Cobb County carved out $300,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding and earmarked it for organizations that are overseeing the county’s emergency rental assistance program.
The funding will allow the service providers to hire more staff to help process the abundance of applications for rental relief.
The federal government allocated Cobb County $22.9 million for Emergency Rental Assistance in December. The county selected five nonprofit organizations to administer and disburse the relief grants and began accepting applications April 1.
The nonprofits included Sweetwater Mission, MUST Ministries, The Center for Family Resources, Star-C and Cobb HomeSavers.
The emergency relief can cover up to 12 months of rent and utilities for people impacted by the pandemic. But during a July 13 meeting, heads of four of the nonprofits told county leaders their organizations were struggling to keep pace with the volume of applications.
They suggested the county increase funding for administrative costs to allow them to hire more case workers and specialists who can process residents’ applications.
The new funding allotment will cover costs for each of the organizations to hire up to three additional staff members at a max of $4,000 a month per employee.
County officials hope quicker turnaround on the applications will help the nonprofits disburse rental relief funds faster.
Cobb County has until Sept. 30 to distribute 65% of the federal funding it received from U.S. Department of Treasury. Otherwise, the Treasury Department can recoup the county’s balance and reallocate the money to other state and local governments spending the rental assistance more efficiently.
By Aug. 2, Cobb’s service providers had distributed $11.3 million, just shy of half the county’s allotment of rental assistance.
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