DeKalb County Rental Assistance Program closed to applicants

Funds in the DeKalb County Rental Assistance Program are rapidly running out and no further applications will be considered.

The app shut down on Wednesday as funds can be distributed to a limited number of people.

In February, FOX 5 reported that DeKalb County was closing its rental assistance program because 3,000 people applied within hours of the application opening. If the original 3,000 applicants had been approved, the money would have been used immediately, county officials said at the time. Nine months later, the county said it was forced to regroup because it demanded more money from the state.

Stephanie Joseph has a few residential properties in DeKalb County. She said that if it weren’t for the county’s tenant-owner assistance program, at least one of her tenants would have survived.

“I used the reserves I had for my properties because I had nothing when I used the money for repairs,” she said.

She said that she and her tenant completed the application together and the approval significantly reduced their burden.

“Certainly some parts of the economy are doing well, but some families are still struggling,” said Michael Thurmond, DeKalb County CEO.

There were 5,009 pending claims as of Wednesday, vying for the remainder of the $21.6 million set aside for the tenant-landlord assistance coalition.

Thurmond said only a few hundred of those 5,000 families would receive the remaining amount.

More than 2,400 families in DeKalb County have received rent assistance so far, but Thurmond fears some will literally be abandoned during the holiday season without additional state funding.

The program application has stopped and it is not clear what the next step is.

CEO Thurmond said it is unclear how long it will take to negotiate additional state funding, but he is optimistic the rent assistance program will reopen. The county partners with several nonprofits dedicated to helping families stay afloat.