Another round of rental assistance for Lane County residents affected by the pandemic will open May 11.
With funds from Oregon's "Supporting Tenants Accessing Rental Relief", or STARR funding, Lane county has served 473 households so far, said Alex Dreher. Dreher is the county’s Program Services Manager. She adds the need has been high. The county has spent about half of their allocated $4 million.
“The demand for rent assistance and assistance in general is overwhelming for our partners who are trying to process and help people as quickly as possible," Dreher said, "I can tell you that some of the stories that we hear of people's unique situations and circumstances, how COVID-19 has affected people’s families and livelihood, it’s really devastating.”
Dreher said the challenge hasn't been funding the need, rather it's been challenging having enough staff to process applications. She expects more rental assistance will become available since STARR funding was approved prior to the passing of the U.S. stimulus package.
For those who already applied in back in March, Dreher said they won’t need to reapply and will be served first this time around. Applications open online between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. The application and eligibility requirements can be found at LaneCounty.org/RENT, and the application can also be filled out over the phone at (541)-682-3776.
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