COLUMBIA, S.C. — Richland County officially reopened applications for its Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) on September 1st. The county initially froze applications for fear of no new money coming to help those applications already being processed.
“The state said, 'We have more funds, can you use them?' And so we said, 'sure,'" Richland County Administrator Leonardo Brown said.
Brown said the county stopped accepting applications earlier this year.
“Because we didn’t know how much funding we would have available. We did not want to run out of funding. We realized there’s gonna be a lot of funds getting another pot of money," Brown said.
The program was first enacted during the pandemic. The program offers to pay rent and utilities for people behind on payments or at risk of eviction.
Richland County is now focusing on getting the new money to new applicants.
Sue Berkowitz with South Carolina South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice said there are crucial steps when applying for programs like ERAP.
“We would urge people to get your application in, talk to your landlord because they’re going to want information from the landlord if possible," Berkowitz said.
Next, make sure the payment will not only pay off a debt but also ensure a roof over your head.
“Make sure the landlord also agrees that if you were to get money sent to them that they would allow you to stay as well," Sue Berkowitz said.
The goal of the program is to help prevent evictions.
Finally, if there's a need for further assistance, people can turn to the Columbia NAACP for its application navigator program. Another option is South Carolina Legal Services for one-on-one assistance.
Berkowitz said the program could have a large impact on areas that have little resources for low-income people.
“Housing is expensive, it’s not as available as it should be we have a lack of affordable housing in Richland County.”
The application deadline is September 30th.