated.' 'The lady informed me they approved my application for my utility assistance but for some strange reason, a third-party processing company had lost a portion of my application for rental assistance and at that point in time, they could not help,' he said. After many calls to the HOPE Program, he said he finally got in touch with his caseworker in January. He applied in October for rental assistance and is now nearly $2,000 behind on rent.

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