Hundreds of Henry County families and seniors are able to sleep a little easier thanks to the Henry County Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) which to date has administered $6.35 million in Cares Funding. The funds were utilized to assist residents in need who were adversely affected by COVID-19 and in danger of either eviction or utility shutoffs.
In March, the Henry County Board of Commissioners approved the Georgia Micro Enterprise Network (GMEN) as the third-party project administrator and Curry Davis Consulting Group, a contractor with GMEN, to assist with management of the County’s ERAP in order to administer the funds to Henry County citizens who met the eligibility requirements, as well as work with landlords and utility companies. The consultants gave an update to the BOC at Tuesday’s meeting
“With this program, we are excited that we were able to meet the needs for Henry County residents, pretty much in record time,” said Elizabeth Wilson with GMEN.
Karen Curry Davis, from Curry Davis Consulting Group, gave the update and said the program, which began five months ago, has received 1,638 applications, made payments on behalf of 803 residents, with 362 applications still pending and 473 applications deemed ineligible. She said the ERAP team provided online applications as well as in-person events and phone applications, to assist those who wanted to apply.
“We have expended all $6.35 million of the funds allocated for this program and have expended all the funds in five and a half months. We are excited we were able to get the funds, with an average payment of $7,804 per participant, to those who needed it,” said Davis.
Davis said they also served several residents who were in arrears in excess of ten months rent and they paid up to as much as to $40,000 in arrears to landlords.
Davis said she was truly proud of the partnership with the Magistrate Court. In response to the Eviction Moratorium that ended in July, Henry County Leadership coordinated efforts with Chief Magistrate Judge Martin Jones to connect tenants actively in eviction hearings with the Emergency Rental Assistance Program.
“We applaud Chief Magistrate Judge Martin Jones. The leadership at Henry County connected with Judge Jones and we met and had a conversation about working inside the eviction hearings once the eviction moratorium ended,” said Davis. “Judge Jones, in a very phenomenal way, stepped up and worked with us and basically brought the program into the eviction court system.”
“We prioritized this group and turned the payments around in seven to ten days,” she said. “Since August 2 we engaged 249 tenants on site and 108 of them received a total of $934,323.89 in ERAP funds to prevent eviction,” said Davis.
The ERAP provides financial assistance for rent and utilities which include gas, water/sewer, electricity and internet, and also security deposits to individuals who have lost income or were adversely affected due to COVID-19.
There is expected to be a second round of ERAP funds and more information on that phase will be released in the near future.
To see the entire presentation on ERAP, please visit www.co.henry.ga.us. or go the Henry County Facebook page to view the October 5 BOC meeting.
