Los Angeles County Rent Relief Program Applicants Begin August 17th

On Monday, Los Angeles County officials announced that a $100 million rent relief fund program will begin collecting applications on August 17th.

The program, funded by the recent $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act block of federal funding released nationwide, will remain open to applications until the end of the month.

Once applications are received, the Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) will have a lottery of qualified applicants, selecting 8,000 to 9,000 LA County residents.

To qualify, applicants must be LA County residents not residing in the city of Los Angeles with a household income no greater than $56,300 a year who are unable or struggle to pay rent because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Citizen documentation will not be requested by the county for either renters or landlords.

For residents living on 30% of the median income, they can receive up to $10,000 if selected. Residents at 50% of median income can get up to $7,500. All funds will be directly paid to landlords to pay unpaid rent.

Los Angeles city residents are not eligible due to a similar city-wide program last month that brought in over 200,000 applications, 50,000 of which receiving funds.

Los Angeles County announced the new CARES program in a tweet, saying “LA County COVID-19 Rent Relief will begin accepting applications on August 17. Join LA County and LACDA live on August 12 at 11 am at facebook.com/LACDevAuthority to learn more about the program and how to receive assistance.”

LA County #COVID19 Rent Relief will begin accepting applications on August 17 via https://t.co/8HZ4Tkjpsp. Join LA County and @LACDevAuthority live on August 12 at 11 am at https://t.co/67Hn2OInAO to learn more about the program and how to receive assistance. pic.twitter.com/uR85zvW9vH

— Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) August 10, 2020

“There has been a real need in the LA area, and they’re getting outside of LA city proper now because of the need,” explained housing expert Clinton Fielder in a Globe interview. “This is different than the city program because LA was based on strict income levels and really aimed at lower-income individuals. The County will include the other hard hit areas and other larger cities like Long Beach.

“But in terms of applicants it will definitely be high. LA wanted 50,000, and it was over 200,000 in terms of applicants. The County has 8,000 to 9,000, but with so many renters still hurting, it’s likely we’ll see above 40,000 households applying.

“People are worried about evictions and landlords falling behind, and this will only be a solution for a short time for a limited amount of people. It’s up to $10,000, but if we’re talking about people being behind several months of rent, they may only get two months really paid ahead once the debt is paid off by the accepted CARES funds.

“We’ll see where this takes us.”

Applications for the County funds will begin on August 17th. Those who are eligible can apply on the programs page on the 211 LA website later this month.

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Evan Symon

Evan V. Symon is the Senior Editor for the California Globe. Prior to the Globe, he reported for the Pasadena Independent, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and was head of the Personal Experiences section at Cracked. He can be reached at evan@californiaglobe.com.

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