Americans were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in many ways, including unparalleled financial strains. In Georgia, thousands of tenants have received assistance with rent and utilities payments. This emergency assistance has been provided through the Georgia Rental Assistance (GRA) program, as well as 12 local jurisdictions who received direct funding allocations.
GRA has served tenants and landlords in all 159 counties throughout the state. In a year and a half, GRA has expended and committed more than $830 million, including direct funding to keep more than 48,594 tenants safely housed and to satisfy past due rental arrears for more than 8,134 landlords. In addition, GRA has reallocated $280 million to 10 of the 12 local jurisdictions who received direct funding from U.S. Treasury. These jurisdictions requested additional funding from the State after exhausting all their Treasury allocations. This critical funding allowed these jurisdictions to continue to provide much-needed rental, utility, and other housing-related assistance within these jurisdictions. Collectively, these programs have expended nearly $1.1 billion in emergency rental assistance.
Having committed nearly 85 percent of its $989 million one-time Treasury allocations under ERA1 and ERA2, GRA expects the current pipeline of pending applications to exhaust remaining ERA funding. As a result, the GRA program will no longer accept new applications as of October 28, 2022. Existing applications that have already been submitted as of October 28, 2022 will continue to be reviewed and processed in order to provide financial assistance to eligible applicants. Landlords can continue to submit applications in response to tenant applications that have already been submitted in the portal as of October 28, 2022.
“This one-time funding has provided an unparalleled opportunity to shore up rental, utility and other housing related expenses for thousands of Georgians and their families,” said Department of Community Affairs, Commissioner Christopher Nunn. “Access to safe and affordable housing is core to our mission at DCA, and we are grateful to our partner agencies and dedicated GRA staff who continue to work tirelessly to execute this unprecedented effort.”
GRA applicants with pending applications can continue to access the portal and communicate with their assigned processor at any time. To check the status of pending applications and to learn more, please visit paymyrent.ga.gov and refer to the FAQs for more information.
The GRA program is one of many housing programs administered by DCA, the state agency dedicated to providing safe and affordable housing to Georgians. For more information on other housing resources available, please visit dca.ga.gov.
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