Julita Hernández, 67, owes almost six months of rent since she was unemployed for the pandemic.
He said that until the beginning of 2020 he worked cleaning houses but when the crisis began, people feared that he would enter their homes.
“Since I always ride the bus, it was riskier,” said the East Los Angeles resident.
As the months went by, the Rent was accumulating and in order not to owe so much money, his son, who lives in San Francisco, helped him obtain a loan of $ 5, 000 to pay five months of rent. This loan helped her cover the rent from June to November.
“But since December I owe rent again, right now I only pick up boats and with the help that my friends give me I have but I don’t enough for the rent, ”he says.
This week you learned about a program that could help you pay for back months and possibly a little rent down the road.
“For me that would be a great help,” said the woman, who received the information from an Los Angeles organization.
It is about the COVID Income Assistance Program- 19 of the state of California, which helps low-income households pay rent and utility bills such as electricity, water and gas. This includes back rent and upcoming payments.
The Federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 provides funds for the program.
However, there is a concern on the part of the authorities since although there is money available, the data verify that Latino households are not requesting it.
Emilio Salas, executive director of the Los Angeles County Development Authority, indicated that the program began almost two months ago and there are still thousands of spaces available.
“Until now we have no deadline to finish the program because we have received about 17, 000 requests but the state can help at least 50, 000 families ”, he indicated.
How does it work?
To qualify for the program, households must demonstrate that they have suffered a reduction in household income, incurred in significant costs you or suffered other financial difficulties due to COVID – 19 and / or have applied for unemployment.
They must also demonstrate that there is a risk of homelessness or roof instability, such as eviction notice and / or evidence of unsafe or unsanitary living conditions.
Salas said yes Tenants meet these requirements, they can complete the application online or by phone.
If the property owner and the tenant reach an agreement that the owner agrees to receive the 80% of the total back rent due, the state will send the amount directly to the owner.
“The owner must agree to forgive the 20% of the rent, ”Salas said. “And any amount owed so far this year will be paid to the landlord.”
If the landlord refuses to participate then the state gives the tenant 25% of the total rent owed for them to pay directly to the owner.
“And this is due Because in California if you pay at least 25% of what is owed for rent, you cannot be evicted for not paying the rest ”, He explained.
He assured that there is no verification of immigration status nor will immigrant tenants who obtain the aid be considered a public charge.
“The reason we are expanding the period of this application is because we are not seeing participation from the Latino community. We launched 10 different programs and in a matter of days the money ran out, ”Salas said.
“In this case we have already been two months and we still have a lot of money waiting.”
Salas said that probably the reason why there is not a high number of Latino applicants is because the program is statewide and households may not be aware of how to apply for this aid.
“And we believe there is a fear in the Latino community that this could be considered a public charge but nothing of that’s true, ”Salas said. “There is not going to be any negative impact on trying to apply for this help.”
Tenants who are behind on utility bills like electricity, gas and water can also get help paying down debt completely.
Salas said that probably many tenants may not be behind with their rent because they have borrowed money with family and friends but it is important to note that this help also serves to pay the rent in the future.
“We encourage people to apply and see the ways they can get help,” Salas said.
The principal said they are advocating with the legislature to eventually pay up to 100% of back rent for the neediest people like Hernández.
“Many are in the same situation as Hernández because they make paying the rent their priority. They borrow money and do not receive the full benefits that these programs offer, ”he said.
So far, he said, they have seen a high number of applications from owners of large corporations but have not seen of owners of few units.
“We want small family owners to apply because we know that there are many owners of one unit or two units and this can help them because they have also been affected,” he said. Rooms.
For more information to apply for financial aid call 833 – 430 – 2122 or visiting the website housingiskey.ca.gov .
Help is available in more than 30 languages including Spanish.