Last month, the Supreme Court struck down a national ban on evictions and the Washington Post last week observed, “The feared eviction ‘tsunami’ has not yet happened.”
AÂ new program is helping Mesa residents catch up on rent owed â and avoid water and electricity turnoffs.
Last month, after providing $7 million in rent assistance through the Mesa CARES program, the city received an additional $15.7 million in federal funding for âMesa residents who are financially impacted by COVID.â
Two weeks into the 2021 Emergency Rental and Utility Assistance Program (or ERAP), 87 households received $452,000 in assistance, with $426,000 for rent owed and $25,000 for utility bills.
The city was processing nearly 700 more applications for ERAP, which is targeted for those who âdemonstrate they have been impacted by COVID,â such as loss of a job and/or income reduction.
With hundreds behind on rent and utilities, Mesa is moving quickly to pump out new funding assistance.
In 2020, the Mesa CARES program funneled federal money to provide 1,781 families with nearly $7 million in rent assistance. The average payment per household was $3,875.Â
But the program ran out of funding in early December, leaving 2,000 on a waiting list just when COVID-19 started a holiday surge.
Similar to the vaccine shots that boost a bodyâs defense, the city just received $15.7 million in booster funding - and this week started getting residents caught up on essential bills.
âChecks have begun to be distributed,â Deputy City Manager Natalie Lewis said. By Thursday, three days into the program, 38 payments were made, with an average payment to landlords or utility providers of $6,000, Lewis said.