As tenants face continually rising rents, could Mecklenburg make rent relief permanent?
Another round of funding soon will reopen Mecklenburg’s rent relief program, an assurance to the thousands who have fallen behind on payments during the pandemic.
But the $22 million available when applications reopen March 1 is expected to last only a few months. What will happen when that money, too, inevitably runs out?
“That’s the thing that keeps us up at night,” Erin Barbee of DreamKey Partners, the nonprofit administering the RAMPCharMeck program, recently told Mecklenburg County commissioners.
The cascading effects of tenants unable to afford their rent — including forgoing essentials like food or medication, missed payments, a possible eviction and its long-term effects on securing future housing — have plagued Mecklenburg renters long before the pandemic.
Those issues were magnified by COVID-19, and as a result more than $100 million from the federal government has been used locally to keep people out of eviction court and in their homes.
Even after federal relief funding wanes those problems will remain, leaders for the rent relief program in Mecklenburg say, in a county where rents continue to rise while wages haven’t kept up.
What could a permanent rent assistance program look like after pandemic funding dries up?
DreamKey Partners, which distributes the federal rent, mortgage and utilities relief on behalf of the city and county, is now working to move the program and its applicants “from emergency to sustainability,” said Barbee, the organization’s chief strategy officer.
Rent help in a ‘difficult’ market
The initial goal of the federal relief funding was to get it out quickly to as many people as possible. The program is sending out $700,000 per business day on average, Barbee told commissioners last week.
Now, as the organization prepares to spend the most recent $22 million added to the program, leaders will also be planning for the future, knowing housing instability is an entrenched problem.
“This market is becoming more and more difficult for people to maintain housing in,” Barbee said.
The next phase of the program aims to stabilize households who need help beyond the initial emergency, “meaning that they have the financial wherewithal to make strong decisions about where they want to live,” she said.
Barbee said the organization is discussing with county leaders an option to move RAMPCharMeck staff into Community Resource Centers, which Mecklenburg County operates to provide help getting food assistance, Medicaid or veterans services.
Moving into locations where people already go for other help will make rent relief more accessible, Barbee said, and will create a single point of contact to address all of their needs.
Rising rents in Mecklenburg County are making it increasingly difficult for tenants, especially low-income households, to keep up. Recent data presented to the county from Apartment List show just 1% of apartments in the county rent for less than $1,000.
That’s left thousands of renters cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing, and are at greater risk for missing payments.
Missing rent payments was a top cause of eviction in Mecklenburg even before the pandemic, according to a 2017 analysis by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute.
An eviction on a renter’s record not only presents a risk of immediate housing instability or homelessness, but also could deter future landlords from accepting their application.
How to fund rent relief?
Funding to make the rent relief program permanent is not settled. DreamKey would look to public funding as well as philanthropic support, Barbee said.
“I think that people will want to do it,” she said of supporting the effort. “I hope that through awareness of this program and the necessity for it, that organizations come forward, banking institutions, any business ... and say ‘I want to be able to help and be a part of it.’”
The scope of the re-imagined program or how many households it could serve remains to be seen.
City and county government has made significant investments in other areas of affordable housing, from the Housing Trust Fund that builds and preserves affordable apartments, to relatively new rental subsidy programs to help low-income residents pay rent.
Mecklenburg County in recent years also has given $800,000 annually to Legal Aid of North Carolina to provide free representation for tenants in eviction court.
Nonprofits such as Crisis Assistance Ministry have been providing rent and utility assistance for years, but the pandemic relief funds marked a significant shift for local government to direct huge sums to help renters with payments to prevent eviction.
As the program transitions, Barbee said the plan is to expand eligibility to those who need assistance but don’t fall under the current guidelines set by the federal government.
Those criteria say applicants must have a pandemic-related income loss or illness along with income qualifications.
The connection between pandemic and a resulting financial hardship was more obvious early in the pandemic, Barbee said, when so many employers cut hours, laid off workers or curtailed services.
It’s harder now to draw that line now, Barbee said, though the need is still great.
If you need help
New applications for rent relief reopen at RAMPCharMeck.com on March 1. First priority is given to applicants with a scheduled eviction court date and then those with the lowest incomes.
Residents with an upcoming eviction hearing can open new applications at the courthouse on the day of the hearing, even before March 1.
Tenants who do not qualify for the RAMPCharMeck program may qualify for rental help through Crisis Assistance Ministry.
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 12:04 PM.
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