Housing relief program grinds to halt without funding
Published: 1/29/2021 4:39:06 PM
Seven months after its creation, a New Hampshire program to assist renters and homeowners is frozen, with no applications being accepted since Dec. 18.
Instead, the New Hampshire Housing Relief Fund is sitting in limbo. The state’s assistance agencies are unable to distribute aid even as New Hampshire awaits $200 million in additional funding for housing, passed as part of an end-of-year coronavirus relief package in Congress.
The situation is causing worry for at least one state official.
“The timing of the housing relief program ending and the start of the new funding has been a concern for a lot of people,” said Melissa Hatfield, chief of the state’s Bureau of Homeless and Housing Services, on a conference call with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen earlier this month. “I’m fielding emails about that around the clock. It was a decision that was made at some other level.”
With a $35 million rental-assistance program set to expire at the end of the month, local housing advocates are scrambling to make funding alternatives available to people still experiencing financial instability.
The stateâs Housing Relief Program, created by Gov. Chris Sununu in June, has helped renters who fell or risked falling behind on their monthly fees due to financial challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Recipients were awarded either a one-time grant of up to $2,500 or repeating payments to help them maintain or even secure permanent housing.
But the relief will no longer be available next year, since the federal CARES Act funds that back the program are set to expire Dec. 30.
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