Henry County says to date it has spent $6.35 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds to help residents in the south metro Atlanta community with rental assistance.
Since May, 803 residents have received help from the Georgia Micro Enterprise Network, which the Henry County Commission hired to administer the funding. The group received 1,638 applications for the CARES Act funding, with 362 still pending. A total of 473 applications were deemed ineligible.
“With this program, we are excited that we were able to meet the needs for Henry County residents, pretty much in record time,” GMEN Executive Director Elizabeth Wilson told commissioners at a recent board meeting.
The average payment was $7,804 per participant, said Karen Curry Davis, president and CEO of Curry Davis Consulting Group, which helped GMEN on the funding. The group paid almost $40,000 to the landlords of residents who were in arrears, some of whom were behind 10 months or more.
The CARES Act, signed into law in late 2020, provided billions in help for communities across the nation struggling to survive financially because of the coronavirus pandemic. Rental assistance was provided in the package through Emergency Rental Assistance Programs that focused on helping Americans pay rent and utilities, such as gas, water, sewer and electricity.
