The Pacific County Health Department will begin accepting applications for rental assistance on Monday, Aug.17, as part of the Eviction Rental Assistance Program Grant, part of the federal CARES Act COVID-19 relief package.

Up to three months of rent payments, whether back rent, current rent or future rent through December 2020, will be available in some cases. Payments to landlords or friends or family can only be up to 80% of total rent due (arrears, current, future) or the fair market Rent rate.

Goals of the program include eviction prevention. Resources will be targeted at those most likely to become homeless or suffer severe health consequences after eviction. The program focuses on equity for groups of people who historically have not been provided equitable access to rent assistance and those who have disproportionately been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak — Latinx or Hispanic, young adults, Black or African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.

There isn’t enough funding to assist all of the households that may be eligible for rent assistance under this program. The purpose of the eligibility criteria is to initially open the program assistance to a large group of households and then target those most likely to become homeless if not for the assistance.

Households must meet two initial screening criteria:

Current income 0ver last 60 days at or below 50% of Area Median Income; and at least one month of rent not paid or partially unpaid since March 1.

A household must also meet at least one of the following additional screening criteria, but any member of the household can meet the criteria, it doesn’t have to be the head of household:

Fifty percent or more of current monthly income is needed to pay rent; previously homeless within last five years — this includes experiences of couch surfing/double up; eviction history within last seven years; housing disrupted due to household member race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, or religion; at risk of severe illness as per CDC (62 or older, underlying condition); disability of any household member (includes a physical, developmental, mental, or emotional impairment, including impairment caused by alcohol or drug abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, or brain injury. A person with HIV/AIDS is considered disabled).

If screening a young adult age 24 or younger, these additional criteria can be used to determine eligibility: person is pregnant or parenting; a current or past recipient from any one of the following — foster care, adoption, mental health, drug or alcohol treatment, or court systems.

United States citizenship is not an eligibility requirement of the program

There are three required forms, which can be found online at https://www.pacificcountycovid19.com/housing—utilities.html.

Forms can be sent to rentassistance@co.pacific.wa.us; by fax to 360-642-9342; or via mail to 7013 Sandridge Rd, Long Beach, WA 98631. If you need assistance filling out forms, call 360-214-9996 or email rentassistance@co.pacific.wa.us.