In Pennsylvania, some rural counties have more rent aid money than they can spend, while urban counties with more renters don’t have enough to meet the demand.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Outrage. Disappointment. Disbelief. That’s how housing advocates in Berks County reacted when they found out, in late September, that
The inefficiency was caused by state lawmakers who chose to distribute most of the money by population rather than the actual number of renters in each county.
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Harrisburg, Pa. â Almost every day for the past month, as the end of a federal freeze on evictions edges closer, Brian Bastian has checked the status of his application for rental assistance online, only to experience a familiar thud of disappointment.
Since applying at the end of March, his case has moved through three of the five stages, each completed step shown by a green circle. The next two circles, the ones standing between him and the payment that would wipe away his debt, remain stubbornly grayed out, with no progress for at least a month, he said.
Bastian, 34, said the restaurant supply company where he worked went out of business in November. His savings started to run out in January. He is seven months and thousands of dollars behind on the rent for his Pittsburgh apartment.
HARRISBURG â Almost every day for the past month, as the end of a federal freeze on evictions edges closer, Brian Bastian has checked the status of his application for rental assistance online, only to experience a familiar thud of disappointment.
Since applying at the end of March, his case has moved through three of the five stages, each completed step shown by a green circle. The next two circles, the ones standing between him and the payment that would wipe away his debt, remain stubbornly grayed out, with no progress for at least a month, he said.
Bastian, 34, said the restaurant supply company where he worked went out of business in November. His savings started to run out in January. He is seven months and thousands of dollars behind on the rent for his Pittsburgh apartment.