Georgia Community Affairs: Rental Assistance in Columbus for Those Faced with Possible Eviction

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GEORGIA COMMUNITY AFFAIRS - Program Overview

The State of Georgia received $552 million from U.S. Treasury's Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program to provide relief to individuals, families, and landlords whose finances have been negatively impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds will be used to bring past due rent and utility payments current. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) will administer this program which will open in March 2021. The money will be distributed directly to landlords, and eligible applicants will receive up to 12 months of payment relief. Individuals must qualify for unemployment or has experienced a financial hardship due to COVID-19; demonstrate a risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability; and have household income at or below 80 percent of the area median income (AMI).

Initial Screening

Find out if you’re eligible for assistance.

Renters must meet a set of criteria to qualify for aid. We encourage tenants to speak with their landlords to discuss their eligibility under the following conditions.

Applicants must first qualify for unemployment benefits or have experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs or experienced a financial hardship linked directly or indirectly to the COVID-19 pandemic. There must also be a clear and present threat of homelessness or housing instability as a result of an inability to pay for rent and utilities.

There is an income requirement for applicants as well. Renters who qualify must have a household income that is below 80% of the area median income. Priority will be given to tenants and families whose household income is below 50% of the area median income or households with one or more individuals who have been unemployed for 90 days at the time of application.

You can use this tool to check your income against the area median income.

GEORGIA LEGAL AID - If you have already been evicted.

If you have already been evicted and think you may have legal action to take: 

How to stop an eviction in Georgia under the CDC eviction order

Authored By: GeorgiaLegalAid.org

Contents

• Transcript
• Video

Transcript

NOTE: The CDC issued an order that makes it illegal to evict a tenant who cannot pay their rent and has no other housing options. This order has been extended through October 3, 2021 for all counties that are experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases.

The extended order covers almost all counties in Georgia. Check your county's status on the CDC website at https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view

Download a PDF version of the CDC Tenant Declaration Form.

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The CDC issued an order that makes it illegal to evict tenants who cannot pay their rent and have no other housing options.

This order stops evictions from September 4, 2020 until December 31, 2020 (Note: this order was extended thru 10/3/21)

The order applies to you if:

• You expect to earn no more than $99,000 in 2020 (or $198,000 if filing a joint tax return), you were not required to report any income in 2019, or you received a stimulus check.
• You are unable to make your full rent due to:
  • Substantial loss of household income,
  • Loss of work hours or wages,
  • Lay-offs, or
  • Extraordinary out of pocket medical expenses
• You are working to pay as much of the rent as possible, and
• If you were evicted you would be homeless or have to live in someone else’s home. Even with this order, you will still owe your rent.

Rent is not cancelled, but you cannot be evicted during this time. Your landlord can still evict you for reasons other than not paying rent.

In order to avoid eviction under this CDC order you must:

• Fill out the Tenant’s Declaration and keep a copy for your records. You can find this form on GeorgiaLegalAid.org/resource/tenants-declaration-form.
• Send the Tenant’s Declaration to your landlord by regular mail, certified mail with return receipt requested, and by email.

RENTERS and LANDLORDS can take advantage of Federal Help as needed.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Washington DC

Take action to avoid eviction using the CDC order

To temporarily halt evictions in counties where COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new order on August 3, 2021.

• If you already gave your landlord a CDC Declaration and it’s still true, you don’t need to complete a new one.
• If you haven’t already given your landlord a CDC Declaration, take action today.
• The new CDC Order does not protect people who were removed from their homes between August 1 and August 3 because of a court order.

Download the CDC form

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Keep reading to find out if this form applies to you and how to use it.

If you gave your landlord a signed Declaration before the CDC issued its new order on August 3, 2021 , you do not need to give them a new one.