Minnesota would resume accepting applications for COVID-19 emergency rental assistance for four months under a bill that cleared its first hurdle in the Legislature on Thursday.
The Housing Finance Agency abruptly stopped accepting requests for aid on Jan. 28 as the state was running out of federal money for rent subsidies.
To restart the program, the House Housing Finance and Policy Committee voted 9-3 Thursday to pump $330 million in federal recovery money into RentHelpMN to keep housing subsidies flowing until June 30.
"This is our short-term, emergency fix," DFL Rep. Alice Hausman of Falcon Heights, the committee chair and bill author, said during a hearing. The measure now goes to the Ways and Means Committee, which will assemble a House supplemental budget package for the year.
During the House hearing, advocates for low-income renters said requests for assistance have increased significantly since the housing agency stopped accepting applications last month. "The level of fear is the highest I've seen," said Shana Tomenes of the Housing Justice Center.
The fate of the rental assistance appropriation likely will be decided by Gov. Tim Walz and House and Senate leaders during budget negotiations later this spring.
A spokesman for the housing agency said in a statement, "The governor has indicated that since time is of the essence, if a clean bill to continue RentHelp passes quickly, he'll sign it."
But Senate Housing Committee Chair Rich Draheim, R-Madison Lake, said he'd prefer to use other programs to provide rent help. "We have existing programs for housing assistance that have helped people for decades. The COVID emergencies are over. If the existing programs aren't working, we should look at fixing those first, before continuing and funding the problematic RentHelpMN program."
As of Feb. 17, RentHelpMN had paid $395.9 million to low-income Minnesotans who had fallen behind on rent payments because of the coronavirus pandemic. The state agency had made more than 89,000 payments since the program started last year. The agency has received more than 102,000 applications for a total of $559 million in subsidies.
The state housing agency expected to distribute $450 million in rent subsidies before the program ends. Minnesota's largest cities, counties and Indian tribes were expected to receive an additional $222 million in federal aid under the program.
February 25, 2022 | St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN) Author/Byline: Josh Verges jverges@pioneerpress.com | Page: A3 | Section: Main 387 Words 2/25/22, 4:53 PM