Milwaukee steers an additional $15 million from CARES Act into the Wisconsin Rental Assistance Program | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
PrincessSafiya Byers
August 10, 2020
The Social Development Commission and Community Advocates continue to work on helping struggling tenants with the Wisconsin Rental Assistance Program. (File photo by Adam Carr)
As residents continue to struggle to meet payments, the City of Milwaukee is providing an additional $15 million for rental assistance aid through the federal CARES Act.
Steven Mahan, director of the city’s Community Development Grants Administration office, said the new funds will help the Social Development Commission meet surging demand for the Wisconsin Rental Assistance Program, or WRAP.
He said the funds will assist Milwaukee residents who have already applied for WRAP and then be used to help other applicants.
The Social Development Commission, or SDC, previously received $6.7 million to assist residents of Milwaukee, Ozaukee and Washington counties with rental assistance as part of CARES.
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In addition, Community Advocates received $7 million in CARES funding to help Milwaukee County residents. CARES stands for the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
Both agencies have struggled to meet demand from residents. Last month, we wrote about how the SDC was working to pare down a backlog of 24,000 names. We also reported on efforts by Community Advocates, which was playing catch-up with 1,500 applicants.
As residents continue to face hardships in paying rent, we are checking in regularly with the SDC and Community Advocates on what’s happening with the Wisconsin Rental Assistance Program.
Kim Dawson-Brooks of the Social Development Commission said staffers at the agency have noticed that applicants are not filling out the necessary forms to complete the process.
“If everyone who has a pending application returns the necessary forms a majority of our applications would be depleted,” she said.
Eligible applicants must be an adult Milwaukee resident with a household income at or below 80 percent of the county median income, $65,000 for a household of four or $46,000 for a household of one, in the month of or before the application date. They must be able to prove they have a loss of income due to COVID-19.
WRAP can award up to $3,000 per household in a combination of rental payments and/or security deposits paid directly to the landlord.
But the process relies heavily on landlords writing on behalf of their tenants.
In an earlier interview with NNS, Dawson-Brooks explained how applicants can make the process easier by following these steps:
Submit information through WRAP website as opposed to calling.
Work with your landlord and return requested information as quickly as possible.
Have information ready in advance. Applicants (adult Wisconsin residents) will be asked to provide the following information during the application process:
Since mid-June, Community Advocates have approved 350 households for rent assistance, totaling $500,000, according to Deborah Heffner, the housing strategy director at Community Advocates.
Another 1,500 completed applications are being reviewed and processed by case managers for final approval.
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